ARE WE THERE YET?
I
had Friday off last week. Christy and I
were planning to spend the weekend in Asheville for her birthday, but she had
declared that it would be a weekend devoid of any serious hiking. So, in my ongoing quest to get back in backpacking
shape, I decided to make a quick run up to South Mountains State Park to get in
a hike.
Christy’s
car was STILL in the shop being repaired following a severe hail storm. So, I dropped her off at school a bit before
7am. I promised her I’d be back around
2:30 or so after school to pick her up.
Those time constraints were one of the main reasons I’d picked the South
Mountains for my destination. Anywhere
farther away wouldn’t give me enough time for the actual hike before I had to
head back.
The
drive to the park seemed to take forever.
Traffic leaving Charlotte wasn’t too bad, but the drive through
Lincolnton and beyond was tedious.
Apparently nobody else was in any hurry to get where they were going on
this morning. I kept finding myself
behind people going 15 or 20 mph below the posted
speed limit. This was aggravating, since
I knew I’d have to leave the park around 1pm.
I
finally got clear of all the pokey drivers, and had to resist the urge to make
up for lost time on the last few miles of the drive. I finally reached the park around 8:30, 30
minutes after the gates opened. I was
surprised to find a fair number of cars at the trailhead at the end of the
road. South Mountains State Park does
have a number of hike-in camping areas though, so I figured some of those cars
belonged to backpackers. In fact, I did
run into 2 backpackers on their way out early on. Otherwise, I think most of the others were
fishermen that had arrived first thing that morning.
Boone
and I headed up the main trail towards High Shoals Falls. However, after only a few minutes we left the
road for a footpath climbing towards Chestnut Knob. My primary goal for the morning was to make
this climb, since I knew it would provide a decent work out. What I hadn’t counted on was severe heat and
humidity at 9am. It felt like I was
walking through a sauna as I slogged up the trail. I was constantly wiping my glasses on my
t-shirt along the way. Apparently I
picked the wrong day to forget my bandana.
Boone didn’t fare much better. He
was panting and his tongue was dragging on the ground long before we reached
the top.
The
best part of the climb was seeing all of the Mountain Laurel in bloom. It seemed like the entire mountainside was
covered in white and pink blossoms. I was
hoping to catch some late wildflowers on my hike, but I hadn’t expected the
shrubs to be at their peak already.
We
reached the cliffs beyond the summit around 9:30. Here we had nice but hazy views of the Jacobs
Fork Gorge. I could hear High Shoals Falls
directly across the valley, but the dense green vegetation blocked any view of
the cascades.
I
loitered there until I could see and Boone was breathing normally. Then we resumed our hike on the Sawtooth Trail. This
is one of several horse trails in the park.
I generally prefer to avoid the horse trails when I’m with Boone, since
I have to keep him leashed. At this park
though, most of the longer loop hikes require connecting on the horse
trails. I set a fast pace along this
part of the hike, eager to get it over with.
A forest fire had burned along one side of this trail (possibly a
prescribed burn), so there wasn’t much to see in the way of flowers.
The
Sawtooth Trail took me to the Horse Ridge Trail. I followed this old road as far as the Possum
Trail. At this point, I had a major
decision to make. Originally I had
planned to continue on the horse trails as far as the Shinny Creek Trail, which
would ultimately take me back to the parking area. However, I didn’t think I had enough time to
do that complete loop. Plus, I was a
little worn out on horse trails at that point.
I modified my plan, using the Possum Trail as a shortcut.
The
Possum Trail proved to be a nice change from the old logging roads that the
horse trails follow. I enjoyed a
pleasant descent under rapidly clouding skies.
The clouds helped alleviate the heat, and Boone was delighted when we
finally arrived at Shinny Creek. It was
dark and cool down in there, and it would’ve been heavenly except for the pesky
bugs.
I
was now ahead of schedule. I didn’t want
to head back early though. I had gotten
a tip from another hiker about some pretty nice wildflowers blooming along
Shinny Creek a couple of weeks earlier.
I knew I was probably too late for most of them, but figured that walking
up along Shinny Creek would be a good way to add some mileage to my hike while
killing time.
I
didn’t see much in the way of flowers, but the creek was pretty. I did spot two Catesby’s Trillium that were still hanging on.
By the time the trail turned away from the stream and began to climb, I
figured the show was over. I did a
little exploring closer to the creek though, and stumbled into a bed of Pink Ladyslippers. They
were probably the highlight of the hike.
Thanks to Joe for the tip on them!
I
had an early lunch along Shinny Creek before heading back. The walk back along Shinny Creek and Jacobs
Fork was uneventful. I did notice a
pretty significant series of cascades on Jacobs Fork below the trail at one
point. The river drops quite a bit in a
short distance there, so there could be some smaller waterfalls out of
sight. Exploring that stretch of river
would require a lot more time and motivation than I had on this morning though. Instead I kept moving, and was startled to
see a couple of dozen people in and near the picnic area shortly before the
trailhead. Counting the two backpackers
I’d seen at the beginning of the hike, everyone I saw along the trail was
within a ¼ mile of the parking lot. Solitude is certainly a major attraction to hiking
on weekdays!
I’ll
definitely return to South Mountains State Park, even if I have to drive
through Lincoln County to get there. The
next time I’m in the area though, I hope to explore some of the undeveloped
parts of the park that were recently purchased by the state. There aren’t any official trails in those
areas, but I’ve heard that those tracts of land include some old growth forest
and waterfalls.
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