06/20/00 Hiking Scaly Mountain:
Well, here we go with the first trip report of my second year of being on the road. I started out June 15th, 1999.
Yesterday was spent in Anderson, South Carolina updating the web site, distributing the 1st Annual Trip Summary, email and such. The couple of days before that rained in Georgia so I wasn't able to do much.
I'm now in Highlands, North Carolina in the Nantahala National Forest near the South Carolina and Georgia borders. Highlands is a small tourist type town with an elevation of 4118 feet. It's been raining here too but its also much cooler. I put the wind breaker on when I got up this morning.
There's mile after mile of narrow, twisty, turny mountain roads. You go downhill with your foot on the brake and go uphill in 1st or 2nd gear. It gets quite interesting when you meet a local going too fast the other way who can't stay in their own lane. A lot of big trucks can't even fit in their own lane. I will keep the driving to a minimum around here.
I stopped at the local ranger station in Highlands yesterday and got a couple of free maps and a hiking pamphlet and chose Scaly Mountain from it. The directions weren't that great but I found the trailhead after a while. I misread the trail length which turned out to 3.2 round trip.
After driving some dirt roads to the trailhead, I followed a gravel road and blue blazes .3 miles before turning right onto the trail. Lots of rhododendrons and mountain laurels lined the trail on both sides. None of them were blooming though.
.8 miles farther on, the trail forked with yellow blazes on both forks. I finally figured out this was probably the other Scaly Mountain trail that was making a sharp left and my trail was joining it to the summit.
I finally found a couple of blossoms on some rhododendrons when I was almost to the summit. Then I saw several mountain laurels in bloom with pinkish white flowers that looked like honeysuckle. Then I was surprised to see some with orange blossoms.
.5 miles brought me to the summit of Scaly Mountain and a view of the Georgia mountain ranges. Today was overcast but I could see lots of rolling hills with farms scattered among them and lots of mountain ridges and peaks. Some were in bright sunlight, some in shadows. Some were hard to see in the haze and some disappeared in the fog.
One of the taller mountain peaks had a dark rain cloud directly overhead. For a few moments some sort of funnel connected the peak and the cloud. This made the mountain look like an erupting volcano with smoke billowing into the sky.
Because the trial was so short, I was going to hike a 2nd trail to the Scaly Mountain summit. I changed my mind because of the gathering storm clouds. It was just as well because we did in fact get some brief, but heavy rains a little later.
06/21/00 Hiking Yellow Mountain:
Yesterday (6/21) was cool and breezy and overcast after another night with some heavy showers. It has been raining all day today (6/22). Water levels have been down everywhere, from Maine to Florida for the past year. In all that time I doubt if I had 10-15 rainy days. I've had that many the past couple of weeks. I certainly hope it hasn't been restricted just to the mountains.
Apparently there are a couple of trails to the Yellow Mountain summit. I knew about the one on Buck Creek Road and got to the trailhead about 9:45am. It's supposed to be 3 miles round trip to Shortoff Mountain on the way to Yellow Mountain. Yellow Mountain itself is 9.6 miles round trip with three other mountains in between, meaning lots of ups and downs. They warned that the final trail up to Yellow Mountain was very steep.
20 minutes along an easy trail with no blazes brought me to a side trail leading to a scenic overlook with a nice view of several mountain peaks, ridges and switchback and some development. As it turns out, I guess this was Shortoff Mountain.
Rhododendrons lined both sides of the trail and a couple of them were still blooming. Then the trail was lined with Mountain Laurels with some blooming white flowers on one side of the trail and many more orange ones on the other. Larger clusters of orange flowers appeared farther up the trail for some distance.
45 minutes into the hike I found another side trail leading to another scenic overlook and then another one, 1 hour into the hike. I had experienced some ups and downs to this point and was at an elevation of 5000 feet. From this point it on it was down, down, down. I finally came to a trail sign indicating Cole Mountain was 2.4 miles along the trail from which I had just come and Yellow Mountain was 2.4 off to the left. A trail was also coming up from the right.
Following the Yellow Mountain trail took me down, down and down some more. I finally came to a gravel road following a steep switchback and I could see where the trail cut across the road a second time a little ways down. Walking around the this area I could see a whole lot more down ahead of me.
I decided to have lunch there at 11:30. While having lunch, four women in their mid-40's/mid-50's popped out of the trail I had been on. They had a trail guide indicating the trail dipped down to 4100 feet before rising steeply back up to 5000 feet at the summit of Yellow Mountain.
That pretty much ended the hike for me. The elevation at this point was down to about 4500 feet so there was another 400 feet of down to go. 900 feet of steep up might have been OK by me if that was the end of the trail. But it wasn't. It was only the halfway point.
I'm constantly aware of Newton's reverse law of gravity: What goes down, must come back up again. I have to pace myself and thought my butt would be really dragging on the way back and didn't think the effort worth it so I let the ladies go on by themselves and sheepishly turned back.
06/23/00 Hiking Whitewater Falls & Whiteside Mountain:
The Whiteside Mountain Trail is a keeper. Before I went to Whiteside I hiked a trail named the Narrows, 4 miles round trip.
The Narrows is a logging road trail leading down to the Chattooga River. 40 minutes along the narrowing logging road, flanked by rhododendrons on both sides, brought me to a small foot bridge. The bridge spanned a small pool at the bottom of a small waterfall. The bridge ended on a rocky point.
If the water had been at flood level there would have been a wicked chute on the other side of the point. As it was, a small amount of water flowed down a narrow channel between rock walls several feet high.
This would have been a nice place for a picnic lunch with someone special. 50 minutes later I was back at the truck. I debated whether to do the trail again just for the exercise and decided not to.
Instead, I drove about 20 miles and crossed the South Carolina border to get to a road to Whitewater Falls, just inside the North Carolina border. Hey, this is the mountains and there just aren't many roads so you take the ones that are available.
It was quite a drive but well worth it. Whitewater Falls is the highest falls in the eastern U.S. at 411 feet. These are the upper falls. The lower Whitewater Falls are somewhere downstream in South Carolina. That falls is 400 feet.
Upper Whitewater Falls is a beautiful sight dropping 100 feet or so, pooling, spreading out and dropping another 150+ feet in multiple falls and then spreading out into more small, individual falls before hitting the river below.
An easy walk up a paved road led to the first overlook. 154 wooden steps led down to a platform for the same view from a different angle. A steep trail led to the bottom of the falls.
Halfway down this trail I met a woman coming up. She said there was no view of the falls from the bottom of the trail. When I read the brochure I picked up it said the same thing. Rather than waste my time, I huffed and puffed my way back to the top with the lady.
On the way to Whitewater Falls I had passed a scenic area sign and had also seen several sheer granite walls off in the distance. On the way back I followed the signs to the Whiteside Mountain Trail.
I didn't really know where I was going. I just found the only trailhead in the parking lot and started up. 20-25 cars were already in the parking lot so I figured the trail couldn't be too long or hard.
The trail headed up at a moderate level for a half mile or so. Stopping to let a few women pass I got an earful on how nice and how plentiful the views were up top.
Once the trail leveled off I saw a little side trail and followed it through a thick growth of rhododendrons. A British couple were sitting on a ledge admiring the view. I squeezed past them very carefully. I only had a few feet clearance and it was a long, long ways down.
Several mountain peaks seemed to be within a mile. Many more stacked up behind each other for as far as I could see. I'd guess I could see 7-8 ranges, one after another.
The trail wound its way along the rim of this mountain ridge with lots of views. The best was looking ahead where Whiteside Mountain turned out 50 yards or so. This presented a nice view of several rock faces at once. Later, I read the rock faces vary from 400-750 feet.
I followed the trail about a mile or so. Eventually the trail started to close in and began a descent. I didn't know how far the trail went. Since the views seemed to be over I turned around and started back. I later found the trail is 2 miles round trip. Since I did that much, I must have just missed the end of the trail.
While a short trail, I would call this a must do. It's not often you get these kinds of views in these quantities for this amount of effort.
06/24/00 Hiking Glen Falls & Chinquapin Mountain:
I started down the Glen Falls Trail a little after 9am. Rhododendrons, as usual, were the predominant tree with some very large pine trees here and there. 100 yards down the trail an overlook presented a nice view of water flowing quickly down a big belly of rock 20 feet wide and maybe 50 feet long.
The trail split in a quarter mile or so and I took the trail to the right because that's where it seemed the falls would be. I soon heard water up ahead and came to a waterfall. There wasn't much water but what there was had a pretty impressive trip. The first drop was about 50 feet straight down. The water flowed over some rocks and then dropped another 50 feet or so.
Another, prettier falls was just a couple hundred feet farther down the trail. This one also dropped over 100 feet. The water spread out over the rock face creating several smaller mini-falls at 3 different levels.
The trail split again and again I went right, attempting to stay near the falls. This spur brought me to a smaller 15 foot waterfall. It was much narrower than the previous two so the water rushed with greater velocity through a more concentrated area.
Back where the trail split the second time, I followed the left fork. This trail took me along an ever decreasing trail onto a creek bed descending sharply. This creek dumped into a larger creek within a half a mile.
I crossed the stream and decided I would continue along the trail until it started to descend again. That would not be a good thing for me. I already had quite a hike ahead of me to get back to the trailhead.
On the other side of the stream I passed a cleared campsite with the usual pile of trash left by inconsiderate (or unknowledgeable) campers. The trail ended a few feet beyond the campsite at a forest service road. The trail sign there said this trail was "Most Difficult". Gulp! It had taken me an hour to come downhill 1.4 miles that seemed more like 2.0-2.5 miles. That included stopping at the different waterfalls.
Crossing across the trail and starting back up, the other creek bed was certainly steep. I'd rate that section as an upper intermediate. It turned into an intermediate in 50 yards or so and stayed at that level the rest of the way up.
As I was struggling up the trail I glanced up and saw a couple coming down the trail. The man had his shirt off and the woman did too. When she saw me she hid behind her husband to get her shirt back on. Of course the husband stopped to chat. The poor woman would/could not look me in the eye. It was no big deal because she had a sports bra on but she was still really embarrassed.
Trudging up hill with my head down I got to see a few salamanders and a few small tree frogs squiggling and hopping around.
I figured it would take me 2 hours or so to get back to the trailhead but made it in an hour and 40 minutes or so. That included stopping several times to chat along the way. Lots and lots of people were on the trail by that time.
I had lunch in the parking lot and decided to do the Chinquapin Mountain Trail. Its trailhead was right beside the Glen Falls trailhead.
I only saw a couple of people on this trail and got to the first overlook in 50 minutes as the trail leveled off. Off to the left I saw a larger peak with several sheer rock faces 50-100 feet high. To the right and center I could see many more mountain peaks and ridges and valleys as they faded off into the haze. Lone houses stood atop a couple of peaks.
The next view, a couple of minutes later, chopped off the peak with the rock faces but extended the mountain ranges to the right. They went on and on, one after another until they disappeared into the distance.
The trail forked and I saw a sign indicating the Outlook was thataway. Thataway was a sharply descending trail. I started down, mumbling to myself. And as the trail went down and down and down, the level of mumbling went up and up and up. I saw a clearing up ahead and decided if that wasn't the outlook I would head back anyway. With my luck, the outlook might be on the next mountain. But that was the overview.
And it was a great view. Mountain peaks and ridges and valleys as far as the eye could see. One or two shiny objects in the distance that may have been roofs or windows. Other than that, no houses, no visible roads, nothing but mountains. I would have liked a picture but couldn't get a wide enough angle to do justice to the view.
On the way back I kept recognizing things I had passed on the way up, a stream, a tree, a hill. I got to within half mile of the trailhead when I started seeing strange things. Hmmm. Then I started hearing cars in the distance. Uh oh! The trailhead is a mile back a dirt road. I shouldn't be hearing cars whizzing by. Eventually I broke out on a road with cars whizzing back and forth. Probably NC 106. Oh well. Which way now? I figured a half mile or so to the dirt road to the trailhead and then another mile to the trailhead itself.
I got the GPS out. It said .6 miles to the trailhead in a straight line. I turned right and watched the mileage on the GPS start down and then move back up again. Hmmmm. I turned in the other direction and watched the mileage start down and then move back up again. Hmmmmm. I suppose there was a logical explanation but I didn't want to try to think about it.
I started back down the trail I had just come up and watched the mileage go down. In a half mile or so I came to a stream I should not have crossed. There, tucked away in a corner, was a trail sign I hadn't seen pointing in the direction I wanted to go.
Even so, it was still an excellent day.
06/26/00 Paddlng Santeelah Lake:
I'm camped just below the Nantahala Gorge on NC 129 in Topton. I passed through the gorge yesterday, a Sunday, around noon. The weather wasn't very nice, cool and foggy, yet 100's of people could be seen going down the Nantahala River. From what I could see, the river was all class II. Most people had rented 2 or 4 man rafts but I saw lots of whitewater kayaks, some inflatables and a few canoes (OC1'a) too. I passed the Nantahala Outdoor Center on the way down. This is a widely known outfitter and training center for whitewater kayakers. They also have an internet presence and a good canoe and kayak (including sea kayks) catalog. I'm expecting some people next weekend so will wait till then before going down the river. I don't see any problem using the plastic 12 foot plastic sea kayak if its only class II and III (famous last words).
This morning I elected to kayak Santeelah Lake above Robbinsville. I also wanted to check out a hiking trail on the way up and look for a ranger station up there too. As it turns out, the boat ramp was almost directly across from the ranger station. A pair of Canadian Geese with a pair of goslings had laid claim to the parking lot but waddled off as I prepared to launch.
I took a GPS position and saw the elevation was at 2000 feet. I would have thought we were higher than that. I turned right on the lake but knew I wouldn't be able to go very far in this direction because this was just one of the lake's many fingers. After 15 minutes I came across a place that rented pontoon boats and could see some development beyond it so I turned around without going any farther.
This part of the lake was marred by the steady flow of dump trucks roaring up and down the road. They soon faded away as I got past the boat ramp again.
Much of the banks consisted of bright red mud or clay. Not much of the bank was showing. This would seem to indicate the water level was pretty near normal. Later I would see many trees sitting in the water. This isn't normal for this area so I would assume the lake is higher than normal.
The shores were pretty close together with lots of tall hardwoods and taller pines. Mountain ridges could be seen over the nearby tree tops.
Another 45 minutes brought me to what seemed to be the main body of the lake. I was actually at a 4 way crossroad. I stopped in the middle to look around and saw I was ringed on all sides by hills of varying size with mountain ridges and ranges behind them. One pointy mountain peak rose a couple hundred feet directly up out of the lake. I sat there and shot 4-5 pictures by just turning the kayak slightly for each shot.
I could see some development off to the right so headed in the opposite direction. This dead ended soon so I backtracked to the crossroads and went straight across. After following a wide channel for a few hundred yards, I could see more development ahead. I thought about quitting right then but since it was close to lunch time, I thought I'd continue a ways, eat and then come back.
Am I glad I did. As I drew closer to the developed area I could see this was the main body of the lake, not that it was very wide. The development turned out to be about 50 upscale houses and a small marina.
Looking past on either side of the development I had the impression the lake entered into mountain passes. Tall ridges either rose up out of the lake or seemed to flow down into the lake.
I turned right and a long ridge rose right next to the lake. It then tapered off after 100 yards or so and at its far end you could see several peaks behind it.
Even with the development on this lake, it is a very pretty paddle. There's lots of little inlets and fingers shooting off in every direction. The mountains completely encircle the lake adding much beauty. I would look forward to paddling Santeelah Lake again. Oh, yeah! 10-20 remote campsites are scatter around the lake. Free and first come, first served.
06/30/00 Hiking Bartram Trail (SawMill Gap):
Tuesday, the 25th, I spent close to an hour looking for a trail head. I finally went to check out Lake Nantahala. This is on Wayah Road, heading south out of the town of Nantahala, which follows along the Whiteoak Creek. This is a fast moving creek with many small waterfalls. And there was water in it.
I saw a forest road and decided to get out and hike it to where ever it might lead. It turned out to be a service road for a large gas pipeline. Lots of free campsites along a very pretty stream.
Wednesday and Thursday were rainouts with pretty heavy and pretty continuous rains both days.
When I had been checking out Lake Nantahala I had passed a sign pointing to the Bartram Trail. This trail starts in Oconee State Park in South Carolina and runs 100 miles or so up through the Nantahala National Forest to Beechertown, North Carolina.
Last night was close to the 50's after the heavy rains. This morning heavy mists hung around the mountain peaks and a cool wind made me don a windbreaker when I got up. I shucked it when I got to the Bartram Trailhead on NC 1310 along Lake Nantahala.
A small waterfall trickled down beside the trail as I started up. The trail is well defined and well marked with yellow blazes. It also went up at a moderate to almost strenuous incline for the first mile or so.
Then it leveled off somewhat and became a series of small ups and downs after an hour of hiking. I could see sky on both sides of me so assumed I was ascending a narrow ridge. I soon came to the top of something because sky was on all four sides of me, at least for a few moments.
A few rhododendrons still had some blossoms. The trail offered no views except one treesy view of Lake Nantahala.
The trail turned into a grown over dirt road and after 2.5 hours dumped me out on a paved road in SawMill Gap. Reading the trail guide I saw I still had come about 3.5 miles and had ascended to an elevation from 4100 feet to about 4700 feet. I had been heading for Wayah (wolf) Bald. The guide indicated there was another 4 miles to go. I was expecting some folks up from Alabama so called it quits for the day.