Damascus, VA - Too Far

Saturday morning was beautiful. After breakfast, we headed back up the side trail to the shelter for a short nature stop prior to moving on. Jeremiah, his dogs and the car were was already gone. He had mentioned driving to another place where the trail crossed the forest road and then hiking to an “awesome shelter” that some other hikers had told him about. (I guessed that these little trips were his “vacations” from his usual work week.) A few miles along the trail we crossed the forest service road again and found his car parked near the trail crossing. We didn’t see him again although when the Scout troop returned to the area in June, he was still around and remembered our having met.

Our Fearless Leader

We spent Saturday morning going up and down along the AT. Our goal was to avoid significant descents and ascents during the day. Once we were on the AT, most of our route was along the top ridges of the mountains; however those ridges rise & fall. We spent the first 9 miles of the day going up and down….Once again, I felt like I hadn’t done enough to get “ready” for the trip.

Since this was early April and the leaves were not out yet on the mountain tops, we were rewarded by significantly more “views” than is typical of the AT during the summer months. As the AT left the ridge line, we descended into Beartree Camp. This was where the troop would backpack to and then use as a base camp for the biking and rock climbing planned for the end of their week long trip in June.

After leaving Beartree, there was another climb and then a precipitous descent to the Creeper trail. The Creeper is a former rail bed converted to a scenic multi-use trail that is very popular with tourists. The surface is wide and for the most part graded with packed cinders. It is a gradual descent along a smooth trail. Once we got to the Creeper, the trail would lead us right back to our vehicle.

As the final descent on the AT began, we encountered a group of about 20 hikers. The group was on a day hike up the mountain and back down to a small grill/diner located along the Creeper Trail. The average age of this group was close to 60 and they were having a good time laughing and joking as they hiked. I was impressed...

We arrived at the Creeper Trail about 2:30 PM. We filtered water from the stream and started talking about what we planned to do next. Originally, we were planning to walk along the Creeper Trail for a mile, find a place to camp for the night and then finish the hike out on Sunday morning. Apparently, the fresh cool water had an intoxicating effect on us. Once under its influence, we forgot about the 11 or so miles that we had already hiked that day. The intoxication of the water plus the gravitational pull of the mini-van, were more than we could resist. We made the decision to wake the remaining 7 miles to Damascus that afternoon.

What was I thinking? Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. However, the euphoria of the stream water soon wore off and I realized I had committed to finish the hike, so I walked/stumbled/dragged myself the rest of the trail to the mini-van. One of the other guys had it much worse with multiple blisters from new poorly fitting shoes. Glad that wasn’t me….

After a shower and a great meal, we headed home. Another great adventure! I don’t think I will ever forget my reflection in the store front windows as I crossed the street to get in the van to head home. Out of the corner I saw the reflection of a crippled looking old man as he hobbled across the street. I didn’t care. The leather seats of the van were waiting.

Damascus, VA - Caretaker

Later that evening after dinner, we visited with him a second time at shelter about 100 yards up a side trail. He sat & talked with us for awhile, telling us more of his adventures. Again, he seemed very nervous that the local guy was going to show up. He went into the 3 sided Adirondack style shelter and produced the shelter’s log book as justification for his concerns.

The log book was a spiral bound notebook, like I have seen at many shelters. Typically, those who use the shelter will record a few thoughts for those who will follow. The entries usually include the date, weather and other random comments. However, the log that Jeremiah showed us, contained pages of entries in the same hand writing, supposedly penned by the local caretaker. While we only had time to glance at a few pages, Jeremiah told us some of the guy’s sad tale. Apparently he had a wife with drug problems who ran off and left him. He was raising their young child on his own when she suddenly reappeared and managed to get legal custody of the child and left town. This left him very angry and bitter. The logbook had become a collection of misogynistic ramblings and rants on how life was unfair. Jeremiah seemed convinced that if the caretaker caught him living at the shelter, he might end up a whipping boy.

As it seemed like he could just go on & on, we finally excused ourselves and made our way back to our camp for a couple of hours of pleasant conversation before retiring for the night. During the course of that conversation, we learned that our fearless leader had mapped out the route for the full day of hiking on Saturday. The plan was to continue on the Iron Mountain Trail for a few miles and then cross to the AT which would take us to the Virginia Creeper Trail where we planned to camp Saturday night.

Damascus, VA - Jeremiah

After we pitched camp, it was too early to cook, so I decided to check out the area close to our campsite. At this point we hadn’t found the shelter, so I headed up the trail a few hundred yards. I knew we were near a forest service road. I heard a car engine so I took a side trail toward the sound of the car, it turned out to be a truck full of locals who were leaving. However there was also an mid-80’s BMW parked near the shelter on the road. As I got closer I encountered a couple of small rat terriers and a large yellow lab. The 2 little dogs were orbiting the big dog as they came toward me. Then I saw the owner of the car.

We never did learn his name and I certainly knew better than to ask him for a picture. He was very articulate. He looked he was about 30-35 years old and sporting an impressive Jeremiah Johnson coiffure. He had an old rusty bike lying next to the car. That car was amazing. I had never seen a BMW in this shape. The trunk and back doors were both standing open. Both door panels were missing. The trunk & back seat were full of sleeping bags, clothes, food and enough miscellaneous camping gear to stock aisle 13 & 14 at the nearest Dick’s Sporting Goods.

I spent about 30 minutes talking to him. He claimed to be retired. His story was that he had been living in Florida and working at a puppy farm, which explains the dogs. One of the little rat terriers never stopped moving and wouldn’t allow me to touch him. Apparently, the dog had serious socialization problems at the farm and his current “owner” had adopted him to save him from euthanasia. He told me the dog was doing much better. He was becoming comfortable enough in his new “pack” that he would almost allow his “owner” to touch him. When it was time to go somewhere in the car, he would “Jeremiah” would just open the door. The two friendly dogs would pile in and then the other dog would follow. He told me that had been travelling together for 3-4 months, living at the current shelter for a few weeks. He was supporting everyone by working at a t-shirt factory in Damascus.

His goal was to be in Damascus for Trail Days which is in early May. Trail Days is an annual event and “trail folks” descend on Damascus from all over to swap stories buy & sell tie-dyed clothes and beads and who know what else. He told us that it was not to be missed…

The whole time we talked he kept looking around nervously. He told me about some local who had taken it upon himself to maintain the Sandy Flats shelter. From time to time he would show up and inspect the site removing any trash that he found. Apparently, this could include any campers that he deemed undesirable. Jeremiah seemed to be concerned that he might fit in this category, so he did his best to avoid any encounter with the “caretaker”.

Damasus, VA - Time to Climb

We had been planning this trip for awhile. The purpose was a shakedown of the general area, roads and camping sites for the trip with the scout troop in June. Our Plan was to leave Damascus, VA headed north on the AT and then use some connectors to do a loop of about 20 miles over a couple of days; about 6 miles on Friday, 8-11 on Saturday and then the balance on Sunday to get back to the car.

We headed out of town on the AT. We climbed for a few miles and then crossed to the Iron Mountain Trail. The IMT is a multi-use trail for hikers, horses & mountain bikers. As we continued to climb the trail, I kept thinking about the possibility of riding this trail down to Damascus when we returned in June. It is fairly smooth single track with a moderate down hill most of the way….

We kept pushing up the IMT searching for a suitable campsite for Friday night. After about 4- 5 hours, we finally reached the Sandy Flats Shelter after about 8.5 miles and an elevation gain of close to 2,000 feet. There was a good water source and a relatively flat site for the tents.

While we ended up covering about 2.5 miles more than we had planned, the trails were great. Good day, but I was ready to put down the pack.

Sushi Paddling

We headed to Everett B Jordan Lake on Saturday for a morning paddle near where the Haw River empties into the lake. We put in at the Robeson Creek canoe access to the Haw. The Water was down about 3' & we bit bottom a few times as we worked through the exposed rocks to the "lake".

A few of the trees have begun to change color giving the shoreline a hint of the colors ahead. While we were looking forward to this as a nice way to start the weekend, the lake turned out to not be the beautiful place we expected. There was an oily scum on the water, a foul smell & hundreds of dead hybrid bass floating all over the water. The bass were the source of the smell. These were good sized fish that probably averaged close to 24" in length.

Lot's of other wildlife: the usual great blue herons, a few bald eagles and almost as many vultures as there were dead fish.

We paddled down to Robeson Creek & up it a ways, before we decided that we had enough not so pristine environment & headed back to the car. From talking to some local fisherman, this fish kill is normal for this time of year when the temperature of the water and other factors drive the oxygen content to almost zero and the fish suffocate. This coincides with the huge fish kills on the Neuse River reported in the news lately. Next trip may need to be a hike....

Pilot Mountain

Several weeks ago, our scout troop spent the weekend at a state park near Pilot Mountain. Most of the troop spent time working on their climbing merit badge, while a friend & I used the outing as a chance to get in a practice hike in prep for a longer trip to Iron Mountain near Damascus, VA that we have planned for late April.

Pilot Mountain is easily visible from highway 52, north of Winston Salem, NC. Jamoekee as it was called by the native Saura people means "great guide" or "pilot". Pilot Mountain is a monadnock formation. According to Wikipedia, a monadnock is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. Believed to be formed when volcanic or other metamorphic processes give rise to a body of rock resistant to erosion that is surrounded by softer rock, such as limestone. When the softer rock is eroded the harder monadnock remains as a isolated mountain. The Pilot Mountain's Big Pinnacle is quartzite that is believed to be from the sand of an ancient sea floor. The sand metamophized into quartzite. Geologists believe that tectonic plate collisions pushed the quartzite up and then erosion of the softer "plate" above and subsequent erosion by the elements created what we see today.

The state park is actually two sections of land with a narrow 5.5 mile "corridor" that connects the area surrounding Pilot Mountain to the area of the park along the Yadkin river. The combination of hiking & bridle trails afforded us the chance to spend a good portion of the day walking from the "knob" back to our campsite near the river. This picture is taken near the trail head looking towards our campsite in the distance.

We hitched a ride to the trailhead near Pilot Mountain on Saturday morning. While the scouts were getting ready to spend the day climbing & rappelling, we headed toward the river. The initial 4.5 miles is a realtively steep downhill descending from around 2215 feet to around 950 feet above sea level. The remaining almost 7 miles rolls up and down with a net drop of about another 100 feet.

The hike was beautiful through fairly young hardwood forest. A good portion of the "corridor" is bridal trail. We encountered a number of riders & horses along the way. The trip took about 5 hours over all plus a lunch stop. I have to admit it was about 3 miles farther than I wanted to walk, which told me I had some more work to do to prepare for the trip to Iron Mountain. While this was a fairly easy hike in this direction, reversed it would be challenging. After 7 miles of gradual climbs, you would make a rapid ascent to the upper part of the park. This was our original plan. Fortunately after a discussion with the park ranger, we reversed our plan!

A Mental Trip

Driving to work one day, I was paying attention to the road. Paying as much attention as I can on the 6.5 mile route that I drive twice a day. Bored with the usual radio fair, I was listening to an NPR Science Friday podcast. The host, was talking about how trees are dying in western forests. “Global warming…insect infestations… acid rain...dying old growth trees….” That’s when my mind left town.

I started thinking about the peaks in Colorado, Mt Shasta in northern California and the Trinity Alps in southwestern Oregon. My mind even have wandered to the Gila Wilderness in western New Mexico. All places that I have never been, but plan to visit and experience before, before I can’t visit or experience those places anymore. As I daydreamed, I wondered, why these places "call" to me. The answer is that I always see & experience memorable things during these trips.

This realization connected to a conversation a few days before with a friend’s wife. She had told me that she had agreed to go backpacking with her husband for a couple of nights on the AT in northern Georgia once the weather warmed up. She seem excited about it, but also not so sure if this was really a good idea.

After she left and the conversation had ended, I kept thinking about what was in store for her, besides the exhausting climbs, lack of facilities and sore muscles. She was going to be in places and see things that almost everyone she ever knows will never see or experience.

I occurred to me why I am always thinking about the next adventure. Sure, I enjoy the planning, the physical challenge, the company of a couple of good friends and of course the excuse to get more cool gear. But what draws me most is the chance to be places and see a part of the world that most people will never see. AND then when I return to my life and am back at my desk, I can remember the trails and vistas and creeks and waterfalls and all of the small things along the way.

Foothills Trail

Our Scout troop does a week long trip every June. We have hiked portions of the AT, biked the C&O canal towpath & the NC Outer Banks, and paddled sections of the New River. It was time for something new for 2008. After some online research we found the Foothills Trail. The FT is about 85 miles long & is located at the end of the Blue Ridge Escarpment near where NC, SC & GA borders meet. Everything we read suggested this was a great destination. Moderate elevation changes, beautiful vistas, lots of available water and hundreds of waterfalls of all sizes! (Upper Whitewater falls is the highest cascade in the Eastern US at 411 feet.)

In Feb of 08 we headed to SC to scout out the trip. Our goal was to find about 40 miles or so of trail where we could easily access the start & finish with the vehicles needed to transport about 30 of us. This was a weekend full of wrong turns & side trips. We took a new Garmin 60Csx with us, but hadn’t had time to load all of the software. Impressive gps, but every time we left the area covered by the National Park software, it wanted us to turn around. It seemed that as long as we trusted it, we were destined to stay lost. One side trip turned out to be up someone’s driveway, back into a “holler” with a single-wide & a pick up truck. We managed to get out of there before shots were fired…. The weekend ended with a sense of the geography and too many of the roads, but still unclear the sections of the trail we would hike in the coming summer.

Our original plan was to cover a “middle” section of the trail, but access, shuttles and parking just proved to be more than we could manage. My eyes are usually much bigger than my stomach when it comes to planning these adventures. Fortunately, my friend, Robert, has a better sense for what is achievable and I have learned to listen, although sometimes reluctantly, to his advice. Once we returned to Raleigh and studied the maps some more, we found a route that would work out to around 42 miles. The route would give us 3 nights on the trail with 2 of them along the Chattooga River.

Our route began on the FT at Bad Creek Access, but left the FT after about 10 miles to follow the Forked Mountain Spur Trail through the Endicott Wilderness, rejoining the FT near the Walhalla Fish Hatchery. We ended at Oconee State Park. The route was great. We averaged about 10 miles per day with great campsites every night.

The Endicott Wilderness is beautiful. Once we entered the wilderness near Sloan Bridge, we were alone for 2 days except for one small group & a solo hiker. The trail is not difficult and it is fairly well marked although you do need to watch the blazes in some areas. Once we reached the Chattooga for the second night’s camp, everyone was into the water too cool off! After swimming & cooling off, everyone had dinner followed by a campfire & sharing of stories from a book on Native American history.

On the advice of the local forest service, we put up bear bags every night. I am not sure this was necessary, but it sure was entertaining watching everyone try to find large enough & high enough branches to secure the bear bags. Our troop really stresses Leave No Trace camping, so we were careful to minimize our impact on the trail. Several of the boys found a truck sized inner tube in the river at one of the campsites. One of the boys was determined to haul this “piece” of trash out of the wilderness. This is one more time I was reminded of the difference in my stamina & the stamina of a 16-17 year old young man. I am certain that tube added almost 10 lbs to his pack, but he carried it over 10 miles to remove it from the wilderness. Nice work.

Oconee State Park is one of the nicest that I have ever scene. It is about 30 miles north of Clemson SC and is at the southern terminus of the FT. We actually used this as our base camp. Staying at Oconee the first night, on Monday, we shuttled everyone to the starting point of our hike with the help of one of the local folks who will provide shuttles for a small fee. We finished the backpacking portion on Thursday afternoon.

On Friday, we drove to Wildwater Adventures for a rafting trip on Section 3 & part of Section 4 of the Chattooga River. The water levels were very low due to the long drought, but the scenery on that river is amazing! Back to Oconee on Friday night where tThe group camp area is adjacent to a large barn. Every Friday evening during the summer, the park hosts a square dance with a live bluegrass band for the surrounding communities. What a great way to end a trip into the southern Appalachians!

Joyce Kilmer Memorial - part 2

The 4.5 mile moderate to strenuous ascent from the parking lot to Naked Ground was through huge trees. In order to see the larger trees, we side tracked and followed the Poplar Cove Loop trail that is part of the Joyce Kilmer Memorial trail. We saw eastern hemlocks are close to 6 feet in diameter & the some of the poplar were close to 7 feet thick & 300 feet tall; not the proportions of the giant redwoods in the West, but unquestionably massive for the Eastern US. At the base of the trees were large ferns & rhododendrons. This trail was once part of a Cherokee trading path that ran along side Santeetlah Creek to Naked Ground and then down the Slickrock Creek trail into Tennessee.

During the last .5 mile to Naked Ground, the trail climbs very steeply. Most of this section of the trail is a series of switchbacks with about 1,000 feet of elevation climb. With the different levels of experience in our group our pace slowed considerably. As a result, we reached the top much later than we had planned. In addition, we should have refilled our water before we left the creek & started the climb. We found no available water sources at Naked Ground or on Bob Stratton Bald. Instead of continuing on west from Naked Ground into the valley, we decided to stop for the night. While we could have pressed on, the trail ahead would have been very challenging and the return to the high ground at Naked Ground could have been a real problem.

We found a great camp site for the night & pitched camp. While we were exploring Bob Stratton Bald, we encountered a couple of hikers who had lost their dog. She was an older Vizsla, who had backpacked with them many times before. Unfortunately her nose had lead her away from them on this trip. Apparently, her hearing and eyesight were not that great and the dog’s owners were understandably worried. We left them as they were retracing their steps, calling the dog’s name. We worried about the dog’s safety all night. Much to our relief, by the next morning, the dog had found her owners and everyone was very relieved.

As the next morning arrived, we found that at least one of us was feeling the effects of the previous day’s climb to the extent that we decided to shorten the trip. In addition to the extreme fatigue, we had very little water left. We decided to eat a few granola bars and get an early start on the Stratton Trail back to the car expecting to find a water source an hour or so into the morning’s hike. This trail is about 8 miles of moderate trail that descends along the wilderness boundary back to the Rattler Ford Campground where we had left our car.

The Stratton Bald trail was easy to follow, but clearly does not get much use. It descends from Bob Stratton Bald along tree covered ridges. At times the trail ran along ridges that were barely 20-30 feet wide, dropping precipitously away on both sides. Once about a third of the way down, we emerged from the tree cover onto the side of the mountain. The trail was about 2 feet wide with mountain on our left and a sharp drop on our right. Stepping off the trail on the right would have resulted in a tumble down a very steep incline into the tops of trees below. The view was incredible! However, this section of trail was only about 50-75 feet and then plunged back into the woods.

At times, we walked for long stretches through pleasant smelling sassafras bushes. Other sections of the trail were almost clear of any underbrush. We didn't encounter any other hikers on this trail. It was a real wilderness hike.

While we expected to find water soon into our hike, we walked for almost 5 hours before finding even a small water source from which we could filter drinking water. A couple of us were completely out of water & it was good that we found it when we did. Once we had water the rest of the hike progressed quickly. We arrived back at our car tired but determined to return another time to cover the full route.

Joyce Kilmer Memorial/Slickrock Creek Wilderness- part 1

"I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree...."

Background
Joyce Kilmer, a poet & WWI hero, was honored by Congress when a VFW post in New York lobbied to have a stand of forest set aside in his name. This all occurred during the early twentieth century when America was accelerating it’s development and many of our forests were being aggressively logged. (According to the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club’s website, almost all of the state of West Virginia was clear cut during this time in our history! article) As most of the stands of “virgin”, old growth forest in the eastern US were disappearing, the search for an appropriate stand of forest to honor Kilmer was underway.


In 1935, a small forest in southwestern North Carolina was identified as a possibility. This section of forest had for the most part had escaped the logger’s saws and axes. Access to the area was limited when a railway bridge was washed out during a flood. In addition, the economic crisis of 1929 significantly decreased the price of timber. Since this area contained one of the few remaining tracts of virgin hardwood in the Appalachians, Congress acted to protect the forest and the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest was established. The forest is part of a larger wilderness area that includes the Slickrock Wilderness in NC and the adjacent Citico Wilderness in TN. Total acreage for the combined wilderness is 33,620 acres.


The Trip
I had originally planned a backpacking trip into this area in 1999, but the plans were “washed out” due to weather. Finally, in late summer of 2007 the trip was back on! We planned the trip to start from the Joyce Kilmer Memorial parking lot and hike a combination of trails in a figure 8 loop that would allow us to minimize hiking any portion of the trail twice. Our plan was to cover about 20 miles over the 3 day Labor Day holiday. The trails were “Naked Ground”(red), “Slickrock Creek”(red), “Haoe Lead”(red) and “Stratton Bald”(blue) trails. The Jenkins Meadow trail was also an option if we found we needed an alternative route back to the car.

All in all, this was an extraordinary adventure. The forest and scenery are some of the best that I have experienced and I plan to explore more of the wilderness in the future. However, during the past few years as my backpacking experience has increased, I have realized that there always are factors that affect the trip that aren't expected during the planning stages. As with most things, experience leads to better preparation.

While we spent weeks planning & training for the trip, we didn’t anticipate some of what we encountered. Portions of the trail were significantly more steep and challenging than we expected. Water sources were minimal in some areas due to drought conditions. Each individual’s experience and preparation for the physical demands of the trail varied. As we hiked, our plans changed....