EarthNsky
New member
day 1 (thursday)
Phantom Soul (Castanza Hiker) met me at my office in York, PA and we headed west to I-81 and then south. Near Johnson City, TN we got on I-26 and crossed the Unaka Mountains. It was dark and we couldn't see anything but it looked like a pretty cool road. Brand new too. Sam's Gap is nearly 4000 feet.
We got to Burnsville around 230am and checked out the Hardees and no one was there so we headed to the Colberts Ridge trail head where Pennsy was crashing and crashed. I never fell asleep and had a hard time getting comfortable.
At 530am Pennsy got up and was moving around his vehicle. It was still really dark. He then got out and hiked up the Colberts Ridge trail with his headlamp. A couple minutes later he came back down and Phantom Soul and I started getting ready for the hike.
Around 640am Blalock arrived and we headed to the Hardees to meet everyone else in the group.
Everyone was at Hardees now and we all had breakfast. We then dropped the Bison mobile at the Pisgah NF ranger station and shuttled my vehicle to Cane River Gap where the hike would end and Ewker's vehicle to Bolen's Creek where the hike would begin.
The trailhead at Bolens Creek is right at 3000 feet and it was cold and the clouds were low. The fall colors were in full force. It was a very pretty fall morning.
part 2
“Bolens Creek Trailhead - Friday
We all geared up and started for Celo Knob. The trail immediately goes up from the get go. First gradual and then it gets steeper. The higher we got the colder and windier it got. For some reason I was having a lot of trouble. I was really tired and took it slow up the hill. We all stopped a few times and passed some people dayhiking on the way up. When we got to 5700 feet we started to see rim ice on the trees and were in the clouds. The wind really started to pick up too.
Just below Celo Knob's peak we all stopped and had lunch. We found a place the was protected from the wind. It was still very cold. The trees and vegitation were all covered in white up top and it was very pretty and surreal.
We then continued along the Crest. The vegitation that hampered us back in July was pretty much dead and we were able to push right through with no problem and the trail was easy to follow this time.
We passed by Gibbs Mountain without bagging the peak (no one bagged Celo Knob either).
We lost the trail at the same place we did last time but were able to scramble back up to it before it got really bad.
The ridge looked different. It seemed that the really sharp part of the knife edge washed out from the hurricanes.
There aren't a lot of trees so the wind really blasted you. At times it was snowing and sleeting.
As we came off the knife edge my back started hurting and every step I took was painfull. I started falling behind and was worried I would have to bail. I caught back up to the below one of Winterstar's many false peaks. I told them I was having trouble and Embear gave me some advil tablets. That really helped and I only had trouble with the big steps after that. We then got to the bottom of the climb up Winter Star. This was my favorate scramble last time. We got a quarter of the way up the rock and there was a huge downed tree blocking the rest of the scramble. The trail was re-routed to the left around the tree. It was still steep and fun to climb but not like last time.
After Winterstar you cross over Deer Mountain and then drop into Deep Gap. It's a long steep descent and there were some good scrambles on the way down. There was a point on the way down where I could see into Deep Gap beneath the clouds and that the entire gap was covered in rim.
We reached the Gap and I'm not sure what time it was. Pennsy had already gone down the Colbert Ridge Trail to meet up with Gemini and Yam at Carolina Hemlocks.
We set up camp and crowded together due to the high winds. Ewker set up his tent last and was up higher and pretty much right in the wind.
Before it got dark views opened up on both sides and were spectacular. We could see Table Rock and Grand Father Mountain to the north east and the Butts to the west.
There was still a cloud over the Black Mountain and was could see the snow coming out of it and melting as it fell towards the valley. That was pretty cool.
It then got dark and Blalock, Phantom Soul, Walkin Dude, Ewker and I stayed up talking. At about 830 we all turned in because it was too cold to stand out side. Plus we were all pretty tired after that hike.
Phantom Soul (Castanza Hiker) met me at my office in York, PA and we headed west to I-81 and then south. Near Johnson City, TN we got on I-26 and crossed the Unaka Mountains. It was dark and we couldn't see anything but it looked like a pretty cool road. Brand new too. Sam's Gap is nearly 4000 feet.
We got to Burnsville around 230am and checked out the Hardees and no one was there so we headed to the Colberts Ridge trail head where Pennsy was crashing and crashed. I never fell asleep and had a hard time getting comfortable.
At 530am Pennsy got up and was moving around his vehicle. It was still really dark. He then got out and hiked up the Colberts Ridge trail with his headlamp. A couple minutes later he came back down and Phantom Soul and I started getting ready for the hike.
Around 640am Blalock arrived and we headed to the Hardees to meet everyone else in the group.
Everyone was at Hardees now and we all had breakfast. We then dropped the Bison mobile at the Pisgah NF ranger station and shuttled my vehicle to Cane River Gap where the hike would end and Ewker's vehicle to Bolen's Creek where the hike would begin.
The trailhead at Bolens Creek is right at 3000 feet and it was cold and the clouds were low. The fall colors were in full force. It was a very pretty fall morning.
part 2
“Bolens Creek Trailhead - Friday
We all geared up and started for Celo Knob. The trail immediately goes up from the get go. First gradual and then it gets steeper. The higher we got the colder and windier it got. For some reason I was having a lot of trouble. I was really tired and took it slow up the hill. We all stopped a few times and passed some people dayhiking on the way up. When we got to 5700 feet we started to see rim ice on the trees and were in the clouds. The wind really started to pick up too.
Just below Celo Knob's peak we all stopped and had lunch. We found a place the was protected from the wind. It was still very cold. The trees and vegitation were all covered in white up top and it was very pretty and surreal.
We then continued along the Crest. The vegitation that hampered us back in July was pretty much dead and we were able to push right through with no problem and the trail was easy to follow this time.
We passed by Gibbs Mountain without bagging the peak (no one bagged Celo Knob either).
We lost the trail at the same place we did last time but were able to scramble back up to it before it got really bad.
The ridge looked different. It seemed that the really sharp part of the knife edge washed out from the hurricanes.
There aren't a lot of trees so the wind really blasted you. At times it was snowing and sleeting.
As we came off the knife edge my back started hurting and every step I took was painfull. I started falling behind and was worried I would have to bail. I caught back up to the below one of Winterstar's many false peaks. I told them I was having trouble and Embear gave me some advil tablets. That really helped and I only had trouble with the big steps after that. We then got to the bottom of the climb up Winter Star. This was my favorate scramble last time. We got a quarter of the way up the rock and there was a huge downed tree blocking the rest of the scramble. The trail was re-routed to the left around the tree. It was still steep and fun to climb but not like last time.
After Winterstar you cross over Deer Mountain and then drop into Deep Gap. It's a long steep descent and there were some good scrambles on the way down. There was a point on the way down where I could see into Deep Gap beneath the clouds and that the entire gap was covered in rim.
We reached the Gap and I'm not sure what time it was. Pennsy had already gone down the Colbert Ridge Trail to meet up with Gemini and Yam at Carolina Hemlocks.
We set up camp and crowded together due to the high winds. Ewker set up his tent last and was up higher and pretty much right in the wind.
Before it got dark views opened up on both sides and were spectacular. We could see Table Rock and Grand Father Mountain to the north east and the Butts to the west.
There was still a cloud over the Black Mountain and was could see the snow coming out of it and melting as it fell towards the valley. That was pretty cool.
It then got dark and Blalock, Phantom Soul, Walkin Dude, Ewker and I stayed up talking. At about 830 we all turned in because it was too cold to stand out side. Plus we were all pretty tired after that hike.