GRANITE CITY
I
got up first on Sunday and drove up to the Wiggington
overlook to let everybody know our plans for the day. That also enabled me to download a topo map
onto my phone. Scott decided to join us,
partially because he’d left his backpack in my car the previous evening. The view from the overlook was even nicer than
normal, thanks to a bank of fog over Lake Jocassee.
I
returned to the campsite and found a note.
Spencer and Stephanie were down at the potholes on the Chattooga
River. I joined them there for coffee
and a cold breakfast. They were both
wide awake and ready to go. Meanwhile, I
was a bit sore and tired. I had a tough
time later keeping up with them as we were bushwhacking up Blackrock Mountain.
We
found Scott in the wrong parking area but relocated to the official access
point. Parking is extremely limited, but
there wasn’t anyone here. We followed an
obvious trail up into Granite City, which is a maze of boulders and fissure
caves. Once in the heart of it, we all
went in different directions in an attempt to explore every crack and
crevice. Stephanie always seemed to be
leading the way, as her enthusiasm was practically overflowing. I decided to hang back to try to get photos. It is a difficult place to photograph, and it
was fortunate that I’d brought the tripod.
Otherwise it would’ve been hopeless.
We
ended up in an open area surrounded by sheer walls that we called the
Amphitheater. We had lunch there, and
Scott headed back since he had some obligations that afternoon.
BLACKROCK
Afterwards,
we bushwhacked up through the woods above Granite City. Before long we joined a grassy logging
road. We followed it briefly, but it
left the ridgeline, so we resumed the bushwhack. Before long we found ourselves on a faint
trail occasionally marked with ribbons.
It was hard to follow, but it was better than nothing. We took it all the way to the summit, but
found ourselves in deep forest the whole time.
We had never heard of anyone hiking this mountain, and we were beginning
to suspect that this was because there weren’t any views. This was frustrating though, because we knew
that the south face of the mountain was a sheer cliff. If we could reach the top of that cliff we
would be rewarded for our efforts.
First
we followed the ridgeline beyond the summit, through a minor gap, to a second
summit. This stretch of trail is well
traveled. Beyond the second summit we
descended to an open rock face. Here we
finally had a view! It was mainly to the
west, to the impressive cliffs of Satulah
Mountain. Beyond, Rabun Bald was lost in
the clouds. In fact, the weather was
sketchy at best. There was a nice patch
of blue sky (a sucker hole) to the southwest, but the rest of the sky was full
of clouds.
This
was nice, but not entirely satisfying. I
decided to explore. I found a
well-traveled trail heading down the north side of the mountain. I thought it might lead to a view, but it
just dropped into deeper forest. I do
wonder where it leads – probably another trailhead closer to Highlands.
We
followed the trail back over the western summit and down to the gap. From there, we bushwhacked down the slope
towards the top of the cliffs. We nearly
had a disaster along here. Stephanie got
poked in the eye by a branch. She couldn’t
open her eye at all, which was alarming.
We were all concerned that there could be serious damage. Unfortunately we were a long way from the
car, and there wasn’t much we could do about it in the woods. She put a cold compress on it, which seemed
to help, and we made the questionable decision to push on.
I
was using the GAIA GPS app on my phone to track our position in relation to the
point we were aiming for. It worked
great! We came out at the perfect spot,
where we were treated to an expansive view to the south. It encompassed 180 degrees, extending to Lake
Hartwell and numerous distant peaks in NC, SC, and Georgia. We took a long break there, which gave
Stephanie a chance to recover a little.
Her eye was doing a little better, to the extent that she thought she
could hike out. Fortunately it improved
as we went, and was looking much better by the time we reached the car.
The
hike down was largely uneventful. We did
find two turtles (or tortoises), a giant tree that appeared to be growing out
of bare rock, and a pair of wild turkeys.
The rain came about 10 minutes before we reached the cars. It stayed with us all the way to Highlands,
and it really poured when we got into town.
We finished our hike with a mad dash through the rain to the Ugly Dog. Dinner at the Ugly Dog was a great way to
finish the weekend.
As
always, it was great hiking with Spencer and Stephanie, and I really enjoyed
meeting and hiking with Scott. I’m
looking forward to more hikes with them in the future!
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