TICK FARM
In
the North Carolina Mountains, wildflowers typically hit their peak around late
April or early May. At this time of
year, I try to plan my hikes to hit the best flower locations. Last weekend, Jack, Bob, and I decided to get
together for a hike. As usual, we
considered a number of options. Then I
remembered that neither of them had ever been to Mackey Mountain. When I realized that I hadn’t been there in 7
years myself, I knew we had to go.
Boone
and I met Bob, along with his son, Andy, near Charlotte. We rode together from there, and met up with
Jack and Joel in Marion. We consolidated
down to two vehicles, and went trailhead hunting from there.
Mackey
Mountain has a nice network of trails.
Unfortunately, all of the trailheads on the south and east side of the area
are on private property. On my first
hike there, some 12 or 13 years ago, we thru-hiked the 8-mile Mackey Mountain
Trail. Before the hike, we had trouble
locating the southeast trailhead, despite having a detailed map and a trail
description. Ultimately, we ended up
just leaving a vehicle in the area where we THOUGHT the trail would come
out. In hindsight, this was pretty
risky, but back in those days we often threw caution to the wind. That hike turned out to be pretty nice, but
the highlight was near the end, when we passed through a cove full of massive
Hemlocks. Unfortunately, a few minutes
later, we found that the trail literally ended in someone’s backyard. Woops! At that point, turning back wasn’t an option,
and we had no choice but to blunder by their house. Fortunately, there wasn’t anybody home.
Today,
I wanted to explore that area and see if we couldn’t find a proper
trailhead. Perhaps the trail had been
rerouted sometime over the last 12 years?
We drove up Clear Creek Road, but shortly before the end, we found it
posted with private property signs. This
wasn’t encouraging, and other likely options failed to materialize. We gave up on that route, and moved on to
plan B.
My
next option was to leave a car at Mackey Creek.
My map indicated a trail heading up the creek, crossing into the
National Forest after less than a mile.
Here, too, we didn’t see anything like a proper trailhead. We probably could’ve found our way by
following the creek, but there wasn’t a good place to leave a car. Finally we decided to skip it, and drove
around to the Curtis Creek Campground to approach the area from the west. Going
this way would ensure that the entire hike would be in the National Forest.
We
got started at 10, a bit delayed with all of the driving around. That was ok though, as the hike I’d planned
wasn’t terribly long. We parked at the
upper end of the campground, just after the bridge over Curtis Creek. We walked through a grassy field with
campsites, which were mostly occupied. From there, we climbed the ridge separating
Curtis Creek from Hickory Branch. We did
avoid the rutted gully going straight up the hill though, opting inside for a
pleasant pair of switchbacks. Along
here, we passed dozens of lovely Crested Dwarf Iris in full bloom.
We
crested the hill, and dropped quickly down to Hickory Branch. From there, we hiked upstream, rock hopping
the creek several times. We passed some
nice campsites in a lovely forest, as well as long stretches of trail decorated
with wildflowers. Before long, Hickory
Branch Falls loomed ahead. I had
mentioned to Bob that we’d see two waterfalls on this trail, but that neither were terribly exciting.
My first thought was that Hickory Branch Falls was a lot nicer than I
remembered! There was a fair bit of
water in the creek, which made a huge difference. Bob was quite impressed, and he and Jack
worked their way down an incredibly steep slope to reach the base. I was satisfied with a view about halfway
down, where a large boulder presented a good vantage point for photos. Although it was a sunny morning, the gorge
was shady enough that we were able to get some decent photos.
From
there we returned to the trail and continued upstream. Moments later, we passed a small cascade,
with some blooming Rhododendron right in front of it. We continued on, passing below some massive
boulders, before reaching the forks of Hickory Branch. We followed a short side path up the right
fork, and arrived at the base of the upper falls. This one would be fairly nice, except that it’s
littered with some large, fallen trees.
It wasn’t hard to see where those trees had come from. Just upstream from the falls, we could easily
see a handful of massive Tuliptrees (aka Yellow
Poplars). Bob wanted to get a closer
look at them, but we didn’t find a route to them that wouldn’t have required
some gnarly bushwhacking.
From
here, the climb got serious.
Unfortunately, so did the sun.
Before long, we were all sweating profusely on this unusually hot April
day. This theme continued as we
climbed. Finally, shortly before the top
of the ridge, we reached the first view of the day. We got a nice look at Snooks
Nose Ridge and Green Knob, its fire tower just barely visible to the naked
eye. This proved to be a nice place to
rest, as there was a pleasant breeze blowing through here.
Andy
and Joel caught up with us, and we all continued on to the top of the
ridge. Originally I had hoped to reach
Mackey Creek for lunch, but it was already noon, and the creek was still a mile
or more away. Plus, Joel and Andy needed
a break, and the breeze was still with us.
I set out food for Boone, and he did something I’d never seen before: he
ignored it. He was so overheated,
he had no interest in eating. This was
shocking, as he typically inhales his food in less than a minute. I gave him some water, which was more
appealing, but he seemed mostly interested in lying in a cool pile of leaves
under some Rhododendrons.
After
lunch, Jack, Bob, and I set out for Mackey Creek. Joel and Andy decided to turn back, once they
found out that getting to Mackey Creek would require descending almost a
thousand feet. The rest of us headed
south, towards Chestnutwood Mountain, but we angled
off the ridge onto the east flank. We
followed good trail through more wildflowers, until we reached a spur ridge heading
down into the valley. The trail became
faint here, but was marked with ribbons.
We headed down, dodging a lot of deadfall blocking the trail. From 7 years earlier, I remembered a lot of
large oak trees in this area. I didn’t
see many now though, and wondered if most of them weren’t now lying across the
trail! That brings me to a philosophical
question: If a huge tree falls in a
forest, but there’s nobody there to hear it, will you have to climb over it on
a future hike? I’m thinking the answer
is yes.
Eventually
the descent became extremely steep.
About this time, the ribbons disappeared, and all hint of a trail
vanished. This was puzzling, as I’d
remembered a pretty good trail, with switchbacks even, when we’d hiked here 7
years ago. Of course, a lot can change
in 7 years, and in this case, it wasn’t for the better. This was disappointing, as I was really
looking forward to exploring Mackey Creek.
I’d only seen a small part of it on my previous visit, and it was
lovely. Today I’d hoped for more.
Instead,
we decided to head back. We knew Andy
and Joel were waiting for us, so we didn’t want to turn this into an
all-afternoon bushwhack. I think under
different circumstances we could’ve made it, but I’ll have to save that for
another occasion. I just hope it doesn’t
take me another 7 years!
We
climbed back up to the ridgecrest,
but Andy and Joel had already headed down.
It was still early though, and we weren’t quite ready to call it a
day. We figured they’d be content
waiting for us by the creek, so we chose to extend the hike. Mackey Creek was out of the question, so I suggested
the next best thing. From our lunch
spot, a trail heads north, up Buckeye Knob.
From my visit 7 years ago, I remembered that the trail was quite
primitive, but it did offer some nice views.
We decided to give it a try, as at least the beginning of the path
appeared to be in good shape.
Buckeye
Knob was a bit of a grunt, particularly the last stretch, which was very steep. Although steep, the trail was in surprisingly
good shape. Along the way we were
tantalized with occasional views through the scrubby trees along the
ridge. I was hoping for a more open
vista, but that didn’t come at the south summit. There is a small grove of Carolina Hemlocks
here, which eliminates all views. From
this point, I decided to explore a faint path leading out a spur ridge to the
west. Meanwhile, Jack pressed on to the
north summit in hopes of some scenery.
Going
out the spur ridge was a bit unpleasant, as the “path”
was little better than a total bushwhack.
I dodged fallen trees, scrappy branches, and brambles to reach a decent
view to the west. Beyond that point it
was more of the same, although a few nice views did appear. The best gave me a good look at the high
peaks along the Blue Ridge Parkway, stretching from Green Knob to the Craggy
Mountains to the west.
We
all regrouped back at the south summit.
I was bleeding a little from a few scratches, while Jack was practically
gushing from a couple of gashes he’d acquired on the way down to Mackey Creek. Bob, wisely, had chosen to nap under the
Hemlocks. We took a long break there,
and I gave Boone the last of my water.
He still seemed overheated, and I was a little worried about him. Still, I knew he’d be fine once we got back
down to the creek.
Eventually
we headed back, and made great time chasing after Andy and Joel. We reached the cars shortly after they did,
and Jack and Joel headed back to Marion to retrieve Joel’s car. Meanwhile, Bob, Andy, and I headed directly
out to the interstate. This had a couple
of advantages. First, it was
faster. Second, it took us directly past
a Dairy Queen, which seemed justified after hiking all day in temperatures that
must’ve been in the upper 80’s.
On
the drive home, Bob found one tick after another attempting to take up residence
on him. He had found a couple earlier,
at lunch, so apparently they’re attracted to him. Andy and I didn’t acquire any, although I did
pull several off of Boone (despite his shiny new tick collar). Every few minutes, one of us rolled down the
window and pitched another hapless blood sucker out into a 70 mph breeze. By the time we reached Gastonia, Bob had
removed 7 ticks, while I’d found 4 on Boone.
This was startling for everyone.
I hardly ever encounter ticks in the mountains, and even Bob said he
normally didn’t have problems with them.
Despite this claim, I’m anointing him with a new nickname – Tick Farm.
I’m
already plotting another hike to the Mackey Mountain area. Not reaching Mackey Creek was disappointing,
which only adds to my motivation. Since approaching
Mackey Creek from the south or east is problematic, I’ve come up with a longer
but more intriguing route entirely on public land. It would be a loop hike of about 14 miles,
combining Mackey Mountain itself, Mackey Creek, and Buckeye Knob. There’s a lot of elevation change though, and
at least part of the route will be a bushwhack. In fact, there’s no telling what kind of
condition some of the other trails are in.
Considering these factors, I’ll probably wait and do it as a backpacking
trip, so I don’t have to worry about finishing a marathon hike in a single day.
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