A Prehistoric Hike

My Saturday hike with the Piedmont Hiking and Outing Club meandered through Morrow Mountain State Park and 3 of the 27 known "prehistoric" quarries in the Uwharries. On Sugarloaf I noted some, mostly larger debris on the descent. We passed by the park headquarters, sporting stone from a more modern, merely "historic" quarry also located within the park. The debris on Hattaway Mountain was of noticeably inferior quality showing lots of white crystals in the dark rhyolite. Finally we marched up the side of Morrow Mountain and into the largest prehistoric quarry in North Carolina.

In the 1930's, just 4 miles away, from a ridge overlooking the Yadkin River, an archaeological site known as the Hardaway Site was discovered. A fellow by the name Coe excavated the area and determined it to be a huge tool making camp. Debris piles demonstrated the advancing tool design over thousands of years. The quality of the rhyolite stone there was unsurpassed in the area. Tools and points found for hundreds of miles were predominately from the Hardaway site. In fact, Hardaway points have been found throughout the eastern US.

In the early 1990's a graduate student, Randy Daniel and one of his mentors, Robert Butler decided to investigate further. They were well aware of Hardaway and the tens of thousands of artifacts found there. The mystery is, where did the stone come from. There was no quarry at Hardaway and no rhyolite. Rhyolite caps many of the Uwharrie mountains but does not occur in abundance elsewhere. Armed with maps, the two set out to find the quarry. The first suspect was Morrow Mountain. However, after several trips they didn't see the huge outcroppings or cliffs they were looking for. Then they realized there were no stones. The Indians had chipped them all apart leaving a debris field several acres large and in places 6 feet deep. In the 1930's the state built a road, parking area and picnic ground on top of the debris.

The rhyolite was the same as the Hardaway tools. You can easily see the quality of this stuff. It has noticeably sharper edges and even sports a serrated edge in many cases. I had previously taken some samples to show around and returned them to the site, on this hike.

Sugarlands Rock House

In the late 1930's the CCC built a rock house on Bear Branch in the Sugarlands area. About a mile from their camp, the house was built, probably without the park's knowledge, as a retreat for CCC bigwigs and friends. For many years the house was unknown to many locals. A couple years ago, it was "re-discovered" and its existence leaked out. Now there is a worn path leading to it and even guys like me, from Asheboro NC, know about it. No secret anymore. That is the reasoning behind the park's decision to knock it down. It is a very unsafe structure, barely standing. I believe I could knock it down myself in just a few minutes.

I had some directions, copied off the internet. It was easy to find. I suspect it will be much more difficult once the leaves have returned. I was weary even walking next the bowed out wall and even more weary walking through the doorways. I hope no one gets hurt here. the doorways look especially precarious.

On the return hike, I met the Wilderness Wildlife group headed out there. It has become a popular place.

Rich Mountain - Above Cades Cove

This was the coldest hike of my Wilderness Wildlife Week. Starting out with the temperature hovering around zero, I was cold. It took a good mile before I started to feel ok. We began at the start of the Cades Cove loop road and walked left up Rich Mountain. I didn't want to stop, just keep going and stay warm. We did stop at the site of an old fire tower and quickly ate lunch. My water bottle froze while stopped and apparently the groves the top screws into got ice all over them and the top didn't close all the way. Once I started walking, water sloshed around and out the top. I felt a little wetness on my butt and when it continued to grow wetter, I discovered the problem but now had to hike in freezing temps with wet pants.

We had nice views of Cades Cove at various points and could usually see cars moving on the roads below. Getting closer to the cove, we saw many deer grazing the fields. The bus was a welcome site and I was glad to finally get warm.

Cove Mountain hike

The third day of my Wilderness Wildlife Week was this very cold, single digit, hike up Cove Mountain and down Laurel Falls trails. Starting at Sugarlands Visitor Center, we follow an old road up along the boundary of the park. Gatlinburg butts up to the boundary. Some homes were built trailside. One in particular was wonderfully created to blend with the landscape but others were standard issue vacation homes built without regard to the surroundings. We also passed the upper end of Gatlinburg's Ski Mountain ski resort. I had no idea snow making machines were so loud. Are they jet engines?

The trail eventually parallels the access road to Cove Mountain's fire tower. The tower has been converted to a weather station, weather data collection site. Data from the tower is sent to locales across the country for analysis. We stopped here for lunch. I was glad to get moving again as it was quite cold to sit still and eat. Many water bottles froze. For some reason, the wide mouth nalgene bottles want to freeze across the opening.

The hike down past Laurel Falls is through very picturesque forest. We met no one on the trail until the falls. From there to the road is a paved trail and the most walked trail in the park.

Snowy Greenbrier Pinnacle

My second Wilderness Wildlife Week hike was up Greenbrier Pinnacle. This trail starts out at the Ramsey Cascade trail head and runs concurrent with it for the first mile and a half. As the Ramsey Cascade trail goes from a two track to a single track, the trail up Greenbrier Pinnacle leads off from the left upward. The trail was an officially maintained trail until the 70's. At that time, the park released falcons on the rocky edge of the mountain and closed the trail to allow the bird some time to establish themselves. The falcons eventually left and populated other areas, one of which is the Alum Cave area.

The trail to the top is an old jeep trail used to access the firetower at the top. All that is left of the firetower is some cement foundation and a cistern. Before reaching the top, there is a terrific view looking back toward Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

Being an unmaintained trail, there are lots of blowdowns across the trail, but it is very easy to follow. It is also the route most folks return by after climbing the Cat Stairs - but that is another blog.

Another Cold Hike

My first experience with Wilderness Wildlife Week is this hike. This organized hike was led by Marty Silver, a Tennessee State Park ranger. There were about 15 participants. We started from the Cosby campground and headed up Snake Den Ridge trail. Marty set a blistering pace which soon had me breathing hard and fogged up despite the below freezing temperature. The previous week's rain made all the creek crossings interesting. Two or three folks got boots wet and Marty went through one bootless.

Near the junction with Maddron Bald trail we encountered a scruffy looking fellow headed down. His backpack was about the largest I'd ever seen. He was trying to do the "triple crown", AT, Continental Divide and Pacific Crest trails all this year. Additionally, he was biking from Maine to the the Continental Divide trail head in Southern Canada. He was making a 13 mile round trip to the store at Cosby. Marty told him, he had extra food and would be willing to give it to him. The fellow replied he wasn't in need of food, just some smokes.

Further on the trail, we entered Maddron Bald, a heath bald now growing back. There are only two balds in the park being maintained as balds. This one barely resembles a bald now. Maddron Bald trail passes one of the jewels of the park, the Albright Grove. Named for Horace Albright a National Park Director, this grove contains some of the oldest and largest trees in the park. It is a much different forest than the second growth forests that cover much of the park. The final couple of miles out to Rt 321 are along an old gravel road and a very easy grade.

Ridges Mountain

Ken Bridle led this New Years Day hike on the Ridges Mountain property. Several years ago, Piedmont Land Conservancy with several partners raised money to purchase this property. Title was transferred to the state and it is now administered by the North Carolina Zoo. Permission to enter the property must be secured through the zoo. The main attraction are the huge boulders on adjacent land owner, Ben Crotts' property. Mr Crotts has compiled some historical information and photos on a website owned by John Wesley College in High Point, NC. Ridges Mountain

The boulder area is leased to a climbing or bouldering club. Several members were present, climbing the boulders. Many of the boulders had white chalk markings in cracks and crevices where climbers had attempted to scale them. I was glad to see a couple mattresses on the ground beneath the climbers. One fellow landed with a thud on a mattress after a 6 or 7 foot fall.

Historical references indicate the area was prairie when first encountered by European travelers around 1700. Thus, the rocks would likely have been visible for some distance and likely were visited often. It appears to me, the rocks could easily have been made into homes or structures by Indians, simply by leaning some poles up against them and adding some roofing material. Early references to a large cave here, could have been such a structure.

Touring around the site, many stacked rock formations are seen and change as you view them from different angles. It appears rocks are on top of rocks in some cases. It is a wonderful place to visit.

In addition to the rocks, the property also contains several upland or vernal pools which harbor many salamanders or other amphibian life. With no fish, it is a perfect place for such creatures to live. Although the pools appear to dry in the summer, it is still damp enough to continue a life support for these amphibians.