THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY
My wife is from
Pennsylvania, and she swears that we don’t have any fall color to speak of in
the southeast. I’ve been trying to
prove her wrong for years, without much luck.
Colors over the past few years have typically been disappointing (with
some notable exceptions here and there).
This season though, I may finally be able to prove her wrong.
I had backpacked in the
Shining Rock area last week, and the colors there had been fairly impressive,
although they were still approaching their peak. I figured another high-elevation destination a few days later
would provide the elusive “right place at the right time” I needed for great
fall foliage. So, I hiked at Mount
Rogers on Tuesday. I wasn’t
disappointed.
I started seeing color
around Sparta, NC, but that was only a tease.
The foliage didn’t really get impressive until I started up the road
into Grayson Highlands State Park. I
parked at the Massie Gap trailhead, and the colors on the surrounding hillsides
were quite eye-catching. It would only
get better.
I grabbed my pack, leashed
the dog, and headed up the trail towards Rhododendron Gap. This trail used to go straight up the hill
beyond the parking lot. However, it was
recently re-routed to climb one long switchback. The new route is a significant improvement, as the old trail was
heavily eroded.
A few minutes later I
reached a stunning view of vivid fall foliage with hazy blue peaks in the
distance. This is what I had come for,
so I spent quite a bit of time taking photos.
As I climbed, the views expanded.
Eventually though, I had to turn my back on all those colors and make
some progress towards Rhododendron Gap.
I still had a 10-mile hike in front of me.
Once in the open meadows,
the foliage was reduced to vivid shrubs and colorful distant ridges. I picked up the Appalachian Trail briefly,
but left it in favor of the trail along Wilburn Ridge. This trail follows the crest of the ridge,
featuring widespread views in nearly every direction. This route is a bit harder though, and the footing is frequently
tricky.
Thanks to all the photo
opportunities, it took me nearly 2 hours to hike the 2 miles to Rhododendron
Gap. I hiked to the far end of the gap,
where a rock outcrop provides a sweeping view to the north and east. The fall foliage was spectacular here as
well. Where the colors around Massie
Gap tended towards yellow and orange, this area featured more red. Part of the reason for this was the berries
on the numerous Mountain Ash trees.
It’s hard to believe that berries can have a significant impact on the
fall colors, but in this area they did.
There must be thousands of Mountain Ash trees surrounding Rhododendron
Gap.
Originally I’d planned on
having lunch there, but it was a very sunny day, and I’d forgotten my
sunscreen. I could almost hear my flesh
roasting. Plus, that rock outcrop is a
popular spot. I had seen quite a few
people near Massie Gap, but there were even more passing through here. This was mildly surprising on a Tuesday, but
then again, this was Mount Rogers.
Mount Rogers is the only place I can think of that can be crowded in a
mid-February blizzard. I decided to
move on to a quieter, and shadier, lunch spot.
It didn’t take long to find
a suitable spot on the Pine Mountain Trail. The Pine Mountain Trail follows the route of the old AT, and
provides a connection for a convenient loop hike. This trail features numerous views from open meadows, but frequent
Rhododendron thickets provide occasional shade. I took my break in one of them so Saucony and I could cool off.
Eventually I followed the
Pine Mountain Trail down into a hardwood forest, where numerous leaves on the
ground indicated that the fall foliage was actually past its peak. I rejoined the Appalachian Trail, and after
a long walk in the woods, I emerged in the open meadows around Scales. Scales is 4WD trailhead popular with
horseback riders. I recalled the area
as being a muddy mess, but it has been improved considerably in recent
years. A fence surrounds a grassy field
that is now being utilized by some people as a car campground. I quickly left that busy area behind, and
climbed on the AT towards Stone Mountain.
Stone Mountain features more
sweeping views from open balds. Near
the summit, I passed a “wild” pony grazing beside the trail. Earlier we had passed grazing cattle, but
Saucony had walked right past them without really noticing. She noticed the pony though. It was all I could do to keep her away from
the pony as we hiked by.
We descended back into the
woods and followed a series of paths and old roads (still on the AT) to a
bridge over Wilson Creek. Just beyond,
we passed a trail shelter and began the final climb along Quebec Branch. Before long, we were back in the open
meadows with more sweeping views. A few
minutes later, I rejoined the connecting trail to Massie Gap. I hurried back down it, as it was getting
late and I was behind schedule. Despite
my tardiness, the view southwest across Massie Gap stopped me in my
tracks. Earlier, I had spent quite a
bit of time here taking pictures of the fall foliage despite a hazy sky. Now though, the distant mountains were much
clearer. Late or not, I stopped to take
some more photographs.
I turned my camera on, but
it immediately died. What
happened? The batteries were dead. I had brought 2 full sets of batteries with
me on the hike, thinking that one was fully charged. The first set had died along Wilburn Ridge, and I’d switched to
the backups. Now though, the backups
were dead, too. Apparently the backups
hadn’t been fully charged after all.
I tried taking them out and
replacing them, without any luck.
Finally, I decided to switch back to the original set. Maybe I could get some juice out of them. Surprisingly, the camera came on! I took a couple of quick shots, then zoomed
in. I tried to take another, but got an
error message – “Card Full”. Are you
kidding me? This is my punishment for
not deleting all of those photos from our trip to Wyoming and Colorado this
summer. I quickly deleted a few photos,
then switched back to photography mode.
Oh, no, the low battery warning!
I managed one more shot, and the camera died again. Sigh.
Needless to say, those last
photos were a bit rushed. With more
time, I probably could’ve gotten some great shots. The ones I’d taken that morning have great color, but the distant
peaks are largely lost in the haze. The
mountains look great in the later photos, but I didn’t capture the colors. I’m tempted to use photoshop to combine the
best features of each, but technically, that’s cheating. From now on, I’ll make sure I have plenty of
space on my card, and I’ll have at least one set of fully charged
batteries!
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!