Pisgah 400: Shakedown Backpack - Day 1
South Mills River Trail/Cantrell Creek Trail/Squirrel Gap Trail/Horse Cove Gap Trail
5/22/24 – 15.2 Miles
A trip to Oregon has been percolating, a new state for Jim and me. Itinerary planning quickly got out of hand: “Oh, if we’re going that far we should include ABC…XYZ.” Get ready for amazing adventures, mostly outdoors.
Hint: we needed a shakedown practice backpack trip to prepare for hiking the Timberline Trail circumnavigating Mount Hood (!)
I worked out a long lollipop route deep in the backcountry of Pisgah National Forest Ranger District, perfect for an overnight trip.
Day 1: South Mills River Trail to Cantrell Creek Trail, then counterclockwise up Cantrell Creek to Squirrel Gap Trail to Wolf Ford backcountry campsite. Day 2: turn left onto South Mills River Trail again and follow it all the way back to the trailhead.
Two unknowns: The lower portion of Horse Cove Gap Trail is incomplete on maps and apps and might add more miles than I anticipated. In addition, I pinpointed Horse Cove Gap as our camping spot, but I wasn’t sure if it had a space flat and big enough for our tent. Mountain bikes and horses also use the trail, so we shouldn’t encroach on it.
Nerdy enough for you yet? When I need reliable on-the-ground trail info, my go-to source is dwhike.com. His hike reports are clear and concise with photos, like an encyclopedia entry. I studied what he had to say about Horse Cove Gap Trail here.
Since Jim’s recent retirement we’re not tied to clocks or calendars, so as soon as we saw a great weather window we pulled our gear together. We packed side by side to make sure we had all the shared equipment, stove, fuel, first aid kit, dividing the tent gear (Jim carried tent/tarp/ground cloth and I carried poles/stakes).
At about 4 miles, after crossing the second bridge, the trail turns away from South Mills River and crosses Cantrell Creek on an old log footbridge. In a clearing there is the former site of Cantrell Creek Lodge. Originally built as housing for student rangers of the Biltmore Forest School, only the main chimney remains here. The building has been moved to the Cradle of Forestry.
Read more about Black Forest lodges and Cantrell Creek Lodge here and plan to visit the Cradle of Forestry while you’re “in the neighborhood.”
About a quarter mile past the clearing is the junction where South Fork Mills River Trail turns left (back towards the river) and Cantrell Creek Trail keeps straight. The loop part of our route starts here and we’ll be back at this intersection on Day 2.
Another quarter mile brought us to another junction signed for Horse Cove Gap, confirming what I’d learned from dwhike.com. Unfortunately, it was quite a bit further than I estimated. Nothing to do but press on. Most of our elevation gain was on Cantrell Creek, but it was very well switchbacked and moderately graded.
When we reached the intersection of Cantrell Creek Trail and Squirrel Gap Trail, I paused to reflect that I was here just a month ago tackling another complicated hike that included Squirrel Gap Trail. Read about it here.
At the next crossing of Cantrell Creek Jim and I stopped to filter water. Horse Cove Gap, where we hoped to camp, was just 1.5 miles away and this was the closest water source. Two mountain bikers came along, moving slowly over the narrow trail’s roots and rocks. The only folks we saw all day.
So far we had hiked about 9 miles. I was disappointed (but not really surprised) to see that Horse Cove Gap was not suitable for camping. While it would do in an emergency situation, we had other options. Decision time! Wolf Ford, designated backcountry campsite was 2.2 miles further on Squirrel Gap Trail with water, flat tent sites, no worries. Jim and I were both getting tired.
But I’m a Pisgah 400 Challenge girl and Horse Cove Gap Trail must be conquered. I could do it today or come back another time without a loaded backpack and do it all again. Double ugh.
The short version: We did it. It was not fun, but it’s done.
The long version: We emptied our packs of most of our stuff, keeping food and water and stashing everything else behind a big log. The downhill portion of the trail was very steep, as expected, but the conditions were poor, no maintenance in quite a while. We crossed Cantrell Creek 3 times in tricky, wide rock hops (then 3 times on the return).
I tried to hustle on the return climb, got overtired and cranky (poor Jim). By the time we got back to the gap where we left our gear, I was feeling nauseous. I sat down to rest, drank nearly a liter of water, and tried to eat a nut butter bar. Could I even hike the upper portion of Horse Cove Gap Trail?
Jim offered to carry extra water for me and I could hike with nothing, so we did it. This segment was shorter and the grade was not as steep. Drinking and eating had clearly helped me and we finished quickly.
For fellow challenge completers who may want to do this: Horse Cove Gap Trail is about 2.2 miles long (4.4 miles out-and-back) and 1,000 feet elevation gain/loss.
By now it was nearly 5:30 p.m. and we had hiked almost 14 miles. Wolf Ford campsite still was 2.2 miles, mostly downhill. Tired and stumbling a little, we rolled into camp with an hour or two before dark.
Jim is not a fan of camp chores at the end of the day and, to be fair, he’d been taking care of me all day. For me, putting down the backpack felt liberating and I was ready to do all the things. We set up the tent together, then cleaned ourselves up and changed clothes. We filtered drinking water, hung up a little clothesline for our smelly clothes, and even set a bear hang for our food.
No campfire, but as we ate our dehydrated meals I felt myself relaxing. We’d hiked about 16 miles but landed in a fine campsite with everything we needed. South Mills River gurgled along beside us. An owl hooted overhead. Nighty-night!
