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!


View to the ESE, Mount Pisgah is in the center, barely visible in the distance.


View to the S, the Balsam range in to the left and the dairy farms of the Crabtree valley below me.

View to the W, the main ridge of the Cataloochee divide is on the right marking the boundary for Smoky Mountain National Park.


A red tailed hawk floating on the warm updrafts.

Mingo Falls

I was running early for work today, so I decided to head over to Mingo Falls since it has been raining over the past few days and flows would be good. I was right, they were. Mingo can be a little difficult to find. It is off of Big Cove Rd. on the Cherokee reservation. It's past the KOA campground on the right near the Mingo Campground. The trail head is in a small parking lot across the river with stairs leading out of the lot.

Ah, the stairs. This is a short trail, only 2/10ths of a mile to the falls. In that short distance, there are 158 stairs. The good thing is that the trail is short, so even if you had to stop every few minutes, you'd still make it in under 20 minutes. After coming to the top of the stairs, the trail ambles along a little longer until you come to a footbridge that crosses the creek at the base of the falls. Mingo Falls is about 180 ft cascade, not a high volume fall, but impressive from the height. Water flow was good, so the falls looked full, they would definitely be affected during low water.

I snapped some photos and headed back down the trail. I wish there was more I could lend to this post, but the trail was pretty short. I was able to do the whole thing, including time spent at the falls, in under 15 minutes. So, I'll leave you with the photos.

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!

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

Baskins Creek Falls

Hiked to Baskins creek falls with the association for training (getting paid to hike!) on the Tennessee side of the Park. Met up with the group around 9 or so and headed towards the trail head. The trail descended into the woods on soft path of humus and damp leaves. My favorite type of weather for hiking was here; rain threatening, clouds hanging in the sky, smells of the woods hanging heavy in the air. Flame azaleas(Rhododendron calendulaceum) and mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) were blooming. A pleasant surprise was hiding a little off the trail, Pink Lady Slippers(cypripedium acaule) were blooming in a small cluster. The second time I've seen them this year, much to Cat's disgust. We continued to progress through a pine oak forest with laurel beginning to bloom all over.
After taking some photos, we continued down the trail while it unfolded in the rich green of late spring. Taking pause at a trail junction, we started down to the falls, through loose rock and gnarled old roots from trees hanging onto the hillside through sheer tenacity. Coming around a corner of rock, the falls unfolded before along a large cliff of thunderhead sandstone, falling onto stone twisting its way back into to under brush.
A large cliff extended to the left with a tight cascade of water falling through a crag in the wall onto emerald colored moss. Absolutely one of the most beautiful waterfalls I think I've seen in the park. As an added bonus, two small groups of Jack in the Pulpits (Arisaema trphyllum) were blooming on a shady ledge near the falls.
I want to take cat back here sometime soon. It was an absolutely beautiful area and the hike wasn't too bad. A little earlier in the spring, there would probably be alot of early flowers blooming and a little higher flow on the falls. The hike out was pretty uneventful, as was the drive through Gatlinburg and the rest of the way home. Going to places like this is a continual reminder of how diverse and wonderful the mountains I live in are. Despite living here and seeing it day to day, the beauty of it all still takes my breath away. Sometimes I like to think I chose to be here, at others, I think the mountains chose me. Ever since my first trips here as a child, I was mystified by the endless folds of ranges that I saw when my family would drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Later trips as a teenager and with Cat, I always felt like I was leaving something important when we would go back to Georgia. Life is not easy here, sacrifices have been made for us to live here, as well as adjustments to live 10 minutes from the gas station and 25 from the grocery stores and restaurants.

For me, the mountains seem to challenge me on a personal level. Forcing me to examine everything from my belief system to my footprint on the earth. The desire to have a more simplified life is sometimes easier to think about than to put into practice. At this point I am just happy to be able be able to work on these aspects of my life, as opposed to sitting in Atlanta just existing.