adventures in pisgah

Last week I asked Terri where I should take Duma for an adventure last weekend and she asked me if Cattail Peak was a place. I said it was and she replied that she had seen the Highland seasonal Cattail Peak Wheat at the store and picked me up a six pack of it. I always enjoy a good beer and have used Highland’s seasonal brew names as an excuse for an adventure whenever a new one comes out. So far I have made special trips to Clawhammer Mtn., Shining Rock, Cold Mtn., Black Mtn, and now Cattail Peak all for the sake of a beer. Like all good things Cattail did not come easy and the journey was better than the destination (and the beer).

Our plan was to do a big loop starting and ending at Carolina Hemlocks going over the top of Mt. Mitchell and Cattail. We would camp at or around Winter Star Mountain and then come down Colbert Ridge the next morning.

On the drive up once Mt. Mitchell appeared the apprehension grew as it became clear that we were about to climb a mountain:

Things started innocently enough on a nice wide trail bathed in sunlight:

The trail quickly got steep, then rocky, then completely overgrown in berries. Walking down it was like being at an all you can eat berry buffet:

We stopped at a seep for Duma to get some water and heard voices coming down the trail. Three guys appeared and before I could say hi I realized they were not American and things were not exactly right. They were not dressed for a hike and were each carrying a big green army duffel bag that was full of something. I could tell the bags were very heavy and the men were not expecting to see anyone on the trail. It is too early to be harvesting pot, but they could have been carrying supplies. Or maybe they were just full of Galax? About a half mile up the trail I could easily see where they had dragged the bags onto the trail but wasn’t about to go investigating.

By this time we were well on our way up the mountain and the weather couldn’t have been nicer:

After having already gained 4000′ vertical we stopped briefly at Maple Camp Bald and stared up at the peaks still 1000′ above us and watched as the weather swirled all around us:

When we got to the Big Tom Connector there was an angry and very protective dog with some hikers that wanted to kill me and Duma. This dog was vicious and barely under his owners control on a 25′ retractable leash. I didn’t like the look of the weather or the dog and decided to take the shorter route up the connector. I don’t know what happened but we quickly lost the trail and ended up doing a 500 vertical foot bushwhack/scramble up to the top of Big Tom. It was impossibly steep and Duma insisted on stopping to rest many times.

Once on the top of Big Tom I stopped for a snack and as I was looking at the map the thunder cracked and lightning struck very close to us. The heavens opened and we were suddenly in the middle of a big storm on the top of the highest ridge on the East Coast. I made a instant decision that our best chance was to flee for lower ground. Instead of heading South for the Mt. Mitchell summit I bailed and headed North for Cattail instead. We stopped under a Hemlock tree to don my rain gear and a big snack for Duma and then took off across the Back Mountain Crest Trail in the middle of a tempest.

The Crest trail is a high ridge run that makes the top of the Black Mountain trail in the Pisgah District look tame. It is like a sordid game of shoots and ladders. Somewhere in the middle of it we passed over the top of Cattail and the rain let up just enough for me to pull the camera out:

The storm picked up again and if there was a place to stop I would have but on the high ridge the terrain was unforgiving:

We made it to Deep Gap and the turn to Colbert Ridge in very good time. Though the storm was over we were both wet, tired and haggard:

We had a decision to make: set up camp or head back down to the truck. The storm was gone, for now, but we were both wet and not exactly comfortable and the truck was only four miles away. But it was almost 8 and would be going down in the dark. Dark versus cold and wet is an easy decision so down we went. We stopped at the first overlook to soak in the views and sunset one last time:

I put on my headlamp and had a little safety chat with the dog and then we took off down the trail. We ended up running most of the descent and made it back to the truck much faster than anticipated. We are both still feeling it today, three days later.