camping and mountain biking in NC

recap of my trip:

Wednesday afternoon 7/31/13 as soon as I finished my last final exam for summer semester (yeah I passed everything) I up and left to Pisgah National Forest... unprepared, but that's ok. I just had to go. I didn't know how long I was going to stay either. It would turn out to be 10 days. I called my friend Paul to see if I could borrow a mini pump. He set me up with one as well as some tire sealant and bleach to kill nasty stuff in water. Thanks Paul! I'll get you your stuff back. I left around 10 pm and arrived in Pisgah Forest, NC near Brevard around 1 am Thursday morning. I was driving around looking for a camping spot and caught the attention of the police. They pulled me over and checked my license while I asked them where there was some camping and they pointed me in the right direction. I set up camp on Avery Creek Rd in the South Pisgah Ranger District. I didn't even have a tent. I planned on either sleeping in my car or getting some makeshift something the next day. I slept in my car the first night. I would later acquire a hammock to borrow. I woke up and got into my cycling clothes. There were two camping spots across from mine. Both were occupied. I ended up making good buds with all of them. I noticed one had a bike and looked like he was getting ready to go ride too so I said hey. Sam, 19 was camping by himself too from Florida. There was also Trance and Redd, an awesome couple of two girls from Florida.

First of all, Trails and roads that I mountain biked on this trip include but are not limited to:
Black Mountain, Avery Creek Tr, Clawhammer Rd, Club Gap, Turkey Pen, Vineyard Gap, Riverside Tr, Bradley Creek Tr, Laurel Mountain, Pilot Rock, Yellow Gap Rd, Yellow Gap Tr, Hwy 276, Avery Creek Rd, Bennet Gap, Blue Ridge Parkway, Big Creek Tr, North Mills River Tr, Unimproved road such and such, Pilot Cove – Slate Rock Tr, Pilot Cove Loop Tr, Buckwheat Knob Tr.
Hiked: Looking Glass Rock, Buckhorn Gap, Presley Cove, many of the ones that I biked, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

I have a new favorite trail in Pisgah: Big Creek. Not to be confused with Bent Creek. Big Creek Trail connects to the Blue Ridge Parkway. If you are traveling North on the parkway it starts off to the right of the beginning of the second tunnel after having gone over Mount Pisgah. I saw this trail on the map and wanted to try it. It is rated “most difficult” and is about 5 miles long. This was going to be part of a big loop of about 40 - 50 miles. The que I planned on went Avery Creek Rd (up it from the bottom), hwy 276, Blue Ridge Pkwy, Big Creek Tr, North Mills River Tr, Yellow Gap Tr, unimproved road, Yellow Gap Rd, Pilot Cove – Slate Rock Tr, Pilot Cove Loop Tr, Yellow Gap Rd, hwy 276, Avery Creek Rd, Club Gap Tr, Buckwheat Knob Tr, Avery Creek Rd. I started first thing in the morning. The ride began with 14 miles, 11 of which were UP, on gravel road. Climbing up the higher parts of hwy 276 and on the Blue Ridge Parkway I was actually going through the clouds. The clouds tasted metallic and they collected in droplets on my hair. Roadside overlooks that would normally be beautiful were all whited out. As soon as I got over Mt Pisgah, one of the highest points in the area, there was blue sky and sun and I could see the clouds rolling over the mountains... awesome. I ducked into Big Creek Trail for the first time, and a half mile in I saw a black bear running down the trail away from me. First time I've seen an East Coast Bear. It was super black it had a big butt and cute little ears. Big Creek was just beautiful. All the streams in Pisgah are clear, but this one was amazing super clear. The creek falls down really fast as its so high up. Look one way up the stream and as far as you can see before it turns the water is level with your eye. Look down the other way and the water is 6 feet below you. Its stacked with green mossy rocks and the hardwood forest is completely carpeted in ferns.

Other wildlife notables include a large ~ 4 foot rattle snake with something big in her belly I saw on the trail near the top of Black Mtn. I came around a slight curve on a hike – a – bike section and I heard the rattle before I saw it. I went back around the corner where I came from thinking that if the snake didn't see me it would move along, but that wasn't so. I grabbed a long stick and gently coaxed the rattler under its raised head. She tried to move, but the huge lump in her belly (rabbit, ground hog ?? ) prevented her from doing so. She would move until the wave of her body got down to the lump and then she just would not budge. So I ended up walking past her carefully wheeling my bike between her and I. There were a lot of Monarch butterflies, and wild flowers. I saw a turkey on Club Gap just over Black Mountain.

This was my third trip to Pisgah and one thing I have noticed is there is not tons of obvious wildlife (that you see) compared to a place like Yellowstone which is practically a zoo. For instance I saw only 2 squirrels in this 10 day trip. Pisgah is just so quiet and large. During the daytime in the woods at the top of a mountain it is almost completely silent. The only sound will be a trickling creek if you're near one, or the wind rustling the leaves. Occasionally a woodpecker will screech. Its very very quiet during the daytime. There is more sound at night with the katy dids and so forth. A bird, maybe two birds, sings for just a short moment at dawn.

I hung out at The Hub and Pisgah Tavern a few times. The coolest bike shop I've ever been too.. a place where you can grab a good beer or a pbr and enjoy it right there in the bike shop. I hiked up Looking Glass Rock. About 2.5 hours of hiking round trip on easy trails, and one of the best views in Pisgah. I went to Sliding Rock twice on this trip. A big ass rock with a creek running over it that you sit on and then slide down into the 8 foot deep 55 degree water. I went once with Sam, and I went once with Trance and Redd.

Trance and Redd left from Jacksonville and weren't planning on going back anytime soon. Both artists, they planned on traveling around as “forest dwellers,” selling their art, bartering for things and partly living off the land. They let me borrow their hammock or “tree canoe” as they called it. We all hung out a lot. I would get their fire started and they would feed me. Very generous people that believe in sharing what they have. We went on a 10 mile hike one day up Presley Cove to Black Mountain to Buckhorn Gap to Clawhammer road. Since they were now forest dwellers they were very interested in things in the wild that are edible. I noticed some really big snails crawling around. The size of a half dollar. I had never eaten them before, but I knew they were edible. We ended up collecting 5 of them on our hike. We cooked them up in the shell over the campfire and they were actually delicious. Great taste and texture. Firm but not as chewy as a clam, tastes a bit like crab with a hint of moss and tree bark. On our hike we stopped and talked to this one lady camping on our road. We really liked her set up. It was an old Ford truck that had been modified into a camper. Her name was Renee. 71 years old, traveling by herself and with several dogs and parrots. She had been married for 40 years and had 5 kids. She had a cabin in the Adirondacks on 5 acres, but foreclosed on it. She was glad she was finally able to travel now. She said she still didn't know what she wanted to be when she grew up, and that we were smart for traveling while young.

There was this character Rick, also from Florida who was camping down the road from us. He had a guitar and amps and bongos and all sorts of stuff. He came to our campsite a couple of nights and we all jammed by the campfire. Mostly the Beatles. Some Lennon and Yoko, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones. Everybody had an instrument to play. I had the bongos, the cowbell, or the electric drums. I set up my tree canoe out off outside the edge of the campsite right exactly beside Avery Creek. Everybody was talking about how they would be seriously scared camping out where I was what with bears and horror movies they'd seen. It got really extremely dark at night, not many stars where we were. It seemed like even when the clouds moved there weren't many stars out, but it was cloudy most of the time anyway. It was nice sleeping out there, but I liked it even better napping there in the daytime or sleeping late in the morning by the creek. I didn't have any protection from rain whatsoever, so I took a gamble every night, but it never rained on me.

I didn't have plans on when I was going to leave. I knew school started back on the 20th. I basically ran out of money for food and gas to drive the 175 miles back to school. On the 10 mile hike Trance and Redd and I did, we talked about how cool it would be to hike (or mtb) our way out somewhere on the trail and set up camp. For instance there is this one spot on Black Mtn with an awesome view that also has a perfect place to hang a tree canoe. From that I got the idea that I would go to Pilot Rock and set up camp up top, bomb my way down in the morning and ride a big loop of trails in the forest. It didn't quite work out. The top of Pilot Rock was basically engulfed in a cloud and it was thundering.. yeah not cool. I was winging it in the first place because the weather had been crazy and unpredictable. I wouldn't have been able to stay dry if it rained. So I broke down camp and rode back down before dark. It actually cleared up as I was riding down. There were awesome pink and orange clouds and everything on the ground was orange colored. It didn't work out, but hey that's something I'll be able to do next time I go, and there are still trails I haven't ridden in that area of the forest. I got back to camp camp and Trance and Redd weren't there. They had left in the afternoon to go to the library, but it was after dark and they still weren't back. I dropped off their tree canoe before heading back home. It sucked that I didn't get to say bye to them. I wanted a piece of their artwork too. Maybe I'll cross paths with them again some day. Just as randomly, sporadically and unprepared as I came, I left. 8/10/13

I got a lot out of this trip. I was planning on going alone and having some solitude, and I did. Sometimes I need to be left alone haha. That was very rewarding itself, but I also got to meet a lot of great people.

 

these are the only pictures i take. i only have a cellphone camera and i didn't take it with me on the trail.

an artsy pic of a wildflower, and my tree canoe spot. there were a lot of awesome wildflowers including this one type of crazy lily and several types of daisies. i liked this one though because it was very minimalist looking. along a dirt road during a short walk.

 

big creek and sliding rock sound especially cool.

trance and redd sound like some nice people.

how did you get money for gas to go back to school...or did you almost run out of money?

 

i almost ran out of money

 

did you take any food with you? what did you eat for 10 days, other than slugs
i guess you bought some food?


and bleach for your drinking water?! i dunno about that..


sounds like a great trip. i wouldn't prefer to go with so little stuff though. impressive that you stayed in a "tree canoe" the whole time.

 

porkie might appreciate this as a fellow cyclist.. but anyway.. when i was climbing up the blue ridge parkway man i was in such a groove. after climbing for almost ten miles i get up to the ridge and it had leveled off some, but it was still up. after climbing for so much on steeper areas i had shifted up to one of my biggest gears and i was frikkin flying. i was in such a groove it was awesome. same thing happened to me on this other ride. it was 40 to 50 miles long which is really no big deal except that in pisgah 40 miles is like 90 miles where i live in atlanta. and i saved one of the toughest parts for last. i was super exhausted. that section of trail ended in a 4 mile gnarly downhill which i guess got my adrenaline pumping because the ride ended in a 2 mile climb, and i was just motoring up it even though i had been exhausted before.

 

i brought like 40 bucks worth of food with me. i was actually camping only like 5 miles from a small grocery store so that was pretty good. in a way.

bleach is a legit way to purify water. i had done the same thing last year. a tiny drop, it should have a slight chlorine smell to it. shake it and let it sit for 15 minutes. hey i'm not dead yet. have to use plain bleach. not scented or splash proof. you have to start with water that is already clear though.

im talking to one friend now about doing a mtb pack trip in north ga sometime later this year. and then im talking to another friend about doing a cross country trip (in a car but im bringing my bike.) we're gonna end up in oregon. go through new mexico colorado wyoming montana arizona.. maybe utah. its gonna be awesome

 

this past weekend was one of the few times i biked on trails (instead of the road). it was pretty fun, a lot tougher though when the ground is wood chips.

40 or 50 miles would be a pretty decent ride for me. i ride ~3 miles a day commuting to work, and a little bit on weekends, leisurely. but this past weekend i did like 25-30 miles in the two days.

i'd love to visit those parts of the country out west. i'll have to make a trip to arizona one of these days now that my brother lives out there. doubt i'll have my bike though. maybe we can rent some.

 

yeah man.. i love national forests

 

Sounds like a nice adventure.
When I was younger, around 25 years ago, I would pack up and head to North Carolina.
I'm in South Carolina about 2 1/2 hours from Smokey mountains. Most of the time I spend there was awesome.
I have also been to sliding rock on several occasions.
I hiked into the camping spots. My back has never did well from bicycles.
Also I would spend time in upstate of South Carolina in Table rock area. Beautiful up there also.