FRESH POWDER
This winter is off to a mild
start, so when I heard that the mountains were expecting some snow on Friday, I
planned a hike for the next day. It
didn’t sound like a big storm, with forecasters only calling for a couple of
inches at the higher elevations. That would be enough to cover the ground
though, and not so much that we’d have trouble getting to the trailhead. Since the snow was expected to be limited to
the western peaks near the Tennessee state line, I decided to go to a section
of the AT I hadn’t hiked. We’d start at
Hughes Gap, on the state line near Roan Mountain. Instead of heading up to Roan though, we’d go the other
direction. Our hike would take us to
the summit of Little Rock Knob and beyond.
It’s 8 miles to the next road crossing, but we only planned to bring one
car. Since a shuttle was out of the
question, we’d just hike for a few miles and then turn around.
I met Bob in Icard and rode
with him the rest of the way. We passed
through Bakersville, and started seeing snow as we neared the state line. The last mile of road is unpaved, and it was
snow-covered when we arrived that morning.
We proceeded cautiously, and reached the small parking area at the gap
without any trouble.
It was a cold morning, and
the wind was howling through the gap.
Bob’s thermometer showed a temperature of 19 degrees as we gathered our
gear. I tend to under-dress when I’m
preparing for an uphill hike, and I was really feeling the cold at the
trailhead. Bob was, too. His hands were frozen, so he resorted to
sticking them down his pants. By the
time Bob finally finished playing with himself, I was ready to go.
We started up the trail,
which was covered with an inch or two of snow.
The snow was untracked, indicating that we were the first hikers on this
stretch of trail since the storm. Once
we left the gap, the wind died down.
This was fortunate, because we didn’t go uphill much at first. We wondered through the woods, where the
tree branches were decorated with snow.
The AT guide claims that the ascent of Little Rock Knob gains 900’ of
elevation in 1.3 miles. After a ½ mile
of relatively level hiking, I was concerned about how steep the remainder of
the climb would be. A steep climb in
the snow would be a challenge.
We finally began to climb,
first by curving around the mountain and then by ascending switchbacks. The trail was rarely steep, and we reached
the wooded summit after an hour.
Considering the grade and the time it took us to reach the top, I had
some doubts about the accuracy of the trail guide. Surely we had covered more than 1.3 miles!
Just beyond the summit we
reached a cliff with a series of great views north, west, and south. Rhododendron clings to the cliffs, and the
leaves were all covered in rime ice.
Despite the lingering clouds, the view extended to Whitetop Mountain and
Mount Rogers in Virginia. Rolling hills
extended to the west, and the massive bulk of Unaka Mountain was prominent to
the south. We stopped here for a break
and took a bunch of photos.
It was already lunchtime,
but I wanted to hike on to the next shelter to eat. It was still cold and windy on the summit. Descending from the cliffs was tricky, as
the path worked its way down snow-covered rock faces. We slowly worked our way down to easier terrain before hustling
on towards the shelter. We passed
through one gap and over a minor hill before reaching the side trail to the
shelter.
The Clyde Smith shelter is
nice, and rather lightly used. We
feasted on soup from a thermos. That
soup tasted a lot better than it would have in the kitchen at home! I signed the shelter register, and we
decided to continue another hour or so before heading back.
The next couple of miles
featured easy hiking. After almost an
hour we crossed an old road in Greasy Creek Gap. There is a campsite here, but the road may be used by ATV’s. We continued beyond the gap, towards a
viewpoint promised by the AT guide. We
hiked another 10 minutes, but didn’t find the view. We could see Roan Mountain clearly through the trees, but in the
warmer months it would be hidden from view.
The sun was out, and the
temperature had soared to 30 degrees.
We turned back, and found the return hike more challenging. Climbing back up Little Rock Knob was tough,
and it was cold again by the time we reached the summit. The clouds had cleared off, providing even
better views. From the summit we
hurried down since we didn’t want to get caught out after dark. Despite a brisk pace, it still took almost
an hour to reach the car. Earlier I had
suspected that the AT guide understated the mileage, but now I was sure of
it. I’m certain we were moving at least
2 miles an hour going down, even with the snow and a few fallen trees across
the trail.
We still returned to the car
by 5:20, which was a few minutes before sunset. From there we headed down the mountain before stopping in Spruce
Pine for pizza. That brought a warm end
to a cold hike. I’d like to go back to
that area and hike the full 8 (or maybe 9) mile section with a car shuttle. If we can’t work out a car shuttle, I’ll
approach the area from the other direction.
It’ll be a 13 ½ mile round trip dayhike to Little Rock Knob from that
direction, so I’ll save that hike for spring.
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