REDEMPTION
I
first hiked to Mackey Creek back in February, 2002. Mackey Creek drains the next valley east of
Curtis Creek, outside of Old Fort, NC.
On that first hike, Dave and I reached the creek, which is a
beauty. It’s a big creek, but wild and
remote. Unfortunately we weren’t able to
explore very far. The water was up, it
was cold, and making progress upstream or down would’ve required wading. I vowed to go back.
Somehow
it took me more than 7 years. In April,
2009 Jack and some other friends accompanied me on an attempt at exploring the
creek. Initially we tried to access the
area from downstream, but found the access questionable. A dirt road follows the creek upstream
through private property before ending at a gate. Both sides of the road were posted with no
trespassing signs, and there were a few houses along the way, too. We abandoned that approach and drove over to
the Curtis Creek Campground. From there
we hiked up Hickory Branch to the ridge north of Lead Mine Gap. Then we attempted to descend an old trail down
to Mackey Creek. This was the route I’d
taken in 2002, but this time we lost the trail part of the way down. We wandered around in a mess of fallen trees
for a while before giving up.
That
failure has bugged me ever since. Had
the trail been swallowed up by Mother Nature, or did we just miss a switchback
and lose it in the deadfall? Making
another attempt has been in the back of my mind for 5 years.
Last
weekend was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. I wanted to do a hike, but didn’t have any
specific plans. I drove up to Curtis
Creek Campground on Saturday morning.
The campground was busy, but as usual the trails were quiet. In fact, I didn’t see anyone else all
day. That makes me wonder – how many of
the folks that camp at Curtis Creek go hiking? What do they do all day?
I
got started just before 9 and quickly discovered that it had rained the night
before. The trail was brushy –
particularly above the waterfall on Hickory Branch, and the vegetation was
soaking wet. It wasn’t long before I was
drenched.
When
I reached the view of the waterfall on Hickory Branch I paused. I hadn’t planned to stop for photos, but the
light was good and the waterfall was more impressive than I remembered. There are now at least 3 paths leading down
from the trail to the base of the falls.
The 2 most direct routes are steep, treacherous, and rather hard on the
hillside. The best approach is to backtrack a short distance and contour around on a more
gentle approach. This path brought me to
the creek just downstream from the falls.
From there some minor rock hopping and scrambling got me to the base.
I
managed a few photos before the sun rose above the ridge behind the falls. That rendered photography hopeless, but my
timing had been good. I returned to the
trail and climbed up above the falls.
After a couple of creek crossings I reached a spur trail to the upper
falls. This waterfall is actually on a
fork of Hickory Branch. It isn’t much
though – it’s on a small stream, and the waterfall is always covered in
deadfall. The most interesting feature
is the numerous large trees in the valley just upstream.
From
there switchbacks took me up the ridge between the two forks. There are a couple of limited views along
here, but the vegetation is thick enough to obscure the best vistas. A little over an hour after starting out I
reached a gap on the ridge. A trail runs
north and south here. I headed south,
determined to the find the trail down to Mackey Creek.
My
map shows the trail forking after a short distance, with the left fork
descending to Mackey Creek and the right fork following the ridge to Lead Mine
Gap and beyond. I didn’t see any sign of
the right fork. I stayed on the obvious
trail, which drops off the ridge onto the east side. I passed a huge oak tree before curving left
onto a spur ridge. The trail was pretty
easy to follow, though frequent blow downs obscured it at times. Occasional flagging kept me on track, and I
moved slowly to make sure I didn’t miss a switchback. The final half of the ridge is exceptionally
steep, but the switchbacks moderate the grade.
I
reached Mackey Creek a few minutes later.
The trail crosses the creek at this point, but an old railroad grade
continues upstream. Just ahead it passes
a likely campsite. I decided to go the
other way though. The creek is large,
and even in July there was too much water to rock hop. I waded across in my boots, since I figured
they’d be getting sooner or later. I
picked up an old railroad grade on the far side and headed downstream.
I
followed the creek through a wild, remote forest. Before long I spotted a tributary stream
cascading into the creek. Just beyond I
reached a huge fallen tree spanning the creek.
The trail crosses here, but the log looked slippery and my boots were
already wet. I waded across again and resumed
the hike. Before long I spotted a pretty
cascade below. I bushwhacked down to the
creek and found a nice spot for lunch. I
took advantage of a passing cloud to take photos.
Afterwards,
I returned to the trail and continued downstream. Before long I reached a water intake
facility. Mackey Creek is one of the
water sources for the city of Marion.
Just below the intake is an impressive cascade. I wanted a better look, but I didn’t see a
route to the base that wouldn’t require hardcore bushwhacking. Since I was solo, I decided to save it for
another day. I continued down the trail,
which was now a gravel road.
Unfortunately, the road stays high above the creek, which runs through a
minor gorge. There are some substantial
cascades down there, but I couldn’t tell from my elevated vantage if there were
any significant waterfalls. Once again,
descending would’ve required hardcore bushwhacking. I guess that’s just another reason to return!
A
steep descent brought me to another creek crossing. Just upstream is a footlog
high above the creek. The “bridge” has a
hand cable, but the log is skinny. I
waded again.
I
continued down the road to a gate. Just
beyond the gate are signs indicating the National Forest boundary. Just beyond was a small parking area on the
east side of the road (room for 1-2 cars) and a small field on the west
side. The field is marked with a “no
parking” sign and a “danger no trespassing” sign”. A bit farther down the road is another set of
signs indicating the National Forest boundary.
I’m not sure which one is correct, but the difference is
significant. If the boundary is before
the gate, the only possible parking area is on private property. I was hoping to determine if this trailhead
is accessible to public, but I’m still not sure.
I
doubled-back from there. I hiked back
upstream to the confluence of Laurel Branch.
My map shows a trail following Laurel Branch, connecting Mackey Creek
and the Mackey Mountain Trail. The
description on the map is confusing. It
describes the Mackey Creek / Laurel Branch junction in two different
sections. In one place, it says to hike
downstream along Mackey Creek, cross Laurel Branch, and look for an old logging
road on the left. The other description
says to hike upstream along Mackey Creek, cross Laurel Branch, and look for an
old logging road on the right. So….I
wasn’t sure if the trail was on the north or south side of Laurel Branch.
I
found a faint hint of an old logging road on the south side. It wasn’t much, but I tried to follow
it. It took me up onto the hillside
above the creek. Before long, I found
myself following the pipeline from the water intake. It brought me to a gully that was choked with
doghobble.
This was clearly not the route, so I dropped down to Laurel Branch. I found another old road, but it died out
after a short distance.
I
returned to the main trail along Mackey Creek.
I crossed Laurel Branch, but didn’t find any hint of an old logging road
on the north side. If that route still
exists, it’s probably on the south side, but I certainly didn’t see it.
I
hiked back by the same route. When I
reached the first creek crossing I decided to explore upstream. I followed an old railroad grade a short
distance to the confluence of the main creek and a major tributary that runs
off of Mackey Mountain. There is a lovely
10’ cascade here, so I stopped for photos.
I then crossed the main creek and the tributary. On the far side I found old railroad grades
heading up both streams. Both were
marked with ribbons. I walked a short
distance along each, but didn’t see any waterfalls or significant
cascades. I plan to return on another
hike to see where those trails lead.
I
returned to Curtis Creek Campground by the same route. Thunderstorms began to threaten towards the end
of the hike, but I made it back to the car before the rain arrived.
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