Barnett Knob Firetower

I had some time to kill for work the other day, so I decided to go for a short hike before I went in. I've been driving past a fire road near the end of the Blueridge Parkway for the past couple of months, and I didn't really know where it led to other than to an old fire tower. I figured today was as good as any day to find out what was up there. Not a whole lot. The trail (gated fire road) led uphill at a fairly easy grade through a mixed forest of oak, hickory, and basswood. With the occasional sassafras and magnolia tree peeking through the canopy. Like most fire roads, because of their open nature, wildflowers were fairly abundant along the sides of the road. Large clumps of Indian Paintbrush (castilleja coccinea) were blooming in some of the sunnier hillsides along with dwarf cinquefoil (potenilla canadensis) and wild geraniums (geranium macultum). In one of the shadier spots, I came across a small cluster of yellow stargrass (hypoxis hirusta) poking it's head up from a mat of brown leaves. Other than that, most of the hike was pretty uneventful. As I continued around the bend in the fire road, I came upon a chain link fence encircling a couple of communication towers as well as the fire tower and the little house that served as home to whom ever was stationed there.

I was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to climb the tower after hiking up there. I started around the fence only to find a hole in it large enough to drive a truck through. WARNING!!!!! I'm sure that by stepping through the fence, it would be considered trespassing. Enter at your own risk!!!! Needless to say, I stepped over the fence without a second thought.

You could here the towers humming with electricity, so I didn't get real close to them. I think one is a repeater tower for the NPS, and the other is part of the Cherokee Nation telecommunications system. I passed around the old cabin and faced the tower. Looked pretty solid to me, so up I went. Now, most of the metal towers have metal grids for the landings, which have a tendency to flex under weight. So did this one, which makes the whole thing that much more nerve racking. The top of the tower was locked, so I had to stand on the sagging platform to take photos. The views were not so good that day, so I didn't stay that long. As you can see, there was quite a bit of clouds and haze in the air, so the views were a bit limited.

This wasn't a hike I would go out of my way for, but if you're in the area, why not? It took less than an hour for me to hike up there and back to the truck, and there was some decent wildflower bloomage going on. Next week : Mingo Falls