Pisgah 400: Trace Ridge/Wash Creek/Bear Branch Trails and Pink Beds Connector
7/18/22 – 9 miles
Continuing my string of hikes in Pisgah National Forest following convoluted routes and tying up loose ends, today I hiked two separate routes.
The first was a couple of miles past North Mills River Campground, starting from the Trace Ridge parking area on FR 142 (Hendersonville Reservoir) off of FR 5000 (Wash Creek Road).
Okay, I’ll spare the turn-by-turn description and go with the photos. My hike started from the “P” in the middle left of this GAIA topo track of the Pisgah Ranger District.
But first…at the parking area I talked with a young guy named Nate who was camping out of his truck, asking him about the Trace Ridge trailhead (it goes in both directions, trying to get the right one. I was disoriented even with GAIA. That’s what Pisgah NF will do to you). He gave me helpful info about trail conditions because he had biked it the day before. With Nate was his black Lab named Jim, a sweet elderly fella whose eyesight was failing. A chance encounter, they were gone when I finished my hike. I wonder where they are now.
we all just gotta get along.
Trace Ridge Trail soon connects with Wash Creek Trail, gentle loamy soil and an easy descent to North Mills River. Turn around, retrace steps and pass Trace Ridge – wait, I thought we weren’t doing detailed directions…
and the bloom is very hard to photograph
After crossing this bridge and the forest road intersection, I started on Bear Branch Trail that pretty much goes straight up to another forest road. This trail begins at Wash Creek Horse Camp, which was empty today. The horse folks have a pretty nice setup, picnic tables, campfire rings and a privy too.
Nothing much to look at on Bear Branch Trail except a few new flowers.
As far as I can ID, the flower below is a crane-fly orchid, sort of a camouflage flower. What drew my eye to it? After years of poring over flower ID books, there are a lot I am familiar with that I haven’t yet seen in real life. I am attentive to shapes as well as colors. Sometimes I just get lucky, take photos of anything interesting and look it up later.
When I reached the forest road, I knew from reviewing the map that this was my turnaround point, so I retraced my steps to the horse camp and walked the gravel road back to my car.
(Looking at the GAIA track later that day, I was dismayed to see that I had turned around before the end of Bear Branch Trail – about a third of a mile short! The gravel road where I turned around was not on the GAIA maps, but I assumed it was the one I’d made a mental note of.)
Today’s second loose end was the Pink Beds Connector, an interior trail that nobody but diehard map completers and maybe someone long ago with the Forest Service ever sets foot on. The popular Pink Beds Loop is easily accessed from the Pink Beds Picnic Area on Highway 276, but I accessed the connector trail from the same parking area that Jim and I started our High Falls hike ten days ago.
beside North Mills River
probably a rock hop most days but I had to wade it
The trail was level but overgrown and obstructed by numerous blowdowns. It ran very close to North Mills River, rhododendrons encroaching the path. There were no blazes (maybe obscured by overgrowth?) and no evidence of maintenance in a while – stretched resources, low priority or does this just need to be decommissioned?
At least there are pretty flowers
The return hike was slightly better only because I knew what to expect. Not my most exciting day in Pisgah National Forest, but the weather was cooperative and it was still better than a day at the office.
Postscript: Nine days later I returned to the North Mills River area with a friend and rehiked Bear Branch Trail out-and-back to its end.
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