I wanted a hike this weekend, but we had an event last night with my work team, so I knew we wouldn't be able to get up and on the trail early for a long hike. Undeterred, I planned an 8-ish miler just south of the last section we did a few weeks ago. Like that one, this one started with a drive down The Dragon to the Fontana area. It's rare that I enjoy a drive to a hike almost as much as the hike itself, but this is a really beautiful drive. The drive across NC 28 by Chilhowee Lake is amazing, especially early in the morning when the steam is rising off the lake. Add in fall colors, and it's hard to beat.
The Dragon itself can be a really fun drive, and it was today. I'm not the type to try to drive it at 70 MPH, but if there's no traffic and you can take it at your speed (which may or may not be slightly over the speed limit) and really get into a rhythm with the curves, it's a blast. It was so cold this morning that there weren't many people out, and I somehow got really lucky on the trip home and didn't have any traffic in front of or behind me for the whole drive. Again, combined with the fall scenery, it was a great drive.
Anyway, we brought two cars, left one at Yellow Creek Gap (where we started our last hike and where we would end this hike), and took the other on to Stecoah Gap, where we started this week's hike.
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| Lovely morning view from Stecoah Gap |
I knew from my hike planning that we could expect a heck of a climb just after the first mile of the hike. This is a section of the trail known as "Jacob's Ladder," and it's a short (0.6-mile) uphill, but it's a STEEP (like 659 feet of elevation gain over that 0.6 miles) uphill. And it's pretty much all straight uphill, with only a couple of switchbacks thrown in at the top.
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| We are climbing Jacob's Ladder... |
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| Keep on climbing; we will make it... |
I'm not sure I would've said the climb was worth it if it were the middle of summer and the leaves were on the trees, because there wasn't really a great unobstructed view at the top. Because it's mid-fall and a lot of the leaves are on the ground, however, we had several great views throughout the hike that we wouldn't have had in the summer. That's one of the things I love about hiking this time of year. Enough leaves are off the trees that you can see the views around you, but enough leaves are still on the trees that the views have color and you're not just looking at a gray stick landscape.
We also found one really nice unobstructed view that we would've been able to see regardless of the season.
I really love fall colors. I think one of the most beautiful things in the world is a vibrant red or yellow tree against a deep blue sky. I wish I could hike every day this time of year to soak up the color.
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| This leaf stopped me in my tracks. I'm such a dork. |
Of course, there are downsides to all the leaves being on the ground. Due to the rain over the past week, there were several places where the leaves were wet, and that can get pretty slick, especially when they're covering rocks. I confirmed today that my New Balance hiking boots (which I like for their tennis shoe-like cushioning) won't cut it for hikes where a little more traction is necessary. When I bought them, I was concerned that the soles weren't "luggy" enough, but I bought them anyway because of the cushioning. I have about five pairs of hiking shoes, each of which has a couple of great features but also has some downsides. I haven't yet found a shoe that's perfect from all angles, but I'm hell-bent on meeting that challenge someday. Anyway - I won't be wearing the New Balance ones for any more fall hiking due to the need for a little better traction on slick leaves.
Another downside is that hiking with poles during the fall makes me feel a little like a trash collector:
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I had to stop several times and clear massive mounds of leaves off of my poles.
In other random news from the trail, I took a picture of this shelter (the Brown Fork Gap Shelter, in case you care) because I posted a picture of the Fontana Hilton in my last blog and I didn't want everyone to think all AT shelters were that nice. Shelters vary widely from area to area (they're maintained by local AT clubs, and some are definitely better than others). This one is nice enough, but it's representative of the pretty spartan accommodations. It certainly doesn't have a charging station like the Fontana Hilton. 😏
Also, as usual, I'm amused by interesting white blaze locations. This one on the cut on a fallen tree was neat.
And if you haven't figured it out already, I have a really handsome dog.
Ben and I both got to end our day doing good deeds. When we got back to Stecoah Gap to pick up Ben's truck, there were a couple of guys there who were waiting on their third friend, who was a little bit behind them on the trail. They were in their 60s and were in the middle of a 28-mile hike that they had planned to do over three days. They were pretty behind schedule, as tomorrow would be their third day and they were going to have about 14 miles to go. One of the guys said his legs were shot and he wasn't going to be able to make it. Their car was at Fontana Dam, so Ben agreed to give him a ride to the car on his way home. His friends planned to hike on and let him pick them up tomorrow. Hopefully that will bring us some good trail magic karma if we ever need it.
Meanwhile, on my way home, I drove up on two hunting dogs with massive tracking collars running in the middle of the road, so of course I pulled over to get them out of the road before they got hit. I collected them and found the phone number on their collars, but of course I had zero cell service, so I was getting ready to put them in my car and take them into Fontana where I could get service and call their people, but their people drove up (I'm assuming they were using the tracking collars) just as I was trying to coax one of them into Tigger's carrier in my car (Tig was in Ben's truck and, I might add, was very unhappy about Ben's added passenger). The lady was very thankful that I was keeping her dogs safe; I just hope she didn't think I was trying to load them up and steal them. Ha!
To summarize, we had a great, challenging, beautiful hike, and we are nice people. For those who are wondering, yes, the James Rock came with us on the hike, but I believe James had hiked this section before. Hopefully he didn't get to hike it in the beautiful fall before, so he got a little different perspective this time.
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