Christy and I went to Montreat last weekend to visit some of my friends from college. Our group rented a house, which worked out great. It was nice not to have to set up and tear down the tent for once. We spent most of the weekend catching up with friends. However, there was no official agenda for the weekend, which left plenty of time for hiking.
The weather forecast for the weekend looked hostile, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky Saturday morning. Patrick decided to join us, and we left the house at 11AM to begin our hike. It was refreshing not to have to drive to the trailhead. Our hike started and ended right there on the front porch. Plus, we were able to sleep in and still get on the trail at a reasonable time.
We walked through town until we reached the beginning of the Stomping Knob Trail. I had heard that this one was steep, and it didn't disappoint us. It was a hot humid day, and it was quite a struggle starting out. We passed the remains of an old still under an overhang before the final climb to Seven Sisters Ridge. At the crest we found an unofficial trail heading south towards the town of Black Mountain. I wanted to explore it, but our route led the other way.
We descended from Stomping Knob and began the climb up to Brushy Knob. Then a loud commotion erupted down the hill to our right. What was it? There was certainly something large tearing through the heavy underbrush. I caught a glimpse of a large dark shape moving away from us. Then a black bear cub raced down the tree in front of us. It followed mama, but the drama wasn't over. I heard another ruckus high up in the same tree. Then, a second cub scampered down the trunk. It was incredibly agile. It almost could have passed for a monkey the way it moved. By this point I was frantically digging for my camera. I managed to get it out just as the second cub disappeared in the foliage. The excitement was over, but the thrill stayed with us all day. I had never seen bear cubs before, and the sense of wilderness was overpowering.
We reached Brushy Knob at lunch time, but everyone was too hot and excited to eat. We continued along the ridge, climbing over numerous knobs. I had only hiked this trail in the winter previously, and I was surprised at how weedy it was. On the upside, the forest was full of flowers. Sunflowers were everywhere. There were numerous other species around as well. Wild Columbine and Birdfoot Violet were two of the most prominent that we identified.
During lunch, we were visited by a hummingbird. Another rarity! Afterwards we continued our climb. As we went, we occasionally had a view of the Craggy Mountains to the west and the Montreat Valley to the east. After 5 miles and 2500' of elevation gain, we reached the summit of Greybeard Mountain. From the summit we had great views of Green Knob, Mackey Mountain, The Pinnacle, Rocky Knobs, The Craggies, Blackstack Knob, Potato Knob, Clingmans Peak, Mt. Gibbes, and of course Mt. Mitchell. We rested for 30 minutes, but we were already running late. By 3:30 it was time to head back down.
On the descent, we passed a solo backpacker carrying a full gallon water jug in each hand. That looked like an unpleasant way to carry water. He was the first person we had seen all day. For variety, we took the Greybeard Trail back down. We followed it to the shelter, but skipped the side trip out to Walker Knob. I hated to pass up on the great view, but we wanted to make sure we got back in time for dinner.
We descended along the creek the rest of the way. The many cascades looked cool and inviting. Towards the end we began to see other hikers. We reached the road at 5pm, but still had to walk back to the house. This took us through town, but the walk was quite pleasant. We stopped at the Huckleberry at Lake Susan for ice cream, but found that they had closed at 5. This was quite disappointing, but we probably would have just ruined our dinner, anyway. We made it back before six, which was almost an hour late. Oh well, it was worth it. Greybeard is one of my favorite hikes, and the bear family only added to it. Hiking should always be this good.
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