SUZY
Last
weekend I attended Spencer’s 26th birthday party. It wasn’t your standard birthday party
though. It was held on Suzy’s Knob,
which is east of Shortoff Mountain just outside of
the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area.
Getting there requires a fairly short but steep off-trail hike. Despite this, there was quite a turnout for
the party. Spencer and Stephanie, Dave
and Rachel, Jo and Mary Leigh, Cameron (Spencer’s sister) and Joseph, Jacob,
Marco, Preston, Kyle, and his dog Ziggy all made it up the mountain on Saturday
afternoon for the party.
The
dogs and I arrived a little late due to some
obligations at home. There were 5 or 6
cars in the parking area. I started out
my hike following an old logging road. I
had plotted out a route that would contour around and approach Suzy’s Knob from
the south. It was a good plan, but
impatience made me abandon it. Instead,
I took a more direct route up the steeper east side of the mountain. Before long I found myself in a burned area
that would extend all the way up the mountain.
I followed a mountain biking trail for a time, but eventually grew impatient
with its meanderings, too. So I just
headed straight for the summit.
The
burned forest provided constant views during the ascent. The best vista was behind me, over Lake James
towards the South Mountains. I took one
substantial break to water the dogs and wipe off some sweat before resuming the
climb. It was a hot, sunny day, and the
lack of shade made for a grueling climb.
Before long I reached the main ridge line, and I heard voices ahead of
me. I paused to catch my breath, because
its bad form to be panting like The Little Engine That Could when you reach the
summit. I caught up with most of the
group a couple of minutes later.
Surprisingly, they had just arrived.
It
was great meeting a bunch of cool new people.
I was a bit of an outsider, as I only knew Spencer and Stephanie prior
to the trip. I wasn’t an outsider for
long. My new friends were extremely
welcoming, and they proved to be a lot of fun to hang out with for the weekend. It was great sharing drinks – I brought Dark
Corner moonshine and made Appalachian Margaritas, while somebody (I forget who
exactly) actually had a cooler full of PBR.
That was really refreshing after a hot, sweaty hike up the mountain.
We
spent the evening relaxing around the campfire with an assortment of
beverages. Sunset was nice, but the moon
(nearly full) stole the show. It rose
through a patchwork of drifting clouds.
I found myself in an artistic mood, and attempted some night time
photography. The most interesting
results came when I had Cameron, Mary Leigh, and Rachel swing a multi-colored
lantern in various patterns while taking a long exposure. That was a fun little experiment.
THE GATES OF HELL
It
was after midnight when we began discussing a hike to Russell Creek Cave, which
is down in the canyon between Suzy’s Knob and Shortoff. It was dark and everyone was drunk, but that
didn’t dissuade Spencer, Stephanie, Dave, Cameron, Joe, Preston, Kyle, and
possibly a few other people (all apologies to anybody I missed – my memory is a
little fuzzy) from making the trek.
Russell Creek Cave is notoriously difficult to reach. The obvious route, up Russell Creek and Cave
Branch, is frequently described as the bushwhack to
hell. This cave has been on my to-do
list for several years, but the horror stories have kept me away. Fortunately, Spencer knows a better route.
We
followed the ridge north before descending a gully. The gully was slippery and choked with
deadfall, but passable. Farther down
there is a small stream, which I somehow managed to fall into. Falling into streams, rivers, and lakes is a
drunken Team Waterfall tradition, so somebody had to do it. Amazingly, I managed to find the one spot
that was more than a few inches deep and went in almost to my waist.
Spencer
nailed the navigation, and led us directly to the cave. It’s a magical place, with a huge entrance
and a fairly deep passage. The cave was
guarded by a deadly serpent (a rattlesnake, in fact), but he allowed us to
pass. We relaxed in the cave for an hour
or so, and somebody built a small fire.
I attempted some photos from inside, but struggled to come up with
anything useful. Spencer suggested
shooting from outside, so I went to work.
We did a lot of experimentation, but I eventually had to ask everyone to
leave the cave to eliminate the blurring.
Out of all of the photos I took there, I was only pleased with one, but
I think it is one of my best ever. I
call it “The Gates of Hell”:
Shortly
after I took it I dropped my lens cap in the creek. Somehow Stephanie spotted it. Thanks Steph!
We
took a slightly different route back, which was steeper but had fewer
obstacles. We returned to camp around
4am and I was beat. The dogs and I
headed for the tent for a nap before Sunday’s hike.
HEART OF STEEL
Jimmy
Buffet once said, "There's a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday
morning". He was right. I managed to sleep for about 4 hours, but the
dogs were restless and barking at who knows what. Once the sun came up it quickly became too
hot to sleep. I found Jo, Mary Leigh,
and a few other folks up around the campfire.
Somebody brought me coffee, which was a lifesaver. Eventually everyone else straggled out of
bed. I had brought 7 quarts of water
with me the previous afternoon, but it was all gone. Even after Joseph gave me part of a bottle I
was concerned about the dogs. I decided
to head down ahead of everyone else so that I could water the dogs and repack
for our hike to Steels Creek Falls.
The
hike down was fast and uneventful. I
found a truck and a horse trailer in the parking area, but didn’t think much of
it. I made more coffee and loaded up on
water. After repacking, I ate lunch and
relaxed with a book. Everyone else
arrived a bit later. Most of us
celebrated with a beer, while Kyle’s dog celebrated by rolling in a huge pile
of horse shit. I suppose that’s one way
to cool off!
From
there, Spencer, Stephanie, Joe, Cameron, Kyle, and Preston followed me over to
the trailhead for Steels Creek. The
campsites along the creek were full, but the trailhead parking area was almost
empty. We followed the old road up to
the first swimming hole. It was pretty
crowded, and the rope swing didn’t appear to be functional. We decided to hike on towards the falls. We crossed the creek upstream from the
swimming hole, which was awkward. For
future reference, I found it easier to cross immediately downstream from that
point.
A
short bushwhack brought us to the Mountains to Sea Trail. We followed it briefly, climbing and then
descending back to the creek. At that
point we left the trail and headed upstream.
A slippery crossing led to a neat rock bench above the rushing
stream. The hiking was actually pretty
easy – much easier than when I’d hiked here 5 years earlier. There is actually something of a beaten path
in places along the creek. Before long,
we reached a monster swimming hole at the base of an impressive cascade, where
the creek tumbles down between two huge boulders.
This
swimming hole was too good to pass up.
Most of us took turns jumping off the surrounding rocks into the icy
water. Afterwards, Spencer, Cameron, and
Joseph decided to continue upstream to Steel Creek Falls. It was getting late though, so I decided to
turn back there. I relaxed a bit with
Stephanie, Kyle, and Preston before starting the hike back. The hike out was uneventful, and I was
thrilled to find out that Spencer, Cameron, and Joseph made it all the way to
the falls that afternoon. It’s a really
cool waterfall, and I’m glad they got to experience it.
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Steels
Creek was the perfect ending to a wonderful weekend. Thanks to everyone for making it happen!