OH KEVIN, WHERE ART THOU?
We decided to spend mother’s day weekend with mother nature. I left work on Friday at 3 in a daring attempt to get to the trailhead before dark. Christy, Saucony, and I left the apartment at 3:15 and we thought we were in good shape. That lasted until we got to Billy Graham Parkway, which was all backed up. We took a bizarre and possibly illegal detour through the airport and eventually reached I-85. The sailing was smooth again until we hit Gastonia. As it turns out, the highway goes from 3 lanes to 1 south of Gastonia. Combine rush hour traffic with the average North Carolinian’s inability to merge, and traffic was at a dead stop. We got off and drove through Gastonia, eventually getting back on 85 near the SC line. By the time we reached Gaffney we were moving along, but it was already past 5. I was very concerned, since it was at least 2 ½ hours to the trailhead, and we had over a mile to hike in.
Christy drove fast through the back roads of SC. I picked this route to avoid the congestion in Shelby and Hendersonville and the windy road beyond Brevard. This worked out well, except we kept encountering traffic moving slow (by slow I mean the speed limit). By the time we reached Lake Jocassee I thought we might make it. Then the sky clouded up and it began to rain. Fun! We’ll be hiking and setting up camp in the dark and the rain! This is going to be great! Luckily though, the rain had stopped by the time we reached Cashiers. We arrived at the trailhead a little after 7:30, which left us 30 minutes of daylight. We were supposed to be meeting Kevin and his friend Meegan here, but there wasn’t any sign of them. I had given them directions to camp, so we hiked on ahead of them.
We hiked down the old road to the overlook at Salt Rock. From here we could look out on all of Panthertown Valley. Across from us, Cold Mountain towered over the valley. We hoped to get up there on Saturday. We didn’t have long to linger at the overlook, so we hurried on. Christy was having trouble moving fast though because she was carrying all the beer. Oh well, those are the sacrifices you make.
We reached a key junction and I left an arrow for Kevin. We hurried on, crossing Panthertown Creek on a bridge. I couldn’t find the trail to our intended campsite in the dim light, so we went with a backup plan. We hiked farther up the main trail to an outstanding site. It was off the trail in an open forest of white pines, near a creek, and complete with a small meadow. We quickly set up my new tent and set about getting dinner ready. In so doing, I discovered that I had left the fresh chicken breasts in Christy’s trunk. This is the price you pay for having to hurry.
I was just getting ready to cook when we heard a yell. I thought it sounded like Kevin. I called back, and we headed back down the trail. It was totally dark, but they were heading the right direction. Saucony ran ahead to greet them, and we caught up a minute later. We were relieved to find them, but not as relieved as they were. We returned to camp and attempted to help Kevin set up his 4 man, 8’ tall tent. There were poles and flaps everywhere! We had just gotten started when it began to rain. Imagine setting up a huge, unfamiliar tent in the dark and rain. We eventually got it up, but I think they had more water inside it than out. We retreated to our tent to wait for the shower to pass. It was 10pm before it fizzled out and I was able to cook dinner. We had rice and stir-fried vegetables. It was pretty good, but was definitely missing something. I’m not sure, but I think what it was missing was the chicken.
After dinner, we joined Kevin and Meegan in the Big Top. It was hard to find a dry place to sit, but we made good use of our rain gear. Kevin and Meegan had already finished a bottle of wine, and we brought over more beer. It was midnight before we finally returned to our tent for the night.
HIGH BETHEL ALTAR
We got up late Saturday morning to gray skies. After a breakfast of eggs and bacon, Christy and I got ready for our dayhike. She got lunch together, while I put the rest of the beer in the fridge. The fridge in this case was a cold, deep pool in Boggy Creek. Unfortunately, Kevin and Meegan both had to return home. Meegan had a school project to work on, and Kevin’s mother was expecting him for the holiday. We parted ways and set off for Cold Mountain. We started by hiking up the Hogback Mountain Trail. Along the way we passed the caretaker of the valley. He is an elderly fellow, but he’s still in amazing shape. He gave us some helpful suggestions for our hike, and soon we were on our way again.
We hiked down to Greenland Creek and rock hopped just above a small waterfall. I had planned to go downstream from there, but the primitive trail looked nasty. It clung to the hillside and dodged in and out rhododendron thickets. We gave up on that and hiked out past the new parking area near Cold Mountain Gap. Along the way we walked through a forest floor absolutely covered with trillium. We picked up a new path from the new parking area over to the old parking area, which is now closed. From there we hiked back down the main gated road and reached a side trail. We followed it back down to Greenland Creek at the top of Schoolhouse Falls. From there we switchbacked down to the base of the falls. We took a break there and enjoyed the falls before hiking on. We took the trail heading into the Tuckaseegee River Gorge. I thought the gorge would be a good lunch spot, so we took a side path down to the river. This one ended at the base of Wartlen’s Falls. It was another nice waterfall, but it began to sprinkle just as we arrived. We didn’t want to eat in the rain, so we decided to hike on. I had hoped that we could go downstream, but there was no apparent route. Instead we climbed back out to the main trail before hiking another side trail back down. This one left us upstream of the next falls. Christy was beginning to glare at me as we hiked back up. This time I found a connecting trail, which took us down to some campsites at Little Green Creek. We found our way back to the river at a sandy beach, and huge pool, and an impressive, though unnamed waterfall. The rain had stopped, so we had a long lunch break here.
After lunch I explored downstream in search of another waterfall. It turned out to be only a small cascade, but it was full of flooded potholes, which were interesting. From there we hiked away from the river, returning to the main trail. We arrived back at Little Green Creek, and left the main route on a faint footpath. We hiked up along the stream, crisscrossing it frequently. Eventually the path left the creek on switchbacks. Soon we were hiking through another lush area full of trilliums. It was in this area that we found a fascinating bright orange salamander. We watched him for a few minutes before hiking on.
We reached a junction at a gap and turned right towards Cold Mountain. The trail soon arrived at a jeep road, but we turned left away from it. We climbed up on switchbacks through pinkshell azalea in bloom. Finally we arrived at a rock outcrop just below the summit of the mountain. The view we were granted was outstanding, despite the heavy clouds. We could see the whole valley, over to Blackstack Mountain, Salt Rock, and Green Mountain. Whitesides Mountain and Chimneytops Mountain towered beyond the valley. The narrow gash of the Tuckaseegee River Gorge curved away from us. At the overlook was an altar with an inscription. According to the map, it’s the High Bethel Altar.
We paused for a break, but some ugly clouds were rolling in. We decided that we wouldn’t be chased off the mountain that easily, until we began to be pelted with ice cold rain. We hustled into the shelter of a laurel thicket and put on rain gear. We then started back down the mountain. We reached the junction with the jeep road, and I decided to try a shortcut. I knew it would lead back down to Cold Mountain Gap. However, I also knew that it crossed private property. It wasn’t posted though, and we knew the route down Little Green Creek was rough. We decided to try it.
We hiked down the jeep road, and didn’t have any trouble. The rain passed quickly and soon the sun was peaking through the clouds. I had to get my bearings at a couple of junctions, but soon we arrived at a cute little pond. The map indicated that we were in some type of church camp, but there wasn’t anyone around. We wandered through a maze of dirt roads before arriving at a fence. The main road to Cold Mountain Gap was just on the far side. We didn’t want to climb the fence, so we followed it. We thought we saw a way out, but it was blocked by a gate. This was becoming difficult. We backtracked, and found an easy place to crawl under the fence. Soon we were back on the main road. At Cold Mountain Gap we found a gate blocking the road, and no trespassing signs. It specifically stated that motorized vehicles and pedestrian travel were prohibited. Apparently this doesn’t include horses, bikes, llamas, soap box derby cars, chariots, elephants, or wagons. I’ve never had much affection for no trespassing signs, so we ignored it. I suppose we could have walked around to the new parking area, but to hell with it. I’m not hurting anybody or anything by walking down a gravel road.
We reached the path we had hiked earlier and began to retrace our footsteps, in the same direction. We had somehow managed to turn our hike into some kind of lopsided figure 8. We returned to Greenland Creek, but this time crossed it and soon arrived at Panthertown Creek. We followed this upstream to an old shelter, a large pool, and a sandbar. We hadn’t seen hardly anyone all day, but here we found 10 or 12 tents. Most were crowded out on the sandbar. It looked like a Grateful Dead concert out there. The whole area screamed of boy scouts, but there wasn’t anyone around. We didn’t want anything to infringe on our solitude, so we hurried on.
A few minutes later we reached a side trail. We followed it down to a step through crossing of Panthertown Creek. We climbed a small hill and found ourselves in a beautiful forest of white pines. It was similar to our campsite, but more secluded. The forest floor had moss, running cedar, trilliums, and pink lady slippers. I could have spent hours here, but it had been a long hike. We were ready to get back to camp. We returned quickly, and arrived around 5:30.
It got cool that evening, so I built a fire. It was difficult getting the wet wood going, but the effort eventually paid off. Christy made Boboli pizzas, and we washed them down with the rest of the beer. All three of us fell asleep in front of the fire shortly afterwards. I slept great that night, after finally relocating to the tent.
BEHOLD THE LADYSLIPPER
Our plan for Sunday was less than ambitious. We slept in, and then had a pancake breakfast. Afterwards, we explored the bog near camp. We found a beautiful forest full of pink lady slippers surrounding the bog. The bog itself was interesting, with great views up to the sheer cliffs of Blackstack Mountain. However, the bog was mucky and difficult to walk through. We didn’t spend much time here before heading back and breaking camp.
Instead of hiking directly out, we took a short side trail up Panthertown Creek to Granny Burrell Falls. We spent a couple of hours sunbathing on the rocks below the falls. We had a nice picnic lunch and caught up on some reading. The weather was perfect, as it was 70 degrees with no humidity and not a cloud in the sky. It was like being back in Colorado. I spent much of the afternoon simply relaxing and watching 3 hawks soar high above.
By mid-afternoon it was time to head home. We decided to explore a different route out though. We hiked up to a meadow below Salt Rock. Here we found still more Pink Lady Slippers along the edge of the woods. We hiked down to a tributary of Frolicktown Creek and followed it upstream. We were both startled by a huge Black Snake, but we mutually agreed to leave each other alone. Soon we reached the base of a high waterfall. It was fairly impressive, but the stream was small and it was hard to get a good look at it due to the rhododendron. We then faced the biggest challenge of the hike. Ahead of us was an incredibly steep hillside. The primitive path went straight up without a switchback. We climbed and scrambled our way up, trying not to slide back down in the soft soil. We arrived at another rock face, with more good views down into the valley. From there it was a flat, easy hike back out to the main road. I walked a short distance out of my way to get another view from Salt Rock. The vista was spectacular on such a clear day. We reached the car by 3:30, which gave us plenty of time to get home. Since we had extra time, we decided to stop at Whitewater Falls. We paid another $2 parking fee (apparently past parking fees have gone mainly towards constructing picnic tables and shelters. I’m beginning to think that these day usage fees are hokey.) There were people everywhere. After seeing only a handful of people all weekend, it was quite a shock. Still the falls were nice, but we didn’t linger long. Soon enough we were dodging the holiday traffic on the way back to Charlotte.
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