OLD MAN WINTER
Before
last weekend, I was afraid that I might go through an entire winter without
seeing snow. This was horribly
disappointing, since I hadn’t seen any since August (in Wyoming). Finally, last weekend the N.C. mountains got a substantial snow storm. The opportunity was too good to pass up. Bob S. and Bob J. and I made hiking plans
designed to take advantage of it.
We
decided to spend our day on Grandfather Mountain. Grandfather is a challenging destination in
the winter, as the high-elevation trails tend to be icy. For this trip, we planned to hike on the east
side of the mountain, where the trails are a little less rugged. Access to this area is easy, even when the Parkway
is closed, because there is a trailhead on highway 221. Also, Bob S. was eager to check out a natural
feature there known as the Boone Bowl.
The Boone Bowl is a valley that some geologists believe was carved by a
glacier. This is remarkable simply
because the closest area known to have been glaciated is hundreds of miles to
the north.
The
final plan I came up with is a hike I’ve done many times. First we’d hike to
Storyteller’s Rock in the middle of the Boone Bowl. Then we’d take the Cragway
Trail up to the Daniel Boone Trail. If
time and conditions allowed, we’d make an attempt at reaching the summit of
Calloway Peak, Grandfather Mountain’s highest point.
I
met Bob S in Charlotte, and we picked up Bob J in Hickory. From there we headed up to Blowing Rock and
picked up highway 221 towards Linville.
We reached a rest area that would’ve made a great place for a potty
stop, except that it is closed for the winter.
Unfortunately, this meant driving well beyond our trailhead, to the
Grandfather Mountain entrance station, for a final toilet break. As a result, we started our hike 30 minutes
later than planned, which ended up having a big impact on our hike.
It
was after 10am when we finally got on the trail. On the drive up we were all speculating about
when we would start running into snow.
We didn’t have to wonder long, as there were
several inches at the trailhead. The
trailhead parking area was snow-covered, so it is probably good that we brought
Bob’s 4wd truck.
We
started on the Asuti Trail, which we followed through
tunnels of rhododendron. This trail was
well-packed, indicating that it had seen a fair bit of traffic in the last day
or two. We followed Boone Fork upstream,
passing under a Blue Ridge Parkway bridge.
A minute later we joined the Tanawha Trail
just west of its bridge over Boone Fork.
At this point we reached a new kiosk for Grandfather Mountain State
Park. At the kiosk we filled out a free
permit before resuming the hike.
We
hiked west on the Tanawha Trail for awhile, and I
began to wonder if we’d somehow missed the turn for the Nuwati
Trail. Perhaps we’d overlooked it in the
snow? Eventually I insisted that we
double-back to the kiosk to make sure we hadn’t passed it. We returned to the kiosk, but didn’t see the
trail. At that point we backtracked
again. A bit beyond our initial
turn-around point we reached the junction we were looking for. This was a little embarrassing, considering
that I’ve done this hike at least a half-dozen times over the years. Ultimately we hiked that stretch of the Tanawha Trail four times.
This wasn’t really a big deal, but it did cost us about 15 minutes,
which we paid for later.
We
enjoyed easy walking in the snow along the Nuwati
Trail. This trail stays above Boone Fork
for about a mile, following an old, rocky roadbed. We did pass 2 hikers with a dog along
here. They were the only people we saw
all day.
The
upper end of the Nuwati Trail was more
challenging. First we crossed a
tributary and the Boone Fork on icy rocks.
Then we scrambled up a steep, rocky stretch of trail. This brought us to a campsite at the base of
Storyteller’s Rock.
Before
the hike started I’d expressed some concerns about climbing to the top of
Storyteller’s Rock. It’s a steep climb
up a sloping rock face, and in the best of conditions it requires grabbing onto
trees. This was not the best of
conditions. We were part of the way up
when we stopped to put on our Yaktrax ice
cleats. We ended up wearing them the
rest of the day, with mixed results. The
good news is that they provided us with traction on icy stretches of trail. I’m not sure I would’ve made it to the top of
Storyteller’s Rock without them. On the
other hand, all of us had problems with them.
Periodically someone had to stop to adjust them after they slipped out
of position. Also, I think everybody had
one go flying at least once. Bob J lost
one heading towards Calloway, but was lucky enough to find it on the way back
down. Even worse, both Bobs had an
attachment break during the hike. They
both have sets that were purchased recently, while mine are an older model. I suspect that their quality has deteriorated
in recent years. In fact, this is the
second pair that has broken on Bob S in the last couple of years.
We
enjoyed nice views of the Boone Bowl and Calloway Peak from the top of
Storyteller’s Rock. We didn’t linger
long though, as the icy rocks were awkward, and a cold wind was blowing down
the valley. We backtracked down the Nuwati Trail and began looking for a lunch spot. At one point we started up a side trail
leading to a campsite, thinking that it would make a good place for lunch. This was a mistake, as apparently the
campsite is WAY off the main trail.
After a few minutes of climbing we gave up on that and returned to the
main trail. Farther downstream we found
another campsite adjacent to the trail.
We sat on snowy logs and ate our lunch.
I had hot soup from a thermos, which is a nice treat on a cold, snowy
day.
After
lunch we continued the hike by climbing the Cragway
Trail. At this point, the real adventure
began. There were no footprints in the
snow on the Cragway Trail, meaning that we were the
first people to attempt it since the storm.
This part of the hike was difficult, as the trail climbs rather steeply out
of the valley. A few places required a
bit of scrambling, which was exciting in the snow. The effort was worth it though, as the Cragway Trail offered the best views of the day. The best was from an overlook called Top Crag. From there we had a bird’s-eye view of the
Boone Bowl and the surrounding ridges.
Calloway Peak was just visible above, and snowy peaks rolled away from
us to the south and east.
After
a long break we continued up the Cragway Trail to the
junction with the Daniel Boone Scout Trail.
At the junction we skipped the side trail out to Flat Rock View, which
isn’t as impressive of a view as Top Crag.
At
this point we had a decision to make. It
was almost 2pm, and with sunset at 5:30 we didn’t have a lot of time at our
disposal. I suggested that we continue
towards Calloway Peak, but recommended that we set a turnaround time of 2:50 to
ensure that we made it out before dark.
I doubted that we’d be able to reach the summit in that time, but I wasn’t
ready to head back to the car at that point, either.
We
hiked up the Daniel Boone Scout Trail, enjoying a gorgeous spruce / fir forest
draped in fresh snow. We were the first
people through here since the storm.
Most of the tree branches were still holding snow, making for a pretty
scene. However, it also slowed us down,
as I frequently had to knock snow off the drooping branches to clear the
trail. Despite my efforts, everyone
managed to get snow down their backs at least once or twice. Bob J even managed to get some down the back
of his pants, which must’ve been refreshing.
Despite
the challenging conditions, we only had a few mishaps. Bob J fell twice and I fell once, but there
were no major injuries. Bob S managed to
remain upright all day, but had trouble dropping things. At various times he lost a lens cap and a
hand towel, but we managed to recover everything.
Once
we got high up on Grandfather I began to keep my eye out for the wreckage of an
airplane. I’ve seen the wreckage before,
but on this day I didn’t spot it. The
debris mainly consists of silver sheet metal, and I imagine it was hidden under
the snow.
We
passed the 2.5 mile marked at 2:45. At
this point, we were a ˝ mile from the summit of Calloway Peak. We were close, yet we weren’t. A minute later we reached the base of a rock
face that is a little tricky to climb in dry conditions. On this day it was covered in a dusting of
snow and a layer of ice. It looked like
more than our Yaktrax could handle, and we’d never
make Calloway by 2:50 in any event. We
all agreed to turn around at that point.
I was proud of our group for not letting “summit fever” overwhelm our better judgment.
The
hike down was quick, easy, and beautiful.
Shortly before reaching the car, cold rain and sleet began to fall. We reached the trailhead at 5pm, ready to hit
the road after a wonderful day hiking in the snow! Hopefully it won’t be our last snow hike of
the year. The next time I hike up that
way in the winter I’d like to hike over to Ship Rock on Rough Ridge. That would be a long hike (9 miles round trip
from Serenity Farm), but it would offer some nice views without the usual
warm-weather crowds.
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