May 23 Evan's Knob

Hiking buddy, Will, led me on this loop hike in the Black Mountain NC area. On the property of Christmont, the former Gustavino estate, we received permission to hike on their property.

We started up toward what we thought was Evan's Knob. The trail was very steep. Once at the ridgeline, we were uncertain of where we were. We went both ways on the ridge and after much confusion we realized we were on McCall's Peak. Will indicated we'd have to do across Wendell Begley's yard to get the trail. We approached his home quietly and scrambled around until we found the faint trail to Evan's Knob.

Once on Evan's Knob, we took a side trail to Al's Cabin, above. Al, a graduate of Warren Wilson College, nearby, had spent a winter in this structure about 20 years ago. He must have learned the winds blow very hard here, as he found another location lower, the following year, to build a simple wintering structure. Will had learned all this on a previous hike with local bank owner, Wendell Begley, whose yard we had crossed earlier.

After lunch it was time to get lost again. We thought we were headed along the ridge to a cell tower, and a trail back to Christmont. Of course we were not. The trail got faint and then non-existent. Will kept telling me, he had hiked it without vegetation and we were on the right track. I was crawling and getting smacked by laurel, until finally, we reached a spot at which we could easily see we were not headed to the cell tower. We'd have to backtrack through the mess we'd just gone through. It took a few minutes but we were back to where we thought we should be. Everything worked perfectly from here. We ended up back in Christmont, near our car. We spoke with the director for about 10 minutes and learned some more about the property. I bet not many folks make it up those steep trails.