CHEERIO
I
spent last week working in a small town in Indiana. Over five days, the weather never
changed. Temperatures stayed in the low
30’s, with constant fog, drizzle, and ice.
It isn’t the worst place I’ve ever been, but it’s probably in the bottom
five! By the time I got home Friday
evening, I was ready for a hike.
Unfortunately, the weather forecast for the weekend didn’t look any
different than what I’d suffered through up north.
Bob,
Joel, and I planned a hike at Stone Mountain State Park on Saturday. I met Bob in Statesville and Joel near
Yadkinville. We rode with him from there
to the park.
Our
tentative plan was to try to hike from the park up to Camp Cheerio. Joel and Bob did this hike 10 years earlier,
but neither of them remembered much of it.
Would we be able to find our way up there?
We
parked on the edge of the driveway that leads to ranger’s house. We gathered our gear under overcast skies,
with a light mist falling off and on.
Somehow I managed to corral Boone long enough to get his pack on. I leashed him, since park regulations forbid
dogs from running free. Since we would
be walking right by the ranger’s house, I figured I should adhere to that rule,
at least until we were out of sight.
We
hiked up the driveway, passing a small pond.
Just before the ranger’s house, we found an old woods road heading up
the mountain. Bob and Joel were pretty
sure this was the correct route, so we headed that way. Before long we’d worked up a bit of a sweat
as we climbed out of the valley. Once
the ranger’s house was out of sight, I released Boone from his
confinement. He went crazy, racing up
and down the trail. He’d been cooped up
in the house all week, but was making up for it now.
We
followed a series of old logging roads up the mountain. There were many junctions, and at times we
were making guesses as to the correct route.
The topo map shows the route to Camp Cheerio,
but it does not include many of the old logging roads that crisscross the
mountainside. As a result, none of us
were very confident about our navigation.
I wasn’t too worried about it though.
I was there for a walk in the woods.
As long as we were able to find our way back, everything would be fine.
After
a number of random twists and turns, an old homestead loomed out of the fog
ahead. It was a big building, featuring
an old log cabin with a newer extension that was added on. The house was definitely succumbing to the
ravages of time, and it looked spooky in the fog. Despite its creepy
appearance, we couldn’t resist checking it out.
We
went inside, moving carefully as we crossed the rotting front porch. The interior was full of old mattresses. Holes in the ceiling provided an interesting
view of the second floor. Bob found an
intact staircase, and we went up for a better look. The upper level looked extremely hazardous,
so neither of us left the relative security of the stairs. Eventually we wandered over into the original
log cabin, which was more deteriorated.
The steps leading upstairs looked unreliable, so we confined our
explorations to the bottom level.
Briefly
I considered eating lunch in there, out of the persistent drizzle, but it was
only 10:45. Instead, we resumed the
hike. We eventually found the old road
leaving the clearing in front of the house.
We passed the remains of two other, smaller, structures and continued
our gradual climb.
A
bit later we passed a stream that disappeared underground in several
places. Near here we discovered some
bones. They were pretty big, so I’m
guessing they were from a deer. While we
were checking them out, I looked up to see that Boone had found one of his
own. He had it in his mouth, and he ran
away when I tried to take it from him.
Later
on, Boone took off. I saw the flash of a
deer as Boone gave chase. Several
minutes later, Boone came back up the trail, moving slow. He looked exhausted!
A
bit later we joined a prominent old road.
This road was badly eroded, but it looked more heavily traveled. Joel was confident that this was the correct
route to Camp Cheerio. We followed it
uphill, passing a surprising amount of exposed quartz. This shining path led us under some high
tension power lines, which were sizzling from the light rain. A bit later, we passed a stone staircase
leading up the hill to our right. We
checked it out, and found that it led to a fence and a gate. Beyond, a huge new house loomed out of the
fog. Apparently we were back at the edge
of civilization.
On
the way back down, Joel slipped on one of the rocks and took a tumble. Fortunately he landed well and wasn’t
injured. Bob and I were extremely
careful descending the rocks, as they were treacherous. We rejoined the old road, and followed it to
a substantial stream at a small series of cascades. This was a pretty spot, but rock hopping the
creek was tricky due to the slippery conditions. On the far side, we found a barbed wire fence
blocking further progress. We could see
the camp just ahead, and there weren’t any private
property signs. We took turns crawling
under the fence, and climbed the next hill.
Minutes later, we reached another wire fence lining a new road. In fact, the fence surrounded the road,
following both sides. This seemed odd,
so we decided to follow the fence uphill.
Eventually we reached a construction site. I’m not sure what is being built here, but it
wasn’t very exciting out there in the drizzle.
We doubled-back to the creek and pondered our options.
Joel
and Bob decided to have lunch. First
though, I wanted to explore the creek a bit more. I headed upstream, crossing it twice, before
reaching a clearing. Here I found a
couple of the camp buildings. Just ahead
was an earthen dam that contains the camp’s small lake. I thought about checking it out, but I wasn’t
sure that I should really be wandering around up there. Instead, I doubled-back to the creek, where I
joined Bob and Joel for lunch. Warm soup
from a thermos helped ward off the damp chill for a bit, but before long we
decided to head back.
Initially
we returned by the same route.
Eventually though, we reached a point where the old road ahead descended
into Happy Valley. I thought we could
get out to the park road from the valley, and we all agreed to make a little
adventure out of our return hike. We
descended to the ruins of another old building.
From there, we continued down the mountain, following another series of
old roads. It was still early afternoon
when we emerged from the woods at site #10 in the middle of the park’s
campground. From there, we walked
through the campground and out towards the park road. Along the way, we spooked a whole herd of
deer. Fortunately I had already leashed
Boone. I had trouble holding him back as
the deer dashed away from us.
We
reached the park road, and found Joel’s truck a few minutes later. At this point it was still early. I wanted some more exercise for myself and
the dog. We scrambled for ideas for
short hikes nearby. I looked at the map
briefly and suggested we check out Bullhead Creek. The topo map shows
a trail following the stream, but I had never hiked there before.
At
the Bullhead Creek trailhead, we discovered that the area is designated for fly
fishermen only. There is even a sign
there that says “no hiking”. Of course,
that just made me want to hike the creek even more. Presumably hiking isn’t allowed there to
prevent conflicts between hikers and fishermen.
There wasn’t anybody around today though. We decided to ignore the rules and check it
out.
We
hiked upstream and reached a nice cascade after only a few minutes. From there, we continued a bit farther to the
first ford. At lower water it may be
possible to rock hop, but that wasn’t an option today! I had forgotten to bring a change of socks,
and none of us were interested in getting our feet wet. We decided to head back, but now I’m even
more curious about Bullhead Creek. I’d
like to go back, but it would have to be a time when fishermen aren’t
present. That likely
means winter, when wading is unpleasant.
From
there, we drove a little farther, to Widows Creek. There, we made the short hike up to Widows
Creek Falls. This is my favorite
waterfall in the park, particularly when the water is up. It was definitely up today – in fact, it may
have been too high! The high water,
slippery rocks, and some fallen trees made positioning myself
for photography tricky. I managed a
couple of decent shots before I dropped my lens cap in the creek. Somehow I was able to retrieve it using my
hiking stick without going for an unplanned swim!
The
Widows Creek Trail (also the Mountains to Sea Trail) runs on the hillside high
above the falls. Bushwhacking up the
slope to the trail didn’t look like a good idea, so we contoured around the
hillside following a faint path. Along
the way we passed an outhouse. This was
odd, as the outhouse wasn’t on any sort of official trail. It’s out in the woods, about a hundred yards
from the road, and roughly halfway between the trail to the falls and the main
Widows Creek Trail.
We
joined the trail a few minutes later.
After a stout climb we passed high above the falls. Then we dropped down to the creek. There are fairly new bridges along this
stretch of trail, and they allowed us to hike this part of the MST without
getting wet. We followed the trail
upstream, through woods and a pretty clearing surrounding another old homesite. The
chimney is still standing here, but it’s a little hard to spot because it
blends in with the trees.
We
hiked a little farther, before catch a whiff of smoke. We were almost to the Widows Creek
backcountry campsites, and we figured somebody was enjoying a campfire
there. I didn’t want Boone to disturb
them, and it was getting late, so we decided to head back. The return hike was uneventful, and soon we
were on our way home.
The
weather had been marginal, and there weren’t any views to speak of, but I still
enjoyed our visit to Stone Mountain. The
hike to Camp Cheerio was interesting for the novelty, but it’s probably not one
that I would do again. However, Bob and
I are already talking about doing a shuttle hike starting in Doughton Park and finishing along Widows Creek. It would be 12 or 13 miles though, so we may
wait for the longer days of spring before we attempt it.
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