Attempted Hike of Mt. Mitchell
I wanted to hike Mount Mitchell from the ranger’s station to the top (The Mount Michell Loop). It was rated difficult by AllTrails. The trip to the mountain was via beautiful mountain roads that passed lakes and small villages.
As I got closer, I had to take the Blue Ridge parkway which was closed. I tried to take an alternate route but it also brought me back to the parkway. I called the ranger’s desk, and he told me the trails in Mt. Mitchell where open but the roads into the mountain were all closed because of ice. He said there was a trail from a town in the valley that would get me to the park. That was a 6 mile hike in. It would have been a day hike just to get to the rangers station.
At the parkway entrance, there’s an overlook. I was sitting there because it was one of the few places on the mountain that had cell coverage. I actually had 2 bars 5G service. I took the photo above and noticed the cell tower below. I had the computer out and was planning an alternative hike for the day. I thought of Crabtree Falls, a shorter trail and still doable. I shouldn’t be far.
I had the door open to the car and the sun was shinning in. A BMW pulled into the overlook. I thought that’s a nice car to be driving through the mountains. I went back to working on the computer. A few moments later the driver was standing at my door. He said, “What are the chance of two people from Connecticut being on this mountain at the same time.” I got out and we talked for about 30 minutes. He was from Avon just around the corner from where I lived in Connecticut.
He was visiting his son and daughter-in-law. He was recently a grandfather. I congratulated him on becoming a grandfather. They had lived in San Francisco and left because of the pollution and cost of living. It was nice to chat with him and he said he would checkout my web site.
I found the Crabtree Falls trail in AllTrails and used it to route me via google maps. Once again, the coordinates in AllTrails took me to some private property in the middle of nowhere. A dog on a leash started barking like it wanted to take on my Outback. I quickly turned around before anyone came out of the house. I then looked up Crabtree Falls in google and it was on a different mountain. Google maps tried to get me there, but again, all the roads were closed.
Winding through the valleys, I would stop and take photographs of yards, buildings, junk, fields, etc. Some of these are art works in themselves. People have taken time and put thought into where they were going to place a statue, a hubcap, a sign or even where to permanently place a vehicle to rust-out. There are also mixed messages sometimes, like the Biden / Harris sign with a confederate flag in the, which gave me pause. Taking in the images with no judgement, I just looked at some of these in wonderment.
I decided it was time to give up trying to hike for the day. I saw a crafts shop in the distance and pulled over to take a photo. Pulling up in front of the shop, I noticed a cafe down the street. Not expecting much, I went to explore Maples in Micaville, NC. Maples’ coffee was excellent and they had all kinds of pies and pastries. There were a lot of crafts and art work around the shop as well as some instruments in a corner. During the week there are open mic sessions with local musicians.
I finished my coffee and slice of quiche and went to explore the art shop up the street. It was called the One Of A Kind (OOAK) Art Gallery. From the outside, I would give it one of a kind status. Inside, it is a well laid out crafts shop. It is eclectic, with paintings, pottery, blown glass, jewelry, cards, and other locally handcrafted works from different artist with varied styles. Everything was well executed and I liked some of the paintings. There’s no room in the car for much and I settled on a sticker for the car.
My next destination would be Raleigh, NC to photograph the capital building. I picked Durham, NC as a stopover point instead of heading all the way into Raleigh. Yes, there was a Cracker Barrel in Durham, but I knew Durham was supposed to be a nice town to visit. It would take over three hours to to reach Durham. I set cruise control to whatever the trucks were doing. I noticed that in NC, no matter how fast I’m driving, someone would want to pass me and would ride my bumper until I got out of there way. Riding with the trucks takes a few extra minutes and I’m far less stressed. Crash avoidance is nice because the Outback keeps me at a safe distance from the car in front of me.
I made it to Durham by 8:15pm and went to Cracker Barrel for a salad and tea. I had the car setup in the back of the store and I was the only car in the parking lot. I read for a while and drifted off by 10:00pm.