TheBanyanTree: South Mountains Light Rain Shuffle

[redd_clay at bellsouth.net]

Making the hard right turn into the parking lot, I knew I had goofed.

There wasn't another vehicle in the lot but mine.  Err . . . could it be that the business wasn't open on Sunday at all?

A short walk to the entrance and a quick glance at the "Hours of Operation" proved that to be true.  Open and Closed times were both blank.  I, in effect, was a day early.  The five hour drive from home to Lenoir, North Carolina would not be in vain, I purposed.  I will stay the night and see my client first thing tomorrow morning instead.

So to fill the time I fired up the Garmin unit and tapped on "Recreation".  Let's see, South Mountains State Park, 18 or so miles away.  That'll do for a time filler, I thought.

After stopping in at the Welcome Center, asking a few questions from a most helpful staff member and grabbing a couple of maps, I headed off to the trail heads.

Thunder boomed all around and the rain came in moderate spates as I sat in the parking lot scoping out potential trails to hike.  Most of them lay straight ahead and branched off of one main trail beside the Ranger's cabins.  So off into the mist and rain and thunder I went till I came to the first trail head:  Chestnut Knob Trail.

I took it and noted right away that it went "straight up" it seemed.  It was a workout, especially for a 55 year old, overweight and out of shape sluggard like me.  But I kept at it and soaked in the sights and sounds of a near-wilderness area, while thunder boomed and echoed in the hills all around.  

Even if it hadn't been raining I would have been soaked from the sweat this trail produced. At times the sounds of my heart pounding in my ears nearly drowned out the thunder. The rain continued.

And what a view from the trail's end! Gorgeous green mountains painted with mountain mists that I watched dart and rise above peaks and ridges.  I, once again, was in God's country.

I picked up the Sawtook Train then and worked my way east toward the Sawtooth Trail camp site area.  It was a several acre open field of low grass, fire pits and a primitive privy.  With all that green grass, I'm sure it was a popular place for deer.  Then it was back up the connecting trail to the Sawgrass Trail again and on to the junction of the Little River Trail and Upper CCC Trail.   After the arduous first trail (Chestnut Knob Trail) leg, these trails seemed almost "downhill" most the way.

>From the Little River Trail I went south to the Short Trail junction and then back to the Parking Lot from where I started -- around 7 miles of mountain hiking total.  Not too bad for an out-of-shape fat man, I thought. A very nice side trip and time filler indeed.

And the highlight I think occurred about halfway down the Little River Trail.  There, alongside the trail near where the Little River gorge forms, a stand of rhodies in bloom beckoned, "See me in all my beauty, stranger!"   I heeded the call and recorded it with a Sony "point and shoot"

I'll attach them to this message but I don't know if the list will accommodate.

So, when I finally made it to the hotel later that night, I looked up some info on the trail.  By all accounts the Chestnut Knob Trail was described as "very strenuous".  No wonder my heart was banging in my ears and no wonder the other trails seemed to have a downhill bent, I thought.  Well, good to get the hard work out of the way first while I was still fresh.

Shuffling along the trails of the South Mountains State Park south of Morganton, NC proved to be just what the doctor ordered for this wayward man on a misguided mission.  It proved good for the heart and good for the soul to be up in the mists, soaked with rain falling through and from the trees and blessed with the serendipity of rhododendron flowers on the Little River Trail in full bloom.

And when I hit the bed that night I slept, well, like a dead man -- something I haven't been able to do much of lately. That sleep was sweet and deep and absolutely refreshing.

http://www.ncparks.gov/Visit/parks/somo/main.php