SUNBURST

Labor Day weekend gave me the opportunity to backpack a route I first planned at least ten years ago. For one reason or another, I just hadn’t gotten around to it. Part of the problem is that the route requires wading the West Fork of the Pigeon River. That means it’s a hike best tackled in the summer, which is my least favorite season for hiking in the southeast. The other issue is that the route is about 23 miles long over difficult terrain. I figured I’d need 3 days for the hike.

The route is a loop starting at the Sunburst Campground on highway 215 between the Shining Rock and Middle Prong Wilderness Areas. Just up the road from the campground, the Fork Mountain Trail begins with a crossing of the West Fork of the Pigeon River. It ascends to Fork Ridge between High Top and Birdstand Mountain. From there, it follows the ridge to join the Ivestor Gap Trail below Tennent Mountain. The route continues on the Art Loeb Trail over Tennent and Black Balsam, and then on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail over Silvermine Bald. The hike then continues across highway 215 and into the Middle Prong Wilderness. The route concludes with a traverse of Green Ridge to Green Knob, before a long, steep descent back to the campground.

The only flaw with my plan was that it meant being away from home all weekend. Since I travel a lot for work, I was a little reluctant to do the trip. On the other hand, the calendar for September is totally booked. I knew this would be my last chance for a backpacking trip for awhile. Ultimately I decided on a compromise. I’d do the trip in two days instead of three. I knew this was aggressive, but I was pretty sure I could pull it off. I also managed to start the hike on Friday. As a result I’d miss some of the holiday weekend crowds and finish the trip well before the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee arrived.

I drove up through Asheville early on Friday. I made a quick stop at the Sunburst campground to use the porta potty (seriously, no toilets?). The campground is small and in a grassy, open area, but right next to a fairly busy road. I then drove up the road a short distance to a long pulloff on the far shoulder. I parked there, behind a single pickup truck. I then spent a few minutes scouting, as I wanted to be sure of the location of the trail before I crossed the river. I found it without much trouble, just upstream from an impressive swimming hole. Water levels were so low that I probably could’ve rock hopped, but I decided against it.

I returned to the car and retrieved my pack and the dog. Boone was ready to go, after several days cooped up in the house. It was almost 10am when we finally got started.

I started out in my water shoes and waded the river without difficulty. I climbed the steep bank on the far side and picked up the trail. I followed it upstream initially, well above the river. After a few minutes I hopped across Turnpike Creek and began following it upstream. Eventually I left the stream behind in favor of switchbacks. A steady climb ensued, and before long I was soaked with sweat thanks to the high humidity. Fortunately the trail is well designed and was in pretty good shape. I hadn’t been sure of what to expect considering that it is a lightly traveled trail.

The trail isn’t marked at all, but there was only one confusing point on the climb. I intersected an old logging road, and there was no indication of which way the trail went. I pulled out the map and compass, and ultimately headed back to the right and continued climbing. After a short ascent I reached the crest of the ridge. A trail runs to the north here, towards High Top, but I headed the other direction. I followed the ridge, passing several rock outcrops featuring nice but hazy views. Eventually the ridge became more wooded as I hiked around the northeast side of Birdstand Mountain.
Then I reached an open stretch of woods and a campsite. I stopped there for a late lunch before resuming the hike.

From that point, a short hike led to a grassy meadow featuring more views. I left the meadow following an old railroad grade along the northeast side of the ridge. Before long I reached a small spring, which had just enough flow to filter from. This was a relief, as finding adequate water was my biggest concern of the trip. It turns out the spring is almost directly below the Ivestor Gap Trail. I didn’t realize that though until a couple of hikers passed by just above me. They actually startled me, as I hadn’t seen anyone since leaving the trailhead.

I joined the Ivestor Gap Trail just south of the unnamed gap south of Ivestor Gap. After a short distance I reached the junction with the Art Loeb Trail. I turned onto it, and began climbing Tennent Mountain. I hesitated briefly, as dark clouds were building beyond the peak. The balds of Tennent and Black Balsam are no place to be in a thunderstorm, but I hadn’t hiked that far to bail out. I threw caution to the wind and pressed on towards the summit.

I reached the peak and paused for a break. I was just relaxing and enjoying the view when I realized that the summit was being guarded by a great beast. A pesky squirrel was perched on a nearby rock, chirping at me. Boone spotted him when I did and charged. He pulled up a few feet short though when the squirrel held his ground. They commenced to staring each other down. Boone and the squirrel paced back and forth, sizing each other up, but neither moved any closer.

Needless to say, I was rather disappointed in Boone’s inability to run the squirrel off. Once he decided that Boone was no threat, he went back to begging. He resumed his chirping, and began gesturing with his right front paw, raking it towards himself. Gimme, gimme. Gimme all your gorp, and nobody gets hurt.

This entertainment was interrupted by a rumble of thunder. Clearly it was time to go. I hoisted my pack and hustled down the mountain, into the gap between Tennent and Black Balsam. I waited there for a couple of minutes, until the thunder faded away. Finally I decided that the coast was clear and resumed the hike. I hiked across Black Balsam quickly, taking in the views of Looking Glass Rock, Mount Pisgah, Shining Rock, Cold Mountain, Big Sam, Mount Hardy, and more. I didn’t linger long though, as the weather still looked unsettled, and I had a couple more miles to hike. It was already approaching 6pm, so I didn’t have much time for fooling around.

I didn’t see anyone on Black Balsam, though I’d passed several hikers on Tennent. The area was certainly busy though. I spotted several tents, and noticed that the Black Balsam parking area was already overflowing.

I hiked down into Spruce Fir forest and crossed the road leading to the parking area. There were quite a few cars parked here, and I passed a group camping not far beyond the road. I hiked through a gorgeous stretch of Balsams, followed by more meadows. Eventually I left the Art Loeb Trail behind, following the Mountains-to-Sea west. I passed several nice views to the south, but the best was from a cliff on the flank of Chestnut Knob. From there I had a great view of Pilot Mountain, Cedar Rock, and Looking Glass Rock.

After that view I hiked around the back side of Chestnut Knob. The rain finally found me along here, but it was light and the tree cover kept me sheltered. I did stop for a few minutes just before a meadow, where it was pouring. I waited for the rain to pass before continuing on towards camp.

I reached the Little Sam Trail junction, and hiked up this trail a short distance below a massive rock outcrop. I took a campsite in a small clearing below the rock. After pitching the tent, I went in search of more water. I continued down the Little Sam Trail, passing a series of dry streambeds. I eventually found one with a few small pools. I scooped water out of a deep one and took it back to camp to filter.

That evening I hauled my gear to the top of the rock so I could enjoy dinner with a view. From my perch I gazed out towards Mount Hardy in the Middle Prong Wilderness. Nearby was Big Sam, and even closer were the cliffs of the Devil’s Courthouse.

After dinner I enjoyed a colorful though anti-climactic sunset that was a bit marred by clouds to the west. A crescent moon appeared though, adding to the beauty of the evening.

I headed to bed early, but slept poorly. I was awakened after midnight by a group of passing hikers. I’m not sure where they were headed at that hour, but I hope they made it. I heard one of them take a bad fall before they passed out of range.

GOATS NEEDED

I got up early on Saturday, since I had a long hike ahead of me. I broke camp and hiked up to the Devil’s Courthouse, where I had breakfast. I had the whole place to myself thanks to the early hour. I’m sure it would’ve been a different experience up there a few hours later!

After breakfast I backtracked a short distance to the Mountains to Sea Trail, which I followed down through another gorgeous Spruce / Fir forest. I passed some folks camping at a small stream, which I crossed on a footbridge. From there, it was just a short distance out to highway 215. The road crossing was definitely a low point of the trip, as it did mar the wilderness experience a bit. Fortunately traffic was still light on Saturday morning.

I entered the Middle Prong Wilderness and stopped for a break at Bubbling Spring Branch. I filtered water there and then took a side trip in search of a couple of waterfalls. There are two waterfalls upstream on Bubbling Spring Branch, but I’d never visited them. Unfortunately I had failed to do any research on them before the trip. I wasn’t sure how far they were, or what would be involved in hiking to them. That didn’t stop me from heading that direction though.

I hiked upstream and rock hopped the creek several times. Eventually I got to a point where further progress would’ve required walking in the creek. I wasn’t sure how much further it was to the falls, and I still had a long hike ahead of me. I decided to save the waterfalls for another occasion and headed back.

I followed the Mountains to Sea Trail west, all the way to Green Ridge below Mount Hardy. There I picked up the faint trail heading north towards Green Knob. After just a few minutes and one steep climb I took a short side trip out to a fantastic meadow featuring beautiful views and acres of blooming Goldenrod. This may be the most scenic spot in the entire wilderness area, and since it was noon, it made for the perfect lunch spot. I loitered there for an hour, enjoying the sunshine and solitude. I wonder how many people were up on Black Balsam, Tennent Mountain, or Shining Rock during that same hour?

After lunch I followed the Green Mountain Trail north. This is one of my favorite trails, as it follows the ridge through grassy meadows and dark Balsam forests. I enjoyed some nice views as I hiked, with the best being back along the ridge towards Mount Hardy. Along the way I actually passed a couple dayhiking and a small group of backpackers, all heading the other way. I was actually a little surprised, as I’d never seen another person on this trail before.

I was looking forward to the grassy bald of Green Knob, as it offers a great view across the West Fork of the Pigeon River valley to Big Sam, Little Sam, the Flat Laurel Creek Cascades, and other highlights of the Shining Rock Wilderness. At first I was puzzled as to why it seemed like it was taking so long to get there. After all, I was pretty sure Green Knob was only 2 miles or so from the Mountains to Sea Trail. Then I found myself descending steeply through the woods, with no end in sight. After several minutes of this I finally realized that I had passed right over Green Knob without noticing it. How could that be?

I puzzled over this as I hiked. I thought back to the last summit I had crossed, which had been largely overgrown with shrubs and small trees. Finally it hit me – Green Knob has gotten overgrown in the five or six years since I’d last visited it. I guess this shouldn’t be a surprise. It’s deep inside a wilderness, so it isn’t maintained (mowed) like some of the other grassy balds in the area. Maybe some goats can be borrowed from Roan Mountain to spruce it up a bit? Unfortunately, it seems like it was overgrown beyond the point where goats would help.

The rest of the descent was steep and tedious. Fallen trees blocked the trail in places, but all of the obstacles were reasonably easy to avoid. I took one final break at a cliff, which offers the only view on the trail between Green Knob and Sunburst. I gazed out over a sea of green, preparing myself for the final, insanely steep drop to the campground. A distant rumble of thunder got me moving, and I hurried down the trail, grabbing onto to trees in places to keep from slipping. This stretch of trail is about as steep as they come. In North Carolina, Woody Ridge in the Black Mountains is the only trail I can think of that compares to it.

We came out on highway 215 just up the road from the campground and just down the road from where I parked. The trail starts next to the bridge over the Middle Prong of the West Fork of the Pigeon River. For some reason I thought the trail came out on the dirt forest road that leaves highway 215 just south of the campground. It had been around 15 years since I’d hiked this part of the trail though, so I guess it isn’t a surprise that I’d forgotten that detail.

There were a bunch of people swimming in the river near the trailhead. Boone joined them for a couple of minutes, as we hadn’t seen any water since before lunch. That looked like a great idea, but the thunder sounded like it was getting closer. Plus, Christy was expecting me home for dinner, and it was already after 4pm. I jumped in the car and headed for home, happy with my trip and eager to relax over the remainder of the weekend.

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