CMC Weekly Hike News
03/03/04
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Looking Ahead....
All Day Sunday
ALL DAY No. A0401-332 Mar. 7 Foothills Trail: Upper and Lower Whitewater Falls (strenuous) 8:00 AM Hike 11.6, Drive 115, 1600 ft. ascent, Rated A-A Carroll Koeplinger 828-667-0723 carrollkoepp@cs.com Come to hike in the warm weather at the lower elevations! We'll hike part of the Foothills Trail in NC and SC, featuring two of the region's most stunning waterfalls. We will begin at the Upper Whitewater Falls parking lot, and hike to the footbridge over the Thompson River. We'll partially retrace our steps, then take the side trail to Lower Whitewater Falls, and finish at the Duke Power Co. Bad Creek parking lot. Second meeting place: Bi-Lo in Pisgah Forest at 8:30 AM. Topos: Reid, Cashiers; also Foothills Trail map
ALL DAY No. A0401-104 Mar. 7 Wolfe Ford & High Falls 8:00 AM (moderate) Hike 10, Drive 80, 500 ft. ascent, Rated A-C Les Love 828-658-1489 lesrlove@aol.com P400 From the gauging station on the South Mills River, we'll hike this mostly level trail to High Falls, then cross the footbridge at Wolfe Ford. We'll take the Rigby Cutoff (named for CMC hiker Ed Rigby) near Squirrel Gap to return to the trailhead. Topo: Pisgah Forest; also Nat'l. Geographic Pisgah Ranger District map
All-day hikes submitted by Bruce Bente 692-0116, bbente@cytechusa.com . Driving distance is round-trip from Asheville. All Saturday and Sunday hikes assemble at Westgate Shopping Center near I-240 UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.
Half Day Sunday
HALF-DAY No. H0401-321 Mar. 7 Turkey Pen Ramble 1:00 PM Hike 6, Drive 70, Rated B-B Neal Andreae, 828-698-2546, NAndreae@gowebway.com P400 Stretch your legs on a loop including parts of the South Mills River, Pounding Mill, Mullinax, Squirrel Gap, and Bradley Creek trails. NOTE: ONLY MEETING PLACE is Turkey Pen trailhead on Turkey Pen Road just past Boylston Baptist Church on NC 280.
Half Day hikes submitted by Paula Robbins 828-687-1651 paularww@bellsouth.net and Pat Elias 828-281-3253 peliasy@aol.com . Leaders: Mail please mail your sign-up sheets. Meet at Westgate unless otherwise noted.
All Day Wednesday
ALL DAY No. W0401-280 March 10 Art Loeb Trail/ 8:45 AM North Slope Loop Hike 8, Drive 34, Rated B-B Fred Chaffee, 828-692-8937 P400 After an absence of four years, we'll again do an old favorite, a moderate trek from the Davidson River swinging bridge up the Art Loeb Trail to Joel Branch forest road and over the Shut-In Ridge to Neil Gap, then down the connector to the North Slope loop trail back to the campground. First meeting place: Ingle's Mkt., Rt. 25 North, Hendersonville. Second meeting place: Ranger Station, Rt. 276, at 9:30 AM. Map: Nat'l. Geographic Pisgah Ranger District
ALL DAY No. W0401-312 March 3 MST:, US 25 to 9:30 AM Parkway Headquarters Hike 6, Drive 5, 500 ft. ascent, Rated B-C Siro A. Del Favero, 828-277-2546 An easy, early spring hike on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. It begins at the bridge over US 25 on the Blue Ridge Parkway and ends at the Parkway Headquarters. A short car shuttle. Meeting place: Harris Teeter parking lot on US 25, Hendersonville Rd., north of BRP entrance.
Wednesday Hikes are submitted by Kenneth & Carol Deal, 828- 281-4530, KMCDeal@aol.com and Paula McNabb, 828- 274-0057 gcmcnabb@charter.net. The meeting place for each hike will be designated by the hike leader and will appear in the hike description. Driving mileage will be listed, round trip, from the first designated meeting place.
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Looking Back......
All Day Sunday
SATURDAY No. A0401-286 Feb. 28 Sycamore Cove 9:30 AM Hike 7, Drive 0, 1000 ft. ascent, Rated B-B Kathie Giddings 828-696-9808 kmgiddings@juno.com P400 Note later start time and different meeting place. A nice easy/moderate winter loop hike in Pisgah Nat'l. Forest for those hiking the P400. The hike is in a pleasant wooded area with several easy stream crossings. Only meeting place: Davidson River Campground parking lot. Topo: Pisgah Forest; also Nat'l. Geographic Pisgah Ranger District map.
Post Hike Report: Fourteen people showed up for last Saturday's hike. We had great weather, and the trail was fairly dry, only a few area's where the snow wasn't completely melted. No ice. We even has some good winter views. Kathie Giddibgs
ALL DAY No. A0401-176 Feb. 29 Asbury Trail 8:00 AM Hike 8, Drive 90, 2000 ft. ascent, Rated B-A Tom Sanders 828-252-6327 mel&tgs@main.nc.us 900M This interesting hike in the eastern-most area of the Smokies is a 19th century path across the mountains. We'll hike the portion between Mt. Sterling Gap and Cove Creek Gap, dipping down into lower Cataloochee Valley to cross the bridge over Cataloochee Creek and passing the end of the other road-to-nowhere. Probable key-swap hike due to the long shuttle between the trailheads. Second meeting place: Pilot Truck Stop at exit 24 off I 40 at 8:30 AM. Topo: Cove Creek Gap
Post Hike Report: Ten people met on a beautiful day to hike the Asbury Trail, with Tom Sanders leading in substitute of Don Walton. Tom decided to change the route because of the long drive on a gravel road necessary to arrange a car shuttle for the entire Asbury Trail. We would do half the Asbury Trail, then walk North on the road a mile and a half, and take Little Cataloochee Trail back for a car shuttle with less driving. Since this meant an increase from 8 to 11 miles, hikers were given an option of taking the gravel road from the pleasant lunch spot on the Catalochee River to the Cataloochee Ranger Station or doing the 11 miles. Two took the former option. The 3.6 miles on the Asbury Trail was notable for great views especially the Mt. Sterling Ridge. On the Little Cataloochee Trail we visited the church in the old community and the Cook House. The trail the last 3 miles was unfortunately a heavy-use horse trail, but overall there was pleasant variety on this trip and the woods were beautiful. On the way out we saw several elk feeding in the woods. Tom Sanders
HALF-DAY No. H0401-256 Feb. 29 Moore Cove Figure Eight 2:00 PM Hike 6, Drive 7, Rated B-B Bruce Bente, 828-692-0116, bbente@cytechusa.com P400 Note later start time. This hike is a re-scheduling of the rained-out hike last July. It is a nice double loop trail following two old USFS paths that are not on the map. There are a couple of short steep sections and two minor creek crossings. There is a good view of Looking Glass Rock and other sights visible only in the winter. NOTE: ONLY MEETING PLACE is Pisgah Ranger Station new parking lot.
Post Hike Report: After all the snow Thursday and Friday, we half expected a lot more hikers out on a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon! We had a wonderful group of 11 hikers meeting at 2pm at Pisgah Forest Ranger Station for our half-day hike. We started along a trail following the path above US 276 and could see Looking Glass Rock for almost the entire hike. This hike offered versatility and we took advantage of it! Since it is a double loop (a figure 8 of sorts), with the second loop offering the most strenuous elevation climb, one could opt out and rest while the others could continue on the second loop. Nine of use did the top loop, snacking at our first major waterfall in a more open part of the woods. After our serene rest, we were met with our challenging uphill climb. The leaves were deep on the trail making our way both slippery and impossible to see what our feet would land on. At the top was a grass covered service road leading us to wonderful views of the Blue Ridge south of Mt. Pisgah and into the valley we would hike down into. Along the road, we also came across a large enough patch of snow to make fresh footprints and to make a few snowballs! The wonder of it all was we could have been hiking in a T-shirt it was so warm up there. After an hour, we met up with our 2 rested hikers and continued on down to the other 2 main waterfalls of the hike. We could walk behind Moore Cove waterfall into the tall but shallow cave which some of us did before we hiked out the 7/10th of a mile left to our cars. We were pleased to meet several new members only on their second hike with CMC and hope they will continue to enjoy the club hikes. Janet Onan
All Day Wednesday
ALL DAY No. W0401-311 February 25 Panthertown Valley #2 8:30 AM Hike 7-8, Drive 52, Rated B-B D. R. Kulp, 828-692-0783 A charming, moderate hike through a special area, and to waterfalls rarely seen. Probable beginning at west gate of park, but exact trail route and waterfalls visited dependent upon weather conditions and water level. Limited to 20. Call leader for more information. Only meeting place: Pisgah Forest Bi-Lo
HikingNews....
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Unscheduled Backpacking Opportunity in the Hazel Creek Area
On 12 March I plan to go into the Hazel Creek valley to do some exploration north and east of the Little Fork Copper Mines. I plan to spend the nights of 12 and 13 March at Medlin, Campsite 84. I will come out on the 14th.
If anyone wants to come along, contact me before 2 March or on 9 March. This is not a led trip and fellow hikers would not expected to follow my agenda on the 13th, which includes a significant amount of streamside bushwhacking ("streamside" = "thick rhodo").
Dave Wetmore, 884-7296.
AT reroute planned for Blood Mountain
Anyone planning to hike the Appalachian Trail this spring will notice a reroute in the Blood Mountain Wilderness of Georgia.
A .9-mile stretch of trail between Slaughter Creek and Slaughter Gap was rerouted last month by a volunteer crew of 60 Georgia Appalachian Trail Club members. They completed the reroute in a single day — the new trail section was built, signs installed, trees marked with white blazes, and the old section of trail obliterated.
The trail was rerouted to avoid the heavily-used area of Slaughter Gap. A new camping area that can accommodate 24-backpacking tents and is in close proximity to a spring was constructed along the reroute.