Dave's Rock and Three Forks Mtn.

I like to look at maps and imagine what different places look like. I like to wander around on the ground and try to match the reality to the map. A wise man said, "the map is not the territory." INDEED!

For a few years now I've been looking at a place called Dave's Rock on the map and imagining what the view would be like. Today it's not imagination.

 Here's the view from Dave's Rock. I don't think I found the main outcroppings which are actually more western facing. The little white dot in the center is the Pisgah Astronomical Research Station, PARI

You can see down into the area known as Dave's Cove which is now accessible via a road called Jim's Cove Rd. (Jim bought the road but not the mountain I suppose).

I also made it to the peak of Three Forks Mtn. @ 3,7774 ft according to the topo. The ridgeline took quite a hit last winter and there's not a tree left over 60-80ft, but there are a few old giants. There's an old road right along the USFS boundary, I suppose a few hunters, the property owners (USFS prop on left, private property on right side in picture) and random hikers like myself ever go up there.

I went up an old logging road off of Hwy. 215 that shows as a trail on USGS topo maps. The trail runs alongside Laurel Branch, which is a chatty little stream that winds up a long and eventually deep cove to pretty near the base of of Three Forks Mtn.

Of course, it wouldn't be Pisgah without some fungus so here's the obligatory 'shroom picture. I left a lot of interesting one's un-pictured, especially up on the ridge. Some 'shrooms just belong in your imagination. :-) This one is pretty unique, I hadn't seen one like this before.

Family Day - Pisgah Style

Sunday arrived on warm temps and sunny skies. OMG.....
Off to Daniel Ridge we went, the whole family and the dog.

 

 There was still snow on the ground and plenty of mud but it was a truly great day. There were a few other cars at the trailhead but we only saw two people on the trail. The river was way full and getting fuller by the minute with the melting snow.

There are still plenty of winter features in the shady spots. Do all kids love icicles or what?

We headed to a great swimming hole near the end of the old road grade that we like to visit. It's down off the trail and you can barely even see it in the summer but it's pretty obvious in winter. The water was really high, so high we found a sad casualty of the cold and wet. I think he got washed up into a shallow area and then froze.

 Like I said, lots of water. And for comparison a shot from last August.

I was really glad that mom and daughter came along as well, we were able to get lots of family pics with different combinations of us together.

On the way back we stopped at Cove Creek for a picture of the current road conditions headed in to the campsite - the picture doesn't do justice to the awfulness... happy camping!

Here's hoping for a next Sunday just as good :-)

Sunday at the Parkway

On Saturday I got the itch to head up to the Parkway and see some real winter. Hwy 215 crosses the Parkway about 17 miles from Rosman and it will stay reasonably driveable in the winter. I decided to take the chance that I could make it up to the top and get on the Parkway for some incredible views and deep snow. Theo was up for it and his friend Stroh was game as well so off we went - later than I wanted to start but better late than never.

It started snowing before we reached Balsam Grove and I was considering how hard it could snow before I would turn back. There are some very icy spots in the dark coves as the road winds its way up to Pinhook. The elevation changes rapidly and the temperature dropped from 38 @ Balsam Grove to mid-20s by Pinhook. We pressed on past the north facing rocks where the usual group of ice climbers is always playing.  We enjoyed the incredible views of a snowy Devil's Courthouse  and reached the Parkway about 2PM. The snow was very deep....

The plan was to hike south on the Parkway to MM424, just about 3/4 of a mile from where we parked.  We stopped a few times along the way for pictures and a bit of sledding. There was too much soft powder snow.

 

It started snowing pretty hard but the boys didn't care, they were having fun and I was really enjoying the amazing stillness and quiet.

One busy weekend... and this is just the Friday part.

Friday started early and went all night. I had to make Pisgah Brewing to pick up a regulation sized keg of fine Ale for my b-day party on Saturday and then make it to school to do carpool back to Brevard. The evening started with kids basketball practice until 8:30 and then a mad dash back to the house to throw on the bike gear and head to Coontree for my birthday present to myself - a night ride in Pisgah with company. Some old faces (Randy and Sam) and some new faces (Clay and Jonathon) came along for a fine time. I was late, and forgot my moon pies which I hate to do, especially when I promise them.

The route was up the pavement on 276, then 475 to Davidson River, then back on 475 to Daniel Ridge. The group was three at the start and we met two more on Daniel Ridge. Nothing like an unplanned rendezvous in the dark in the middle of woods... The pace around Daniel was great, I like to ride with faster people who don't mind me on the back a few minutes every hour or so. We made it down the rocky side of Daniel Ridge and rode back to Cove Creek where we found a huge throw-down party in full swing at close to midnight. The woods just swallows up people - you couldn't hear a thing until you were right up on the camp and then it was a few hundred people, party tents, bonfires, jams, and lots of crowd noise. We powered through up on the trail and soon enough the woods were still and quiet again. The stars were shining bright at this point and I was alternating between working hard and sweating or coasting and freezing. Towards the top of Cove Creek two turned back to Coontree and three were left to ride on to Bennett Gap.

At the top of Cove Creek we hit 225 and the ground was beginning to show frost and the fog rolled in. You could see only the small circle of space where your lights pointed. As usual the ride up 475B was long... and seemed even longer without any landmarks to note along the way. Clay and Jonathon were up in front of me by a few minutes and I could occasionally see their lights on road ahead and above me. We stopped for break or two and regrouped, then off again to 477 and the next climb to Bennett Gap. There were some small patches of black ice on 276 but no cars and no other life. A right turn onto 477 and then up and up and up. There are only a few places where the road levels out and the sticky road surface made for a hard ride. I walked a bit, rode a bit, and finally made the last section where it eases up and you feel the wind blowing through the gap.

All of Bennett Gap trail was in a thick fog, and it took a lot of mental energy to focus on the small world around you. In the daylight your brain processes an amazing amount of information from your peripheral vision, but in the dark and the fog it seemed impossible to process the details of the trail right in front of you at all... the whole world shrank to a small 6ft circle around me and it felt incredible to focus so fully. The overlook on Bennett is a place I always stop and tonight I got there to find Jonathon and Clay lost in space. You can see for miles from there, down into the coves below where 276 runs past Looking Glass Falls and Sliding Rock, out across to Looking Glass Rock, up to Black Balsam, off in the distance is John ROck and Cedar Rock and even Pilot Mtn. But tonight - N O T H I N G A T A L L. The tree 1 ft away was as invisible as Mt Hardy five miles away across the long valley of the Davidson River headwaters.

The decent down Bennett was still great fun, I walked the rocks and stairs and the very rooty parts but still rode a fair bit. The hike a bike up Coontree was surreal, so many details I fail to notice in the light were painted in my light for just a moment as I passed. Finally, Bennett splits to the left and we took Coontree straight down back to the parking lot. That section of Coontree is really pretty steep and loads of fun. I was close to busting it a few times and had to slow down as fatigue was definitely starting to impact my minimal downhill skills....

What a great ride, with fine company. I was glad nobody knew it was my birthday ride (except Sam), I had some good time alone in my thoughts and had a chance to think about my mom and thank her for bringing me here to Pisgah so long ago and starting this fire inside me that burns for the woods.

Dark

This was taken at 5:57PM from the overlook on Bennett.
Note to self, if this is the sun @ the overlook on Bennett it will be very dark before you can ride to the bottom. Patrick rode and walked the whole 18 miles in good spirits. It's the darkest I've been in the woods in quite awhile, darkness in the woods is fun.

PMBAR 09 - View from the back...

The best thing that happened to me at PMBAR was to get to ride with (yet another) great rider named Mike Brown - this one from Macon, GA. Mike put up with my suffering slow pace all day with no complaints... I'm not sure I rode fast enough at any time to make him break a sweat, but for sure the climb up Pilot gave him a workout. The next best thing to happen at PMBAR was that I actually made the start after fighting a painful hip/groin injury for two weeks prior. I gave myself no better than 50/50 odds to race as of April 20th when I returned from a short beach trip with a horrible pain in my hip and groin. By the 26th I was at least walking some and even managed to make one lap of Ingles (the grocery store not the trail) with only two stops for a rest (not kidding!). That I even finished (albeit with the 276 penalty) was amazing to me, and that I made 4 CPs even more amazing as it took 53 miles and 12 hours, all on a rigid single speed.

A huge thanks to Eric and Erinna for the race, Brado for the photo hustle and all the volunteers who encourage and help along the way. I first learned about PMBAR three years ago and have enjoyed reading all the tales over the years - hoping one day to enter and finish. I've had a great time all winter leading up to PMBAR riding over 400 miles to get in shape while spending many many hours in the woods. Enter I did, finish I did (albeit down 276), and next year I hope to not take a forced two week pre-race vacation from the bike.

We were the first ones to check in, right on time @ 6AM, and we got the coveted #1. Yes sports fans, from 6AM until 8AM Team One Pie was in the lead. Then the race started...

I knew I was in for a long day when I couldn't even make the first section of Black Mtn without getting off the bike. So we walked most of Black to Turkey Pen trail and then down and up and lather, rinse, repeat. We made Turkey Pen in 2:20, which is about 20-30 minutes off a normal pace for me. Mullinax was brutal, I started cramping about one mile in, and my legs were just not there. I walked a lot of what I normally ride. Once we hit Squirrel I seemed to be making a bit of a comeback and I managed to ride most of the way to Cantrell. If I could just get to the second CP I knew I could make it to Horse Cove Gap, up to 5018 and down to 1206. The views from 5018 were awesome. The combination of recent rain and low temps kept the air clear and you could see Black Balsam, and beyond to Mt. Hardy. The long downhill felt nice, the gravel was good for me and we rode to the bottom of Pilot. I didn't even stop to ponder the relative stupidity of walking up Pilot, and I knew if I could get that third CP then a bailout was downhill all the way back to the start. On the way up Pilot we saw most of the leaders pass us going down. That's a great thing about PMBAR - even in the back of the pack you get to see the leaders mixing it up because everyone is scattered all over the woods. It was an honor to nearly be run over by Team Dickey and Thad, and we just missed seeing them go through the rock garden. On our way back down Pilot we were passed by Brad Kee and Matt Fusco, who had also passed us headed back down Black on their way to pick up a replacement bike. We crossed paths with at least 10 teams on Pilot, which picked up my spirits as I knew that while I felt really really slow I was still hanging in there with a decent enough pace that we could finish before 10PM.

My teammate Mike just killed it down Pilot, cleaning just about everything. He's a very good rider! We got to 1206 and off we went to 225B. I remembered that there was a water fountain at Pink Beds so we took about 10 minutes there to rest and refill. My legs had somehow made enough of a recovery that I was able to ride the whole way out to 225B where we collected CP #4. Team GLR had been playing leap frog with us all day long, and on the way back out on 225 they finally were able to lose us as I couldn't keep their geared pace. I had hoped I could ride up the first part of 477 to Bennett and rest my legs on the descent to the Horse Stables, but I finally had to get off and walk for about 15 minutes. I was aching by the time we made Bennett and began the long road down. At a normal pace I can go up Clawhammer/Maxwell and down Black in about 1 hour. In my fatigued condition (after 51 miles and 9k ft of climbing) I figured I might need to double that. We got to the stables at 7:40 and took a few minutes to eat and hydrate. At that point I made the decision not to try Maxwell as I wanted to get a finish (even with a penalty) and I didn't want to just completely bonk somewhere up the mountain and end up missing the cut-off. I had pushed myself all day, and finally had to concede that simply making 50+ miles on a bum leg was something to be proud of. My goal was to leave it all on the course, and I suppose if I wanted to really do that I would have gone up Maxwell and just ended up in a heap somewhere... in the end I figured I left a little bit on the course, but not a whole hell of a lot. It was one of the smartest decisions I've ever not wanted to make, but after a lot of pushing of myself and my bike it was the right thing to do to just get on the bike and head down 477 to 276 and a cold beer.

Again, I have to give huge props to my teammate Mike. He stuck with me throughout the day and never once tried to push or pull me - he just accepted my pace and rode along. I think he could go top ten in this race, he's that good. I was very lucky to get to ride with him for a PMBAR and I hope he comes back soon so I can show a bit more of the woods at a better pace.

Here's the summary for the statistically minded.

My original goal was ~6.5 MPH for moving time, with 60-90 minutes of total rest time.
The final result was 5.5 MPH moving speed over 9:20 with 11:54 total time. We finished right at 8PM as we took a few minutes at the start to look at the map.










And here's the route...


View Larger Map

Couldn't even slow down for a picture of the view, had a time limit on the ride. Went gravel up and back on 477. From the stables, 13 miles roundtrip, 1400 ft of climb in 6.5 miles. Not so much as I thought, but the steepest part is at the end. Very clear and still cool.