HOSPITAL ROCK
Christy gives me a hard time
because I have a habit of planning out my hikes meticulously, sometimes weeks,
or even months, in advance. On a
typical evening, I can often be found pouring through maps, guidebooks, and
notes while Christy grades papers. On
other occasions, I decide on Saturday’s hike while I’m at a bar on Friday
night. These usually aren’t the best
hikes.
Last weekend was a fine
example of this. Originally, Christy
and I had planned to backpack to Shortoff Mountain in the Linville Gorge
Wilderness. The weather forecast looked
iffy though, so we debated switching the trip to a more sheltered area. Friday night at Moosehead (which features
some of the best wings in Charlotte), we considered backpacking in the Pisgah
area, and spending the night at a shelter.
Ultimately, we ended up deciding to skip the backpacking in favor of a
dayhike. Dave was with us, and
expressed interest in going, as long as the hike was scenic, yet close to
Charlotte. That narrowed our options
considerably.
I picked Jones Gap State
Park, in South Carolina, for our destination.
Oddly, Christy and Dave neglected to ask about the details of the
proposed hike. Regrettably, I forgot just
how difficult the climb to Hospital Rock is.
We arrived at the park after
a tedious, 2-hour drive on route 11. I
dropped Christy and Saucony off, and Dave and I shuttled my car over to the
Falls Creek Falls Trailhead. We
returned a few minutes later, and paid the parking fee. From there, we regrouped at the bathroom
area, and filled out a permit at the self-service box. The permit form was very thorough. It requested names, addresses, car info,
starting point, ending point, and the trails we planned to hike. The only thing missing was space for an
essay on why we wanted to hike there.
For laughs, we took note of a permit another party had completed. Here’s a sample of the information provided:
Starting Point: Jones Gap
Trails hiked: Hospital
Rock
Exit Point: Hospital
Talk about your bad
omens! I swear I’m not making this up.
That permit seemed prophetic
as Christy, Dave, and I, plus the dogs, Saucony and Sasha, headed up the trail
to Hospital Rock. It would be an
understatement to describe the trail as hazardous. The trail was steep and boulder-strewn, and the footing was
terrible. However, we were surprised to
see considerable fall color long after we would’ve expected the leaves to be on
the ground. Of course, many of them
were, obscuring the trail and making the footing hazardous. It had rained the previous night, and the
wet conditions only added to the challenge.
Initially we followed a stream uphill, but soon we were scrambling up
rock faces as we climbed the steep north side of the gorge. After about 30 minutes, we reached a rock
outcrop with a nice view of the Middle Fork of the Saluda River Valley.
Another long climb
ensued. A cable was in place as a
safety line for one steep, eroded section.
Luckily, the trail was fairly easy to follow. Occasional orange blazes marked the way. Where blazes were missing, ribbons or strips
of duct tape were wrapped around the trees.
I assume the duct tape was marking the trail. Dave thought it might be holding the trees together.
Inexplicably, the trail
descended steeply before arriving at Hospital Rock. Hospital Rock forms a huge overhang that could almost qualify as
a cave. We enjoyed a long lunch in the
shade of Hospital Rock before resuming our hike that afternoon.
We
now pause for these brief messages….
Have you ever wished you
could have every great rock anthem related to medical care on one CD? Well, now you can! Announcing the new compilation, “Hospital Rock”, brought to you
by Columbia Hose. It’s got everything
you could want, and more! From the
heavy metal of Motley Crue’s “Dr. Feelgood”, to the funky jams of “Down With
Disease”, by Phish, and the soulful grooves of “Doctor, Doctor”; “Hospital
Rock” is sure to give you a royal case of the Rockin’ Pneumonia and The Boogie
Woogie Flu! Order today, for only
$19.95 (plus $32.50 shipping and handling), and receive a free DVD featuring
highlights of various entertainers injuring themselves in creative ways! The DVD includes Michael Jackson setting his
hair on fire, plus that dork from New Kids on the Block falling through the
stage. Order now, and we’ll through in
a bonus DVD, “Girls Gone Stupid”, featuring 2 hours of footage of Courtney
Love! Operators are standing by.
“Hey man, is that ‘Hospital
Rock’? Well, turn it down, there are
sick people in here.”
Oh, sorry about that….
We
now return to the trip report already in progress…..
Christy led the way as we
descended steeply from Hospital Rock.
We passed 24-hour urgent care boulder, and descended steeply along the
face of physical therapy cliff. Why were
we going down? We had hiked here 2
years earlier, and I distinctly remembered in illogical section of trail that
descended steeply. This seemed like too
much though. Eventually we crossed
several small streams, and found ourselves on an old jeep road. We reached a junction with another jeep
road, as the route we were following plunged steeply downhill yet again. We hadn’t seen orange blazes, ribbons, or
duct tape in quite awhile. This
couldn’t be right.
We decided to scout. Dave continued downhill, while I followed
the other jeep road steeply up. I
followed it until it disappeared, but never crossed the trail. Dave didn’t have any luck, either. He followed the roadbed until it reached a
field before he returned. Clearly we
had missed a turn. We decided to
double-back until we rejoined the trail.
We knew we had erred badly
when we arrived back at Hospital Rock.
Where had we gone wrong? We
wandered around our lunch spot, noting that the trail we had followed was the
obvious, albeit wrong, one. Finally,
Dave walked over to a boulder just uphill from the cave. He kicked some leaves off, and there was an
orange blaze. From the cave, the trail
continues steeply uphill over more boulders.
Because of the rocks, there is no discernable tread, and the only blaze
was hidden. Where was the duct tape
when you need it?
It was already 2:30, and we
had only covered about 1 ½ miles of our 6 mile hike. We had maybe 3 hours of daylight left. At the pace we had been maintaining, given the difficulty of the
trail, we would be pushing our luck trying to finish the hike before dark. The trails in the area are very rugged, and
trying to hike them in the dark really would result in an exit at the
hospital. Reluctantly, we decided to
head back the way we came.
We returned to the park and
civilization. We hadn’t seen anyone
since we started the hike. I would like
to return to the area and finally complete the hike. Unfortunately, I’ll need to find some new partners, as Christy
and Dave aren’t likely to go anywhere near those trails again. Maybe I can get Kevin to join me, the next
time we’re at a bar on a Friday night.
Back to South Carolina
Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports
Please remember to Leave No Trace!