Tag: Camping

Mt. Holy Cross Ascent

July 23 – 24, 2016

Mt. Holy Cross is one of 55 mountains over 14,000 feet elevation in Colorado. At 14,005 feet it ranks 53rd. To plan your trip I recommend using www.14ers.com . That site can provide better info than l can.

I do recommend camping for most people because this would be a tough out and back in a day. I saw several single day hikers not yet finished at 6 pm and 7 pm and they had been hiking more or less constantly from 6 am. They had that dead look in their eyes. On the other hand, there was a guy who started at the parking lot at 3:30 AM and reached the summit before me. I reached the summit at 8 AM after a 2.5 hour climb.

There are 10 designated camping sites near a stream. You can double up on sites. I had no problem squeezing in my small tarp tent in site 10 that already had 2 groups of campers. There were swarms of mosquitoes. With no tent and no bug repellent, I put on my rain suit and tightened up the hood and waited out the mosquitoes. Fortunately, I hiked in late the first day and only had 2 hours of sunlight left after arriving in camp.

Also, start before sunrise to avoid dangerous storms. I started the ascent from the camp area at 5:30 AM. I was the 4th person to summit that day. There were probably somewhere around a hundred people attempting a summit that day.

Sign at trail head. There is a long 8.5 mile drive on unpaved road.

Columbine. The trail to Mt. Holy Cross has beautiful wildflowers, streams, and views of waterfalls. It would be a nice hike without doing the summit.

Early morning view before completely leaving trees.

Trail follows ridge line. Stay just to right of cairns and near ridge line all the way to the shoulder of the mountain.

I am on the summit!

I love taking photographs of the cairns.

Marmot

View of Holy Cross from near Half Moon Pass

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

July 26, 2016
Rooftop of the East

The Black Mountain Crest…..

Overview: Solo hike from March 19 – 21, 2016 making a loop by dropping pack at Cane River Gap on Highway 197, driving to northern trailhead of the Black Mountain Crest trail at Bowlen’s Creek Road (Watershed Rd), leaving car and riding bicycle 10 miles back to Cane River Gap. Hiking portion was on Big Butt trail, Mountain to Sea trail, Mt. Mitchell Road, Old Summit trail, and Deep Gap trail (Black Mountain Crest trail) back to car.

It is difficult to find the Black Mountain Crest trailhead at Bowlens Creek. Turn onto Watershed road which is signed as a private drive. See sign for parking about 100 feet up road. Only room for 2 cars.

I rode my mountain bike from the Bowlens Creek trailhead of the Crest Trail along highway 197 back to the Big Butt trail at the Cane River Gap trailhead. After ending a 10 mile ride with a 1300 foot climb, my legs were toast. After I locked my bike to a tree and picked up my backpack I felt like I had nothing left for the hike. I was soon laid out my pad in the middle of the trail for a short rest. The night before, I hadn’t slept well in the back of my van at a brightly lit rest stop in Waynesboro.

It was slow going. Nice ridge walks. I looked for water and finally found it coming from rocks in side of the trail. Here is the location of this most likely unreliable water source.

35°46’54.6″N 82°20’37.9″W

Big Butt trail is a dry trail. I filled everything including my 2 liter. I was dragging all day. It blamed the bike ride. I finally reached the Blueridge Parkway and began the climb up Blackstock Mountain. It was still early to stop, but I camped in the middle of the MST trail at 6100 feet elevation. No water on the MST trail in this area. Fell asleep briefly before it got dark. Barely enough cell signal to get off a text after multiple attempts. Looking at the distances on MST and the various options up Mt Mitchell I considered turning around. I thought to myself, “I’ll sleep on it and maybe I will feel better in the morning. One good thing.The predicted rain did not come. Plenty of clouds though. Water is a big issue.”

Day 2

It wasn’t long and I had made good progress on the MST. Found water dripping from overhead rocks and went to work filling everything. Seemed like more water dripped on me than went in the bottle. Later reached Mt Mitchell road and I opted for the road walk to save time. Need to finish Monday or people will be worried. There were numerous streams coming down to the road. It would have been a much easier place to fill bottles.

I reached the ranger station and opted to take the old Summit trail. The first part was okay but the piece beyond the restaurant was a nightmare of rock scrambles. Bypassing the summit, I came out on the road again and walked the short distance to Deep Gap trailhead. My map calls this Back Mountain Crest trail, but the signs here call it Deep Gap Trail. The trail starts in a picnic area on the far left (North) of the lower parking area. It is marked with Deep Gap Trail signs. The trail starts off flat and smooth. To good to be true and it doesn’t last. Soon I am knocking off 6’ers. Craig’s Pea and Old Tom’s peak. From here it trail is only 11 miles to my car and I have one more trail night which I spend at Deep Gap. I no longer worry about finishing on time.

Day 2 & 3 (Late Afternoon / Night / Early Morning)

Shortly before reaching Deep Gap a few snow pellets began blowing in. By the time I reached Deep Gap at about 4 PM the snow was coming down and the temperature was dropping. The first order of business was to get the tent set up. I soon learned that it is best to pack the tent with the doors zipped up. As soon as I raised the tent on hiking poles, the door opened to the wind allowing snow to blow into the tent. I later swept the snow out as best I could. The 2nd lesson learned is to place the tent in a less exposed area (even if it might have been hard to squeeze in) and to orient the tent so that the door is not facing into the wind. This being a new tent, I thought it had doors on both sides with one door always out of the wind. The opening on the other side was actually a large mosquito netted window, not a door. Additionally, this tent needs the lower profile end facing directly into the wind. The vestibule flap on higher profile side would make a nice sail. All night long the tent shook with loud rattling and ripping sounds. The walls pushed in and it felt like the tent was being bounced around by a giant. During the night tent stakes were ripped from the ground on the key tent anchor points of the vestibule flaps. Three times, dressed only in long johns and braving howling wind and blowing snow, I ran around in the dark replacing tent stakes.

There are a number of places where ropes are needed. In January there was a snow storm on this ridge that left 66 inches on Mt. Mitchell. Can you imagine attempting to hike this terrain in 66 inches of snow? You should always be prepared for severe weather at these elevations.

As fierce as the wind was all night long, at 6 AM gusts blew in that made earlier winds seem mild in comparison. It was bad before, but the 6AM winds made me wonder about the limits of my situation. I’ve always noticed that the wind tends to pick up just before and after sunrise and I hoped that the worst winds would soon be over.

Long before daylight I had made my plan for exiting this frigid wind tunnel. I knew which clothes I would change into and I planned to pack all gear except for sleeping pads and tent without leaving the tent. Even sleeping pads would have been packed while inside the tent if they could have fit inside the pack. Given the conditions, I had not hung a bear bag. If a bear wanted to come out in this weather for a snack, he could have it.

All packed except for the tent and sleeping pads, I exited the tent and was blasted by wind. I struggled to stand whenever I was knocked a little off balance by a gust. As I began pulling tent stakes it became evident that the tent would mount to the sky as soon as I pulled the last stake. I pulled my sleeping pad and backpack out of the tent and placed the backpack on top of the sleeping pad to hold it down. The backpack immediately caught the wind and started rolling and the sleeping pad began to fly. I snatched the pad just in time and wondered how I could hold or pin down tent, tent sack, and 2 pads, while simultaneously packing. This felt like a hurricane scene I had seen in one of those old silent movies… maybe the Keystone Cops. I explored to the backside of the campsite and found an area less exposed to the wind. There was a large rock ledge and some trees that provided some protection from the wind. One by one I carried my backpack and other items to this spot where I was able to lay out the last items while packing. A few days later, I checked the weather records for Mt. Mitchell and found that the temperature had dropped to 13 degrees F that morning with a -9 degree F windchill and wind gusts up to 40 mph. The Mt. Mitchell weather station also confirmed that the strongest gusts were shortly before sunrise.

Day 3

The Crest Trail was slow going. Like many hikes that follow narrow ridges there were contnuous obstacles and scrambles. I hiked with only 4 oz of water since the night before and I had skipped breakfast. My other water was frozen. My main objective was to move steadily in order to get off the exposed ridgetop section of this trail. Whenever I hit an open area, it was difficult to keep balance with powerful gusts hitting me from the left. Hiking on the leeward East side of the ridge gave some relief. The scariest part was pulling up a rocky face to the top of an exposed narrow ledge where the wind felt like it was going to push me over the side.

I finally reached a road path that followed the contour of the mountain along the west side. Though on the windward side I could make fast progress on this easily walked section. This soon led me to the point where the trail descended from the crest. After 5 minutes of descent, I saw my first people since Mt Mitchell. A group of 5 or 6 with heavy backpacks were headed toward the crest. They were sure to have some interesting times with those packs on the rock scrambles. Once off the crest there were soon a number of water sources.

This is the trail. No ropes here.

Heavy cloud blankets view back along the Black Mountain Crest toward Mt. Mitchell.

March 27, 2016
Shining Rock Wilderness / Cold Mountain Hike – Sept 23 & 24 2011

Sept 23, 2011

Slept in the back of the van last night at the parking for the trailhead for Old Butt Knob trail. Rained all night. In the morning I cooked breakfast in the rain, but the rain cleared before I started hiking. Old Butt Knob trail is not as tough as Green Mountain trail, but it does have some very steep sections along
a narrow rocky ridge. The sky became absolutely clear blue with a few clouds blanketing some lower mountains and valleys. Just as quickly the clouds moved in again. Took a long break at Shining Rocks enjoying a great view from the white quartz outcroppings. Having been soaked from wet branches and sitting in the wind, I needed my jacket during the break. Now I am on Star Mountain having red beans and rice for lunch. I have only seen a couple on Art Loeb trail. They were returning from a wet night on Cold Mountain. Now, on to Cold Mtn for me! Oh yes…my left knee is a little sore from the steep climbs.

Mark on Shining Rock

I am relaxing in my tarp tent near the top of Cold Mountain. Passing through the narrows required a lot of stepping up large rocks. I thought I had finished the hard part this morning. The narrows have great views from both sides. The ridge is so rocky and narrow there is very little room for a trail. I took my time and made detours to climb over some of the more spectacular rocks.

I met a couple of guys, Drew and Taylor from Charlotte, NC, at the gap where the Cold Mountain trail intersects Art Loeb. They had started at Daniel Boone Scout Camp (north end of Art Loeb) and were hiking south, the length of Art Loeb. Taking a wrong turn, they had just come down from Cold Mountain. They pointed at another trail that they thought was Art Loeb and I told them that the trail they were pointing at might be a trail, but that it is not on the map. It took a little conversation before I understood that they intended to continue south on Art Loeb. I pointed out the trail that I had just come down and Drew said, “We wondered about that, you just appeared coming out of that overgrowth. Looking back at where I came out, I realized that it would be hard to see the overgrown trail. Drew had been so confused that he couldn’t point out Art Loeb in the direction that they had just come from.

This reminds me of a sign at the Trailhead parking lot, “What to do if you are lost”. Among the advice is to go down a drainage until you cross a trail or road. I wouldn’t want to try that. This is the only time I have seen a “Lost” sign. Undoubtedly, many people get lost here with the many confusing unmarked trails.

Finished supper and began to wonder whether I brought enough food. I didn’t really plan the meals like I usually do. I got lazy and threw some food in the pack. I might be a couple of meals short.

Bears:
Haven’t seen any. Just hung an awesome bearline. Usually I don’t go to much trouble to make a good bear line. Last trip i didn’t hang the food. I put it a little way from my tent. Just far enough so the bear wouldn’t need to crawl over me to get the food and just close enough that I could scare any bear that was getting my food; not that this method would work. Taylor (of the lost guys) had a big red can of bear spray. Some company is making some money selling that stuff. It was the 2nd person I have recently seen with bear repellant. I can imagine the salesperson…telling stories of bear attacks. The customer says, “I plan on hiking in Shininig Rock”. The salesperson says, ” Beautiful place, Did you hear about the bear attack there last week? … Tragic…If only the young lady had had bear repellant with her.”

Rhododendrum Tunnel on Art Loeb trail just north of Shining Rock Gap

Mark settled in on Cold Mountain. I made it an early day, knocking off at 5PM.

My campsite on Cold Mountain

Bear Bag is hung on Cold Mountain

View of Cold Mountain from the Narrows

Sept 24, 2011

My knee felt fine today. I slept warmly last night with the sound of occasional gusts of wind and my tarp pulled all of the way up on one side. I was awake at 6:15 am, with bear bag retrieved and coffee heating up. By 8 AM I was descending Cold Mountain. I was surprised to see that someone had pitched a tent about a hundred yards down the trail from me. I walked quietly by as they slept. Descending section 4 of the Art Loeb trail toward the Daniel Boone Scout Camp, I passed one large deadfall that was causing a new trail blaze straight up the hill and around the tree. About a mile later, I met a group of trail maintainers hiking toward this deadfall. They carried a cross-cut saw. I asked them if it was a “bow” saw. I meant to say cross-cut saw, but it was too late. They took me for a novice and began to explain the technical requirements of their jobs with regard to Wilderness regulations.

At Daniel Boone Scout camp, I made a mental note of the parking that was available for hikers. (There is plenty of parking on the roadside before crossing the bridge.) I ran into several others readying themselves for a day-hike up Cold Mountain. I continued up the road past the sign for the East Fork Trail and over the bridge. Trailheads for the East Fork and Art Loeb are both easy to find. East Fork was a nice ascending trail falling an old logging road. It followed the creek on the right bank, finally crossing and continuing up the road away from the creek and toward Shining Rock Gap. It is an easy walk. The creek had nice water cascades, pools, and slides. At one point I spied huge granite formations hidden in the woods on the opposite bank. The 3 – 4 story tall granite monoliths split into what appeared to be a large opening or cave. Hidden in the dark trees, it was difficult to pick out. Next time I need to check out these rocks. I continued over Beech Gap and had a late lunch on the Shining Rock Creek trail. Shortly after crossing a particularly tricky deadfall, I met a young man moving toward me with a quick pace. We stopped briefly as I stated what a tough deadfall he would soon be climbing over. We quickly recognized one another. This was the guy I met during a hike in the Citico Creek Wilderness a couple of years ago. He was the youngest person to have ever hiked all of the trails in the Smokies. By 3 PM, I was back to the car.

I took this photo in order to attempt to identify this plant that was growing on Cold Mountain Trail.

Water spills and pool in East Fork Creek

September 26, 2011