TMax
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- Feb 12, 2005
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I just had to post a trip report on this incredible few days. On rather short notice, I decided to head down to hike Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina with a friend. I decided to bag a few more state highpoints while I was at it. I left the Catskills late in the afternoon and was on the summit of Pennsylvania's HP (Mt. Davis) by 11:00 p.m. After stumbling around in the dark for awhile, I walked the short HighPoint Trail to the tower. You can either walk this trail from a picnic area or drive around right to the top. I don't have a clue as to the view! Took off from there and was at the trailhead for Backbone Mt. (Maryland's HP) at 1:30 a.m. Slept in the car for a few hours and then climbed up to the summit. It was pre-dawn and with my headlamp, I failed to find any real trail markings so essentially bushwacked up a relatively easy grade. Was rewarded with an incredible sunrise. 
Next stop was Sruce Knob in West Virginia. The road to the summit is dirt and clearly not maintained over the winter. It was in rough shape. The summit views were beautiful, and the wind was howling. There wasn't another soul to be seen. Then I was on my way to Clingman's Dome in Tennessee. Got caught in horrible traffic (3 hours to go about 8 miles) trying to get into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park is beautiful though, and again I was rewarded with a fantastic view. What a day! Sunrise on Maryland's HP and sunset on Tennessee's HP.
The trip up Mt. Mitchell was outstanding! (Some info here http://www.northcarolinaoutdoors.com/places/mountains/blacks.html ) Anyone looking to go down there, beware... portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway are closed which prevents access to the Mount Mitchell trail. We took the Colbert Ridge Trail to the Black Mountain Crest Trail. The trail starts off at a fairly easy grade on dirt...I am so used to all the rock hopping we do here in the Northeast that this trail seemed almost sinful! However, fairly soon the grade steepened and out popped the rocks! The trail had been closed until quite recently due to the ravages of winter and you could see the remnants of the damage. Trail crews had done an amazing job at cleaning it up. The brush gets quite thick and dense and reaches out and grabs you over much of the early section of the trail. Just under 4 miles from the trailhead, we came upon a wonderful grassy, sunny space in Deep Gap that marked the transition to the Black Mountain Crest Trail. There are some really nice camping spots along this ridge. As we climbed higher, snow was still to be found in spots. A trail crew had just marked out the footage of this trail with frequent markers. There was quite a bit of ridge walking with incredible views and lots of up and downs! This route takes you up and over four 6500' peaks (Potato Hill, Cattail Peak, Big Tom, and Mt. Craig) and assorted knobs and shoulders before reaching Mt. Mitchell. We kept looking at peaks in front of us saying "that must be Mitchell.." but then there was always another peak. From the shoulder of Big Tom, you get your first look at the tower on Mitchell. It really looks a LONG way away with a good amount of descent before climbing up Craig and then over to Mitchell. I had a moment of thinking "NO #$% WAY" before continuing on! Once up Mitchell, you must walk through the parking lot up to the tower. There was no water on the top yet (There are fountains near the picnic area but they weren't turned on), good thing we packed plenty with us. The return trip was tough, having to repeat all the ups and downs but offered continuous beauty! When we got back to Deep Gap it was tempting to just fall asleep in the sun on that wonderful grass. The guide I have lists the total mileage for this route at 14.4 but with the new footage markers on the trail, it turned out to be more like 16. My guide also listed the elevation gain at 5900' but Johnie (my hiking buddy's wrist computer) put it closer to 5300'. It took us 11 hours to complete the hike. An amazing day and a great hike that I would strongly recommend. The only people we saw were two pairs of hikers who had taken the ridge trail over and back from the parking lot.
This Highpoint peak bagging trip ended today on my drive home. I hit Ebright Azimuth, Delaware's impressive HP, it's all of 448 feet above sea level!
Next stop was Sruce Knob in West Virginia. The road to the summit is dirt and clearly not maintained over the winter. It was in rough shape. The summit views were beautiful, and the wind was howling. There wasn't another soul to be seen. Then I was on my way to Clingman's Dome in Tennessee. Got caught in horrible traffic (3 hours to go about 8 miles) trying to get into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park is beautiful though, and again I was rewarded with a fantastic view. What a day! Sunrise on Maryland's HP and sunset on Tennessee's HP. The trip up Mt. Mitchell was outstanding! (Some info here http://www.northcarolinaoutdoors.com/places/mountains/blacks.html ) Anyone looking to go down there, beware... portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway are closed which prevents access to the Mount Mitchell trail. We took the Colbert Ridge Trail to the Black Mountain Crest Trail. The trail starts off at a fairly easy grade on dirt...I am so used to all the rock hopping we do here in the Northeast that this trail seemed almost sinful! However, fairly soon the grade steepened and out popped the rocks! The trail had been closed until quite recently due to the ravages of winter and you could see the remnants of the damage. Trail crews had done an amazing job at cleaning it up. The brush gets quite thick and dense and reaches out and grabs you over much of the early section of the trail. Just under 4 miles from the trailhead, we came upon a wonderful grassy, sunny space in Deep Gap that marked the transition to the Black Mountain Crest Trail. There are some really nice camping spots along this ridge. As we climbed higher, snow was still to be found in spots. A trail crew had just marked out the footage of this trail with frequent markers. There was quite a bit of ridge walking with incredible views and lots of up and downs! This route takes you up and over four 6500' peaks (Potato Hill, Cattail Peak, Big Tom, and Mt. Craig) and assorted knobs and shoulders before reaching Mt. Mitchell. We kept looking at peaks in front of us saying "that must be Mitchell.." but then there was always another peak. From the shoulder of Big Tom, you get your first look at the tower on Mitchell. It really looks a LONG way away with a good amount of descent before climbing up Craig and then over to Mitchell. I had a moment of thinking "NO #$% WAY" before continuing on! Once up Mitchell, you must walk through the parking lot
up to the tower. There was no water on the top yet (There are fountains near the picnic area but they weren't turned on), good thing we packed plenty with us. The return trip was tough, having to repeat all the ups and downs but offered continuous beauty! When we got back to Deep Gap it was tempting to just fall asleep in the sun on that wonderful grass. The guide I have lists the total mileage for this route at 14.4 but with the new footage markers on the trail, it turned out to be more like 16. My guide also listed the elevation gain at 5900' but Johnie (my hiking buddy's wrist computer) put it closer to 5300'. It took us 11 hours to complete the hike. An amazing day and a great hike that I would strongly recommend. The only people we saw were two pairs of hikers who had taken the ridge trail over and back from the parking lot. This Highpoint peak bagging trip ended today on my drive home. I hit Ebright Azimuth, Delaware's impressive HP, it's all of 448 feet above sea level!
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