Brookies and Busted Shins

My intentions today had been to work on the fire pit, and the beginning of the day began that way, but due to situations beyond my control, it was not to be. Having been itchin to go fishin, I saw it as an excuse to get out of the house for a bit. Little did I know that karma would repay me for fishin when I should've been workin around the yard. I got my things together, I loaded up the dog and headed out for a fringe stream in the Park.

I must interupt, right now it's been raining for over an hour. Started off real hard, but as now turned into a nice drizzle that shouldn't just run off. Wow, now if we could only get 3-4 more of these over the next 2 weeks. Anyway, Adicus and I got to the trail head and headed off until we hit water, and then started into the back country. Now I'll say that I've bushwhacked through some rough country before, but this was insane! Laurel hells (aptly named) thick as I have ever seen, steep hillsides (sometimes more cliff than anything), take a minute vines, loose rock, you name it, it was there. The only casualty was my zinger that holds my nippers, Damn!

After battling our way through some crazy terrain, we finally made it to the water. Unfortunately, the insane landscape did not end there. This was a very steep creek, even for me. And I love steep creeks. Adicus had a frustrating day, and frankly, so did I. The fishing was pretty good. Any decent sized hole held multiple specks, but getting from hole to hole could be quite the challenge. The stream bed was made up of a smoothed granite and quartz that my cleats couldn't bite into, this resulted in a lot of slipping and sliding. My shins are busted all to hell and I lost a ton of flies to the rhodo and laurel gods.

We got to see a waterfall that a lot of people probably never see, but then we had to climb through a laurel hell to get around it and that ended at a cliff. Yeah. After picking our way down, we finally got back to fishin. After retying my rig from loosing it in a tree, I was moving around a deep pool that I had just caught a nice brookie in, my feet lost traction and down I went. I mean like tit deep. The pool was v shaped and I kept grabbing at weeds to pull myself out, but they kept breaking off and sending me in deeper. Finally, I swam to the back of the pool, yes swam, and pulled myself out. Good thing my waders have like a million holes in them, they allowed all 50 gallons of water that had accumulated in them to drain. Alright!

Needless to say, by this point, I was ready to see the foot log that was my outpoint, but that was still a ways off. We continued to fish and continued to catch mountain gems, nothing big, but every hole was loaded with fish. After about another 20 minutes we finally reached the footbridge and began to make our way out. It was a long 3-4 hours of fishin. Frankly, it wasn't worth the amount of effort that went into getting there. I hate to say it, but it's true. It's not often that a stream eats me up, but this one did. I'm sure at some point I'll come back to it, I'm sure there are some big specks in there, but it will be a while before I venture back there.

Solitude on Andrews Bald

I took the opportunity to hike to Andrews Bald after work yesterday, despite the fact it was going to be around 7 before I could get to the trail head. After getting off at 6 I started up to Clingmans Dome and made it to the parking lot by 6:45. I strapped on my daypack and started towards the trail head, which is located between the water fountain and Observation Tower trail. The trail dropped off to the left, descending over loose rock and some excellent trail building using telephone poles. Alot of work went into that, kudos to the trail crews. The trail itself starts off with lots of loose rock and huge stone slabs to the left. After a tenth of a mile, the trail makes a sharp left and drops into a spruce and fir forest, although many of the firs have died due to the balsam woolly adelgid. The trail continued to descend through more loose rock and gnarled roots and then levels out on ridge that is loaded with juvenile spruce and fir trees. As I'm hiking, I'm surrounded by the trilled call of the Veery, a visitor from the Northern tier of the country, singing its song like a flute.

Nothing in particular was blooming along the trail except for the occasional bluet, but the earthy smell of the forest was more than enough to keep me enthralled. The sun was setting, so I was moving along fairly quickly, hoping not to get caught in the dark on the return trip. While scooting around a turn, I could hear a group of people coming towards me, wondering out loud if there were any other idiots out here this late. Perfect timing, huh? I'm your idiot.... After chatting for awhile, I got back to movin along. In about a mile, the Forney Creek trail drops off to the right, while our trail continues on straight. Continuing along a level section, the trail abruptly starts an eroded rocky climb. It climbs through the quite forest only to descend towards Andrews Bald.

This area is named for Andres Thompson who herded cattle on the bald in the 1840's. During this time, Forney Ridge was called Rip Shin Ridge, a testament to it's rocky slopes I'm sure. Andres moved his family to the bald around 1850, where he continued to live after returning home from the Civil War. The origins of the Southern Appalachian balds is still a mystery to scientist today. Some think they were created by fires, and others thinks it's from Eastern Bison grazing here and then maintained and expanded by the Cherokee and later on by the settlers of the region. Although we may never know, they are beautiful spots, that are unique and becoming rarer in Southern Appalachia.

Andrews Bald unfolded slowly, hiding it's magnificence behind scattered stands of young firs., with the occasional Rhododendron or Flame Azalea peeking out. I came around a large stand of firs to be stopped by gassy field with azaleas and rhodo acting as a foreground to a view of the Unicoi, Snowbird, and Balsam mountain ranges. Such a magnificent view that spread out in front of me. Flame Azaleas (rhododendron calendulaceum) in their fiery oranges acting out in against the green backdrop punctuated the occasional Catawba Rhododendron (rhododendron catawhiense) that was sill blooming in a soft purple hue. This is why I live here. This exact moment, this view, this unbelievable beauty. The only sound I can here is the buzzing of bees and the slight rustle of of the trees in a soft breeze. The moment is intruded upon by a plane flying high above me to somewhere, with people who might never get the chance to achieve complete peace in a place such as this.

Sitting on a rock, I can see Lake Fontana in the distance shining like a jewel on a green carpet. Two forest fires are burning some ways off. Looks like ones around Chillowee and the other somewhere around the Balsams. Light clouds are blowing across the horizon as the sky darkens to deeper blues while the sun falls slowly to the horizon. Suddenly, I snap out of my trance and remember I need to get back before it gets too dark. I really don't want to walk up that loose rock in darkness. Moving along the trail, I am accompanied to the trail head by the continual singing of more Veerys, such a pretty song. I'm jolted back to reality as I can hear loud voices and laughter above me at the Clingmans Dome parking lot. As I get to the top, I run onto one of the L.E. guys I know that is responding to someone having tried to breakin to the Friends of the Smokies donation box. Sad. I don't know how they're going to get into it, the locks were destroyed.

After chatting for a bit, I jumped into the truck for the ride home in the deepening twilight. I was lucky enough to catch the last bit of a beautiful sunset from the Bunches Bald Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. After soaking in the last few rays of light, it was time to get home before Cat started wondering where I was. It was a wonderful evening to do this hike, the blooms had peaked, but even without them, this is still a rewarding hike. It was made all that more special by being the only one there to enjoy it. I surprised myself by making this hike in a little over an hour for both legs, but not including time spent at the bald, which was definitely not long enough. I would rate this as somewhere between easy to moderate. There were no brutal climbs, but the amount of rock moved it into the moderate area. Total lentgh was about 3.6 miles and it is definitely worth it!