Chestnut Mountain Road - Gorges State Park

Adventure is necessary. 

That line is stolen but it is one of my favorite philosophies. It is a theme that comes up frequently in a community that I recently joined, Overland Bound (https://www.overlandbound.com/). They encourage exploration, responsible stewardship of the land, learning new skills, and community. I've traveled deep in the woods for years a lot of different ways - on foot, bike, kayak, packraft. 

Recently, I've been exploring in the Jeep. It has allowed me to learn new skills. I have been able to take Jenny and the kids deep in the woods to see things they wouldn't be able to see otherwise. When I'm exploring with the Jeep I'm able to see the wilderness from a completely different perspective. It's refreshing. 

I took a vacation day this Friday so I could scout trails near Sapphire, NC & Clayton, GA. Poor planning limited me to the first but that turns out to be just fine. There is a forest service road that exits the back side of Gorges State Park in North Carolina that goes over the Horsepasture River and eventually out to the NW side of Lake Jocassee. I stopped at the river campsite this time but plan to go back and explore more. 

The drive out was perfect with 65F temperatures and lots of early color from the Fall leaves.

Endless possibility out there.

Roughly 10 miles back from Gorges State Park to the river

Bridge over the Horsepasture River

The meals from Patagonia Provisions are very good. 

I added a little chicken to the black bean chili. 

Peace & quiet

I love being alone deep in the woods

I don't mind sleeping on the ground. In fact, I look forward to it on most of my trips. 

I have to admit, it is nice knowing I'll be sleeping in the Tepui rooftop tent.

Breakfast by the river (and in the rain)

I cold watch the river play for hours

On the drive home I stopped by the overlook to Upper Whitewater Falls

Stunning beauty here on the East Coast. It reminds me of the falls we saw in Yosemite. 

The forest fires last year destroyed a lot of forest in this area. All of the carpentry for this overlook was destroyed. The replacement step system is well done. Kudos, NC State Parks! 

Palmetto Trail to Foothills Trail & Back Again

I took a 3-day weekend to meet up with dad so we could explore possible connector loops between the Jocassee Gorges section of the Palmetto Trail and the Foothills Trail. We've done these trail sections before but the first time around we chose to hike out all the way to highway 178 then up to the FHT. That loop requires 4 miles or so of asphalt which can ruin the experience so we dedicated this trip to finding a more suitable connector. The plan:

1. Hike the Palmetto Trail to the 9 mile marker and camp there.
2. Scout an off trail route to the FHT or decide to test a few sections of double track that seem to head in the right direction.
3. Camp overnight on the FHT.
4. Come home.



Plans change - that's the beautiful thing about hiking. The point is to enjoy yourself so you adjust your schedule to suit. My last several trip posts have been gear focused and bordering on geeky. This one will focus on adventure and the beauty of being out there.

Here's our route on the map.



Day 1 is highlighted in yellow and is just a little over 9 miles (I forgot to start the track on my GPS at the very beginning of the walk).



Here's day 2 highlighted in yellow. We walked a little over 10 miles with the first mile or so being in very rough off-trail conditions. It was technically impassable with very dense laurel but we're tough (read stubborn) so we pushed our way through. I wouldn't recommend this route to anyone.



The woods were full of spring green and fresh blooms:















We started bright and early on Saturday morning with the choice of bush-whacking our way to the FHT or walking jeep trail. That's a no brainer, right? Adventure!

This is not a trail...



If there's no trail only a moron would go the steep way, right? What did you call me?



Getting better... now where's that trail?



There's that white blaze. I knew where I was the whole time. You doubted me?



We got to camp around 10:30 am which was much earlier than expected. We had a choice to make - hang out around camp for several hours or explore another connector back to the Palmetto Trail and head home. Explore, of course!

The new track took us down a solid rock ridge line for about a mile. Its a great hike down but it would be a steady and steep walk up.



There are beautiful vistas off of both sides of the ridge line.






Sometimes you forget the fun in the simple things.



Like peanut butter & jelly sandwiches burritos.



And the things you almost step on...



And waterfalls...

And good company...