May 17 Staircase to Mt Pisgah

 

At 5721', Mt Pisgah is a great hike and a great place to broadcast television signal. The 339' tower is over 6000' at the top. My hike was 1.6 miles up to the tower. I thought there would be an access road to service the tower but after searching I could not find one. The tower is serviced via a cable car or funicular. A controversy arose in 2016 after a couple of PBS employees rode the cable car and then filed a complaint with the NC Dept of Labor. The complaint resulted in a shutdown order which the owner's company ignored. It turns out the funicular had been operating without ever obtaining a permit. Then there was the employee whom was stranded in 2 feet of snow when the funicular stopped operating. A massive rescue effort ensued. Things must have gotten sorted out since it is still operational today. 

Here it is from the trailhead

Just 1.6 miles from the trailhead to the tower, the trail climbs over 700 feet. The last 1/3 is essentially a stone staircase. Now part of the Pisgah National Forest, the area was once part of the George Vanderbilt estate. The trailhead I hiked from also had a trail headed down to the site of the Buck Springs Lodge. The Vanderbilts built and used it for private hunting parties. 

From the National Park website:

The term “hunting lodge” conjures up images of rough-and-rustic living. Buck Spring Lodge was anything but. Designed by the same company that had just completed the Biltmore Estate, Vanderbilt’s summer getaway was a grand affair. Made of rot-resistant American chestnut, it was inspired by the Adirondack camps of the day. Not only was the Main Lodge two levels with several rooms, it had a covered walkway to the adjacent Midway Cottage and the separate Dining-Kitchen building. Staff had their own quarters near the entrance. There was an orchard, beehives, livestock, a garden, and the grounds were kept trim by an entire team. An entire team of sheep, that is!

Vanderbilt stocked the forests surrounding Buck Spring with deer, bear, and turkey. The streams were stocked with fish. Some of their descendants are still roaming around today! After a day’s hunting, hiking, or playing on the tennis court, guests would return to freshen up and don formal attire for dinner.

There were several ways to get to the lodge, including riding horseback from the Biltmore Estate in Asheville on the Shut-In Trail. Named “Shut-In” for the enclosed feeling of the surrounding rhododendrons, it traveled roughly 16 miles from the French Broad River along the ridge line to the lodge. Today, it has been incorporated into the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. But riding horseback isn’t always the most comfortable way to travel. Starting in 1910, guests with automobiles could drive up in style, using a single lane road that later became NC 151.

Soon after, the lodge was sold to the State of North Carolina. The State then transferred the land to the U.S. Department of Interior so that construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway could continue through the area. Unfortunately, the buildings of Buck Spring Lodge were removed or knocked down.

May 16 Dupont hike

 

I hiked from the Fawn Lake access of Dupont State Forest. In order to get there from the Hendersonville area, I drove on a 5 mile single lane dirt road which was quite a treat. I met only 2 oncoming vehicles. The entrance to Fawn Lake access is a massive stone gate and then a more conventional metal gate and nice sized parking area. This is a popular hiking and biking area. The access is located at the intersection of Fawn Lake Road and Conservation Road. I followed the Conservation Road toward the area known as the barn. 

The roads are gravel and used by the Forest Service to get around the 12,500 acre state forest the state acquired in 1997.

Conservation Road crosses a landing strip on top of the first big hill. The building there has a "Summit 2800 ft" sign on it. The airstrip's pavement is cracked and deteriorated. My route continues to Shelter Rock Trail and then to Corm Mill Shoals Trail. 

Shelter Rock

The first waterfall of Little River is most stunning. Bridal Veil Falls starts with a tall overhanging ledge drop. It is barely visible at the wood observation deck where horses and bicycles park. Once you are at the base of the waterfall, the first ledge drop is not visible. It was featured in the movie Last of the Mohicans. Then the water slides over this hump of granite before regrouping in the plunge pool below. 

Today I counted 276 blooms in this area. My previous visit netted 284 blooms. So it is still a healthy colony. Biggest display I have ever seen.

May 7 That Dam Mural

 

Freshly painted by impressionist artist Eva Crawford of Charlotte, this mural was a joint project of Klondike Cabins, Grassy Creek Winery and the Elkin Valley Trail Association. Its grand opening was just a few weeks ago. 

A very pleasant trail through Mountain Laurel and alongside Grassy Creek lead you to this magnificent artwork. The century old dam backs up a small pond adjacent to the Klondike Cabins. The easiest way to get to the dam is from Grassy Creek Winery. A kiosk and trail signs assure that you don't get lost. It is about a 15 minute walk. The Forest Bathing Trail goes right alongside the dam and has a nice viewing area.  

The waterfall seems to resemble nearby Carter Falls. The mountain could be Wells Knob which is also nearby. 

Bears on a ledge

From above

May 3 Bernard Mountain Hike

 

Just outside Old Fort is this newly built trail. It is the work of the McDowell County Trail Association. Steve Pierce, head of that organization is leading the hike. Everyone hiking with us was attending the MST Annual Gathering in Black Mountain. So, we had many trail builders and maintainers in our ranks. The trail opened last year and is a great example of a machine built trail. Old Fort has become a mountain bicycling mecca, so this trail was designed to be both a hiking and biking trail. The surface was incredibly smooth with few roots and rocks. There were a few small jumps for the bikes as well. All corners were banked to accommodate bikes.

Mountain Laurel was everywhere along this trail. It was just beginning to bloom.

Pink Lady Slippers also made an appearance. 

A railroad was built through this area in the 1870s. It was an attempt to connect to Asheville which would be the hub of western NC railroads. This particular 3.5 mile section needed a 7 mile long railroad to traverse it. Swannanoa Gap and Royal Gorge provided the best place to cross the Blue Ridge. However, the railroad would still need 7 tunnels to make the connection. The tunnels were dug buy hand and explosives by convict labor provided (leased) by the state of NC. The 13th amendment abolished slavery except for convicted criminals. Many states passed what are called "Black Codes" which were laws that targeted blacks. These laws involving vagrancy and petty theft were used to arrest and convict blacks followed by a lengthy prison sentence. The state then used these convicts to build railroads. It  is estimated that the 3582 miles of railroads built between 1876 and 1894 were built by black convicts. 

We could see one of the railroad tunnels from from the trail, well below us. The Rail Project organization has been researching the convict labor used to build the railroad. They have been using records from the prisons to see who may have worked here. Perhaps as many as 300 convicts may have died while building the railroad according to their research. Some were shot trying to escape, some died from disease but the majority died during tunnel collapses. Mass graves are thought to be near the tunnel entrances. They are using cadaver dogs and ground penetrating radar to search for graves. The plague below was placed near a mass grave they found near Ridgemont.