GRANDFATHER MOUNTAIN THE LONG WAY
I got an email from Patrick last week, asking if we had any plans to do Grandfather Mountain anytime soon. He is backpacking the Grand Canyon in September, and was looking for a good workout. I hadn't given Grandfather much thought, but we were looking for a place to go Sunday. The forecast looked great, so we decided to go for it.
Christy and I met Patrick in Morganton at 8:30. We carpooled from there to the Grandfather Mountain entrance station. We bought $6 hiking permits and drove on to the Boone Fork Parking area on the parkway. We got on the trail by 10, knowing we had a full day ahead of us. Our plan was to cross the entire range, all the way to McRae Peak, and return. We had done a one-way hike from this point to the Swinging Bridge once, but this hike would be nearly double that.
We hiked into the woods, and I promptly led us the wrong direction on the Tanawha Trail. I realized my error after a few minutes and we backtracked. We crossed a bridge over Boone Fork and then turned onto the Nuwati Trail. This easy path led us up the valley to a junction with the Cragway Trail. Now the climb was about to begin.
We ascended on switchbacks, and passed several rock outcrops with great views of the "Boone Fork Bowl". The bowl is a narrow valley surrounded by ridges on three sides. At the head of the valley is Calloway Peak, the highest point on Grandfather. It was rather cloudy, but the view was still pretty good. At least there wasn't much sun to make things hot.
We climbed up to the Daniel Boone Trail, and followed it toward Calloway Peak. This stretch of trail led up through northern hardwoods and eventually spruce and fir. We passed several campsites, and stopped at the small shelter just below Calloway Peak. We enjoyed the fine view toward Wilson Creek, and contemplated spending the night here sometime in the future.
We climbed on, and reached the first of three ladders below Calloway. We hadn't brought Saucony because of the ladders, but I think she could've found a way around them. Once the ladders were behind us, the summit was just ahead. We arrived at 12:30, and had the peak to ourselves for lunch. Unfortunately, the clouds were even thicker, and the views were very limited by the haze.
By 1:15 we had a decision to make. Should we continue on to McRae, or head back down? We decided to continue. For the next hour we scrambled over rocks, climbed and descended ladders, and wove in and out of meadows and balsam groves. We found some ripe blueberries along the way as well. We reached the chute and descended quickly. From there, it was a fairly simply climb up McRae. We had to negotiate a couple of additional ladders, but by 2:30 we found ourselves on top of McRae peak. We enjoyed a break and watched the clouds build. Soon a fog rolled in, and it wasn't long before everything but our peak disappeared. Soon it was gone as well, and then the rain came. It was a cold, wind-driven shower, and it chased us off the mountain. By 3pm it was time to head back.
The rain stopped, but our fatigue began to show. Christy slipped on a wet rock and landed on her arm. Then, I bashed my shin into a log. Somehow, Patrick managed to avoid abusing himself, and we dragged ourselves back up Calloway Peak by 4pm.
After another brief break, we began the final descent to the Parkway. We reached the car at 6, after 10 miles and 8 hours of rugged hiking.
The drive home was quite entertaining. We had passed a giant hornet's nest on the trail, and that got us talking about bee stings. I had just told a story about getting stung below the eye, when Patrick told his.
"Once, I got stung on Leconte."
I could barely believe my ears. "You got stung where?" "That must've swelled up something awful!"
We laughed most of the way back to Morganton. Well, I guess you had to be there.
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