Kitsuma Peak, Pandemic Style

Kitsuma Peak – 5/9/20 – 10.1 Miles

The pandemic scare has gotten worse, so many unknowns. Working from home (and grateful for it). The most daring thing we’ve done is sit on our front lawns on Saturday nights, eating pizza, drinking beer, and shouting at our neighbors beside us and across the street. It has been a beautiful spring. The itch to get out on a trail grows stronger each day.

I asked my friend Danny Bernstein for advice. Most of Pisgah National Forest Ranger district is closed. Most of the Blue Ridge Parkway and access to trailheads is closed (other than a section near Asheville, and lots of hikers there). She suggested Kitsuma Peak in Old Fort, where she had hiked the previous weekend and saw no other hikers – but mountain bikers aplenty.

Kitsuma Peak it is. I’ve been once before, more than ten years ago. Jim joined me for this hike. We arrived at 9:30 on a Saturday morning to a totally empty parking lot at the Old Fort picnic area. I guess the mountain bikers were still enjoying their coffee.

Chilly, upper 40’s, unusual for a May morning. I read later that there was snow at Carver’s Gap and Roan Mountain. It’s all uphill from the get-go on Youngs Ridge Trail, and a brisk breeze joined us as we got closer to the top. The feeling was amazing, freeing, uplifting, nostalgic – oh, how we have missed this! 

A few large pink rosebay rhododendrons were in bloom, but smaller white Piedmont rhododendrons were bursting in profusion, lining both sides of the trail. They were everywhere, appearing again and again around every bend, arching overhead like arbors in a garden.

Worth the trip: a pink ladyslipper right beside the trail

At about 3.5 miles, just before we reached the summit, the first of many mountain bikers came barreling downhill. Jim stayed ahead and kept a good eye out, and the bikers were all reasonably alert, very friendly and laid back.  One pair whizzed by with a small dog chasing behind, inches from the back wheel, having the time of its life.

We paused for lunch on the flat grassy summit. Mountain bikers came and went, but none lingered.  Hard to believe we still had six miles to go, but it’s downhill now on Kitsuma Peak Trail. 

On the steep switchbacked descent we met a swarm of casual afternoon walkers. The trail leveled out at Interstate 40 and paralleled it for a short distance to a parking lot where more mountain bikers were pumping up tires (and where all those casual walkers started from). 

Charming I-40

We walked through the parking lot, turned right onto Royal Gorge Road, and had some head-scratching  at this point.  I had forgotten how far we had to go on this curvy paved road (turned out to be nearly a mile).  Traffic was very light, however, because the road is then barricaded to vehicles and given over to the enjoyment of foot and bicycle traffic.  

The old road winds around the mountain curves, one lane of the original concrete now paved over with asphalt. Mountain bikers were valiantly pedaling up this long stretch to get to the thrill of 4 miles down on the other side. We saw the warriors that we had encountered up on the trail – they go around the route several times.  Jim eyed each one with increasing envy and now has the spark to try mountain biking. [We’re going to need a bigger garage.]

Southern Railroad tracks run down to the narrow valley created by Swannanoa Creek (heard but not seen).  No trains today, but it excited my imagination to see the tracks coming out of tunnels carved through the mountains.  The number of folks out enjoying the day increased, but it was easy to maintain a six-foot distance on the wide roadway, with room to spare. All were smiling and enjoying the freedom!

About one mile down is Point Lookout, a grand scenic overlook of Royal Gorge. Jim and I stopped there to sit on the grass and enjoy a snack with a view before continuing on to complete our loop back at the picnic area.

What is this?

My GAIA worked well today and I think I’ve got the hang of it.  Beautiful day, just the tonic I needed, yet only a taste of what I wish I was doing more of. And a reminder that I have lost some fitness! 

Danny Bernstein’s excellent hiking guidebook Hiking North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Heritage gives a great description of this hike and background on the Southern Railroad and more.

Home again, dreaming up our next pandemic adventure!

 

"When I saw the mountains, the weight lifted
and my restless spirit calmed.
I knew this is where I belong."
~John Muir