Mountains To Seal Trail: Cascades and Infinity Pools - Beacon Heights

MST – Day 31 – 9/16/10 – Forest Road 464 to Beacon Heights - 10 Miles

It’s dark-thirty a.m. as we sneak out of Mortimer Campground – back to Forest Road 464 to start our second day in Wilson Creek. Danny has hiked some of this section before and it’s part of a loop hike from her second book. I am pumped up because the weather is clear and again we will be following the streams.

We carry photocopies of the relevant pages from Scot Ward’s book on every hike and follow along with his notes. In Wilson Creek we tried but soon lost track of each campsite and stream crossing, although if we were backpacking we would pay more attention to these.

The first half of the hike is spectacular, discovering waterfalls and swimming holes. First is Hunt-Fish Falls, a little over a mile in, and the easy access is confirmed by an old lawn chair left for our lounging pleasure. Personally I’d rather sit on the rocks.
 

I am always fascinated by ferns growing on the tops of rocks.

The trail hugs Lost Cove Creek, then turns left to follow Gragg Prong. We watched closely for Scot’s instruction of a “side trail to waterfall on left (worth it!)” and marveled at this unnamed cascade. Imagine the roar of the water flowing past my boots…

…and on down the rocky gorge.

For better or for worse, there are established campsites all along the trail. Better: fire rings. Worse: trash in the fire rings. The longest walk to any of these sites is 2.5 miles from access roads so you can haul just about anything in. Danny and I debate blaming the locals for not taking care of their home turf. Is it a fair assumption that the local folks are the abusers? Whoever the culprits are, seeing the trash at site after site makes me think twice about camping in this area on a weekend unless I’m looking for a party.

A little Zen at one of the pools.

The third big surprise water feature was actually several “infinity pools” flowing into each other – pure heaven on a scorching hot day. The kids can have their own pool with the grown-ups nearby.

After hopping little creeks a few more times we crossed Gragg Prong on a very nice bridge and stepped onto Forest Road 981 at a tangled intersection of gravel roads. A scratch of the head and then the appearance of a white blaze put us onto Forest Road 192 for a three-mile uphill climb. Danny enjoyed the road walk because we could walk side by side and chat more – and we did make good time on this section – but I still prefer a trail to even a dirt road. One bright spot was a small cascade that we named “Sharon Danny Falls.” You can name a star after a person, so why not a waterfall out in the wilderness?

At Old House Gap we took a sharp left off the forest road and began a steep straight uphill climb. Instead of a nice woods trail, though, I had the feeling of walking up a narrow cut for a power line (but no wires in sight). Oh, well, at least the sourwoods were turning red, broadcasting that fall was nearly here.

Back into the woods, the trail twisted and turned ever upward toward the Blue Ridge Parkway. As we got close to Beacon Heights, I heard a very loud snuffing noise to my left. What was that? I stopped, looking over my shoulder to see that Danny had stopped too (at first she thought I was just blowing my nose). I heard it four more times but couldn’t catch a glimpse of the animal. I concluded that it was probably a 15-foot, 500-pound black bear guarding 8 cubs and that we had narrowly escaped certain dismemberment and/or death…or it could have been a really hefty squirrel

Hikers at rest

Many varieties of goldenrod are everywhere

A break in the trees - this looks like Hawaii to me...never been to Hawaii...

A scant mile from the Beacon Heights overlook, the side trail appeared to the parking area where our car patiently waited. That always-long drive home convinced us to skip the diversion to the overlook and we opted to call it a day. Two nights and two days in the wilds of Wilson Creek were a highlight of my MST adventures so far...and I was ready to go home.

Read Danny's story of our day here.

Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree. ~Emily Bronte

Deep In The Heart Of Wilson Creek

MST – Day 30 – 9-15-10 – Highway 181 to Forest Road 464 – 14.3 Miles

Time to get back on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail with Danny. Our Linville Gorge plans were thwarted back in June and for the time being we chose to skip that section as we revised our strategy. Little sister to Linville Gorge, very scenic and nearly deserted in mid-September is the Wilson Creek area. My son and husband talk with misty eyes about Boy Scout expeditions to Wilson Creek, waterfalls, swimming holes, grilling steaks that they have backpacked in. I was finally going to see it!

Danny and I met at Mortimer Campground as our base camp for hiking in Wilson Creek, a nice little spot with hot showers and flush toilets and a couple of serious compounds set up with pop-up campers and tarps galore. How do you get to Mortimer Campground? Well, just take Brown Mountain Beach Road for a few miles after it turns to gravel and turn left at 90. This area of our great state of North Carolina has not seen pavement. Most all of our driving while based at Wilson Creek was kicking up dust and gravel.

Our first hike began from Highway 181, the main road from Morganton, NC up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. 181 is a sort of dividing line between Linville Gorge and Wilson Creek. And believe it or not, we are still in Pisgah National Forest. National Geographic Map #779 for Linville Gorge/Mount Mitchell is essential for hiking this area. Some trails have names per the map and there is intermittent signage. As always, the white dot blazes were a lifeline for us, even on fallen trees.



An amazing view of Grandfather Mountain - we will continue to spy on the old man for the next 150 miles




 Bowman's root











Pink turtleheads

























 
 Cardinal flower
 















Wilson Creek is a wilderness area and camping is allowed. Scot Ward’s book points out established campsites – they are numerous and well- situated. The key feature of this neck of the woods is water, water and water. Ironically, we never hiked along Wilson Creek itself, but we became intimately acquainted with Upper Creek, Raider Camp Creek and Harper Creek. Scot also notes many fords, and when Scot says “ford” he means wet feet. We decided to skip carrying water shoes and go all in – the day was very hot and the water would be refreshing. Because of the relatively dry conditions I was able to rock hop more than a few but four of them got the better of me. One was up to the hem of my hiking shorts and even higher on Danny.

Do you see the gator
lurking at the surface?















One of many pools along the way



Today was an easy hike for the most part as the trail switched between easy track, deep trenches and old roads. We made one small mistake and kept straight but soon backtracked to a left turn, where the trail changed character, becoming very narrow and steep – more interesting but more treacherous – or is it more interesting BECAUSE it’s more treacherous?

We ended the day at Forest Road 464, yet another gravel road.



 

Old railroad tracks from logging days















Busy beavers create dams along Harper Creek

















 Yellow jacket nests were everywhere along the trail
















What a hidden treasure - an unnamed waterfall on Harper Creek.









Wilson Creek exceeded my expectations, maybe because I love hiking along creeks, maybe because the skies were blue and the sourwoods were changing to red, maybe because we were still catching some late bloomers – or maybe I was just happy to be back in on home turf. There is no place like the North Carolina mountains.

Read Danny's story about the day here.  

Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.~ Winnie the Pooh