One of my goals is to summit the tallest peaks East of the Mississippi and possibly before it’s over just maybe all of the peaks East of the Mississippi that are 6,000 feet or higher. I’ve made it to the top of several of them but there were plenty more that were higher and up until this trip I was barely in the top 5.
No doubt the most famous mountain that I’ve summited has to be Mt. LeConte in the Smoky Mountains! I’ve been to Mt. LeConte about a dozen times so far and I’m certain I’ll get up there a few more times in the future. The cool thing about Mt. LeConte is the fact that there is a lodge not far from the summit so you can spend the night and hike down in the morning. And there are five trails to get there and back – definitely high on the scale.
When I first heard of the Black Mountains and Mt. Mitchell I decided to start gathering research on them and then I learned that the Black Mountains are home to several of the highest peaks in the Eastern U.S. Ideally, a loop hike would be the easiest logistically but to do it properly one needs to start at the Bowlens Creek trailhead and follow the Black Mountain Crest trail (179) 11.3 miles to the top of Mt. Mitchell in order to experience the entire ridgeline. Not to mention that the climb would be a little bit more gradual instead of straight up but this would require us to shuttle cars which is always a little more time consuming and just an overall pain in the butt. As it turns out a loop can be done if one doesn’t mind hiking the last half of the trip on horse trails which tend to be rocky; full of mud holes and full of horse poop.
Link to Mt. Mitchell State Park Website
Linville Gorge, Mount Mitchell [Pisgah National Forest] (National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map)
So, we decided to go with the loop hike as opposed to the shuttle hike for this trip. We parked our car at a small parking area just off SR 1158 and began our hike there at the Colbert Ridge (178) Trailhead which is right there at the parking area. Perfect! This is a cool area and literally just around the bend from the Carolina Hemlocks campground which is an absolutely gorgeous little campground that feels very cozy and isolated. I intend to go stay there sometime in the future.
This trip was also the maiden voyage for my ULA Circuit backpack so I was super excited to use it for the first time. Not rain nor foul weather would stop me from this trip! I loved it so much that I gave my two cents worth about it here.
Immediately, the trail headed up, up and up at a pretty good clip which was definitely steeper and rockier than just about any other trail I’ve hiked in the East. However, I haven’t hiked any of the AT North of Virginia though and I hear that is a whole new kind of rocky. There were some really pretty Mountain Laurel and Rhododendron blooms on our way up from the trailhead. This section of the trail requires a lot of stepping up; around and over rocks and boulders in the middle of the trail. If you have bad or questionable knees I would advise going very light with the pack. We hiked up to Deep Gap where there are several campsites but the best we found was right in the middle of a dirt road that led downhill to somewhere. After surveying the other campsites we decided that it offered some shelter from the wind and a lot of flat level area. We didn’t see anyone else that evening and it felt like we had the gap to ourselves. I will mention that Deep Gap is a dry camp so you’ll want to get water about a 1/4 mile before reaching the gap. It started raining on and off around 9:00pm and didn’t let up.
The next morning we got up and it continued to spit and sputter rain on us while we sat under a large tarp and ate our breakfast. We reached Potato Hill 6,475 after a mile or so of hiking up and down large boulders that by this time were quite slippery. The trail essentially follows a thin ridge that is just incredible because you feel like you’re walking a tightrope. Too bad the weather was rainy with very little visibility or there would have been some amazing views. At one point it was a really heavy mixture of rain and sleet that was one step away from snow. The entire trail was composed of steep slippery rocks all the way to the Mt. Mitchell parking lot so my Black Diamond Distance FZ(Now FLZ) Trekking Poles earned their keep and kept me from falling in spite of the trail. Once again my Vasque Scree hiking shoes gave good solid traction from start to finish. I opted to take my ENO Housefly because they were calling for rain and it’s a tarp with doors which makes it a fortress. I love it because it has a ton of room but I just wish it had side pull-outs. I took my Sea To Summit Nano Pyramid Shelter just in case the mosquitos happened to start dive bombing me – thank god they didn’t!
The trail continued on an up and down pattern for quite a while until we reached trail gravel and that meant we were getting close to our destination. It wasn’t long after that before we started seeing signs of civilization such as picnic tables and small picnic shelters that were actually really cool. They were essentially open sided concrete buildings just big enough for a picnic table to fit inside. Then a little further and a small lower level parking lot which we crossed and reached the larger main parking lot. On the other end of that lot were several things that we welcomed such as the trailhead for the short uphill paved trail to the Mt. Mitchell lookout tower; concession stand and a gift shop. We hung out in the dry and warm gift shop for a bit before we headed up the trail to the Mt. Mitchell lookout tower.
On the way up the small paved trail on the left side there is a small building that where we dropped our packs so we wouldn’t have to haul them up to the tower. It was a small educational building and inside were some really cool stuff. There were various animal skulls and furs and all kinds of other things that I didn’t have time to explore. We talked to the rangers a bit about our next water source as well as the trail to get to the restaurant and on to our next campsite called the meadow.
We continued up to the lookout tower and spent a little time looking around and checking out the various signs that depict the peaks and mountains surrounding the area. Now, in perfect weather this would be great but not on the day we were there nor most days from what they say. Either way it was a grand place and extremely cool although we were quite exposed to the nasty weather.
We headed back down the paved lookout tower trail almost to the parking lot but turned left and headed East on the Old Mitchell Trail to the restaurant. The Old Mitchell Trail is very similar to the other trails in that it’s rocky and strenuous but as you get closer to the restaurant it begins to flatten and follow the road for a bit before it rounds a bend and there’s the parking lot for the restaurant. The food at the restaurant is quite tasty and the service is very good. Our waitress actually made tartar sauce for one of the people in my group without even being asked! Outstanding service, good food and very friendly people. I have to say that even though it was cold and wet outside I was almost just as cold sitting still in that restaurant with wet clothes on…brrrrrrr!
After lunch we left the restaurant and continued on the Old Mitchell Trail until it ended and the Commissary Trail started. We followed the Commissary Trail until it ends into Camp Alice Trail. We hiked Camp Alice Trail for about a half mile before it turns into the Mountains to Sea Trail also known as the Buncombe Horse Range 191. We hiked about three more miles on the Buncombe Horse Range which is every bit a horse trail and chock full of fist sized rocks and large mud holes. We finally arrived at our campsite for the evening at a place called the meadow.
The meadow is just what its’ name implies but doesn’t sum up just how beautiful it is, even in the pouring rain. It’s a large semi-flat meadow with some enough room for about eighty tents and that doesn’t include the surrounding area in the woods. We had a little bit of cover from some large mature trees but set up a large tarp to eat our dinner under. It pretty much rained the rest of the night.
We continued on the Buncombe Horse Range for another mile or two which was brutal on the feet but Maple Camp Bald was a great reward with views that were outstanding. A short time later we turned off the gravel road onto more of a hiking trail but I believe it was still the Buncombe Horse Range and the next several miles were awesome. The trail wound through tight rhododendrons and mature forests that were a welcome sight after all of the rocky trails from the previous two days. We finally came to the end of the trail and the beginning of a few mile road walk on SR1159 and after a short walk turned left on SR1158 and a short time later we arrived at the car.
Overall this trip was outstanding – the condition of the trail was unlike any of the trails I’ve hiked on the Southeastern Appalachian Trail and most any other trail I’ve hiked in the Southeast. The closes I’d say is Linville Gorges river trail with all of the rocks that force you to think twice before you make that next step. The first part of the hike was all stepping up over rocks and boulders and extremely steep. Then the trail morphed into a rocky rolling A.T. like trail only to turn into flat rocky muddy horse trail and then finally the last part of the trail took on a personality like that of Shining Rock Wilderness. This was an outstanding hike! I am sure I will go back some day and hike the trail end to end from Bowlen’s Creek to Mt. Mitchell.
Cincinnati
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