Modern Hillbilly: The Cedar Cliffs

Today is Adicus' birthday, so I thought I would take him on a hike since he prefers to do that over fishing. More on the birthday boy in another post. A bit of background on this hike.

First, it starts in the back of my "neighborhood" and climbs about 1000ft in 1 1/2 miles, topping out at an rock outcrop overlooking the Crabtree Valley. I love this hike for many reasons. One being that I have NEVER seen another soul up there, two being that I can see from the Pisgah ledge to the East and the Cataloochee ridge to the west, with the Snowbirds and Balsams tucked in the middle. I think it might be one of the best views around, but I might be a little biased at the same time. I try to make this hike multiple times a year, noticing new things each time I do.

This is one of the places I go just to contemplate the intricacies of life. I find that the peace and solitude, along with the view helps me put things into perspective most of the time. Looking down at the world from 4000+ feet can help me realize how insignificant I (we) really am and how fleeting our time on this earth is, so we better make the best of the run we have. There are no do overs.

Like most of our hikes together, this one started out impressively. It's really not much more than a hard grind up the side of a mountain up some of the old logging roads that litter this area like the Interstates in Atlanta. ( I like the old logging roads better!) This is a spring or fall hike as the old roads have a tendency to get overgrown with grass, briars, and poison ivy during the summer.

Anyone who knows me knows that I can look at poison ivy and break out with it! God forbid I actually get into the stuff, and it grows like fire up here. I have NEVER seen as much poison ivy as I do in Western North Carolina. The blueberries were blooming as were a few other miscellaneous wildflowers, but not a whole lot as we wind down from spring into summer around here.

I'm never disappointed by the view that greets me each time I pop out of the rhododendron onto the cliffs. My favorite spot is a rock that hangs out over the cliffs about 20 ft giving me a 200 degree view with a 800ft vertical drop below me. Most of the times I'm up here I

see all types of different raptors gliding on the warm up currents rising from the valley. Today was no different, I was graced by the presence of a red tailed hawk that floated from the valley below me to rise and crossed the mountain top less than 25ft above my head. What a magnificent animal!

I did what I normally do when I'm up there. I sit on my rock, turn on some 311 and just sit back and relax, soaking up the world around me. I can see clouds envelope Mount Pisgah 30 miles SE of me, I can see cars the size of ants driving down Hwy 209. Everything just seems to be perfect when I'm up here. I really don't have a lot of words that can describe this place, so I'll just give you some photo's to soak up. Adicus and I had a great time, he got to play fetch and I got to empty my head a bit. Hurray for beautiful places, my life would be much less fulfilling without them!