Woody Ridge

Yuri, Duma and I drove two hours into the Blacks to run Woody Ridge trail# 177 to the Crest trail to Colbert Ridge trail #178 last Saturday. We dropped a bike at Carolina Hemlocks Campground to save us from having to run a lot of road at the finish. We had all the gear we needed and just enough sunlight finish. Yuri navigated us to the trailhead using two maps and his iphone. He remarked Woody Ridge trail wasn't even on his phone and I joked that we were surely doomed. Even though neither one of us had been there before, everything looked right at the start. There was a gate and even some recent drainage work. The only thing that was a little off was that we were right next to a stream, but nothing to be too concerned about. As we were gearing up I thought about taking the map and how heavy and bulky it is and we decided to leave it. Woody Ridge trail would be the only trail we would be on that I had not done before and it is pretty much straight up so no real need for a map.

We had been running for half an hour and were starting to really start to gain elevation when everything went wrong. There was a waterfall and then the trail ended. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Maybe we missed a turn. Down we go. No, no missed turns, no developed tread, no blazes, nothing. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Down to another road, more developed, but still all wrong. Let's check the iphone.

"If we want to be going up the ridge, it looks like we should be over near this other road," Yuri said while pointing at the screen.

I looked and couldn't believe what I saw:

"Yes, we should be over near that other road. We aren't on the trail and didn't even park at the right place." Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Two hours of driving one way to pick off this remote trail and we can't even find the fucking trailhead! And to make matters worse we couldn't just backtrack and drive back to the right spot - that would waste too much energy and even more precious time. There were clearly roads that would lead us to Woody Ridge but there was no telling which one to take or exactly where it would put us or anything else. This was not at all what I was expecting or wanting for the day.

In order to salvage some part of the day we had no choice but to go up. We followed a faint trail that went on for a long while. It was basically a bushwhack but at some point it had been a trail. It was a big climb, many thousands of vertical feet, and it started to get steep. There were some interesting rocks with some great vantage points. Then after crossing a small knob the trail disappeared and it got really steep. I was dressed for running, not bushwhacking and had planned on running, not crawling and as such was not exactly having fun with the change of events. I tried to keep moving fast while Yuri carefully tried to pick his way through the brush.

The final push to the top of the ridge was the worst of the day and then the short drop down to the crest trail was straight through small shrubs that left my shins bloody. We took the short route and went right on the Crest trail heading for Woody Ridge. I have done Colbert Ridge before and since I had driven all the way out there to do a new to me trail I wasn't going to miss Woody Ridge. We had been told that Woody Ridge was the most challenging trail in the Blacks and while there were several very rocky sections that Duma struggled a little with I'd still say that the Crest trail is more difficult. There were several inches of snow on the ground and with the trail dropping thousands of feet in just a couple of miles it was steep and slippery which made for more glissading and tree swinging than trail running.

We finally got to do some running at the end when we had to run several miles back to the truck on the road. Good thing we had left the bike at another trailhead miles away! In the end the loop that should have looked like this:



Looked like this:



Lost along the way:



Looking up at the Crest:



View abounded:



Yuri had wondered if Duma was up for the trip but there is no place this dog cannot go:



The shuttle that never happened:

Craggy Dome

I took Duma for a leisurely Sunday afternoon jog to the top of Craggy Dome today. We started at the Greybeard Mtn. Overlook on the Parkway and from there headed East on the Mountains to Sea trail.

I was hoping to find the old trail #164 so when somewhere at or around Locust Ridge there was a faint trail off to the left blocked by a pile of sticks. The location was right so I figured it was worth a try and down we went. One hundred vertical feet later the trail faded away. No way but down from there and down we went back to the Parkway. Just on the other side of the road we once again found what looked like an old road and followed it. Just like the trail above this faint trace of a trail faded away and we began a serious bushwhack.

Have I mentioned the weather yet? Maybe I should, because it is important to the story, so let me just say that it was cold. Like very cold. A few weeks back when Yuri and I did the Crest was downright balmy compared to this.

So, there was that, and then this big bushwhack. I made it a point to pay attention and we nailed the difficult bushwhack and actually managed to make spectacular time down to FR74. From there it is straight back up the road and then the Douglas Falls #162 trail.

Douglas Falls was an ass kicker and quickly turned the run into a hike. A hike that seemed to go on forever. But it was a beautiful hike through some seldom traveled terrain. Down below 5000' in the Coleman Boundary the temperatures were almost bearable but as we started the ascent the cold moved in again and put us in a grid lock.

It took forever to get to the intersection with the Mountains to Sea. When we finally did we went left. Lots more walking. And then after forever we were spit out onto an asphalt road. That was not expected and for the first time of the day I pulled out the map. I feared we somehow went the wrong way on the MST and were at the Craggy Gardens Picnic Area but the map confirmed we were good and seconds later we were crossing the parkway and beginning the final 500' ascent to the top of Craggy Dome.

Being a SB6K peak there is a trail to the top but at times it was faint and near the top the rhododendron pushed the limits of my patience. In the end there might have been more walking than running but we persevered and finished the loop in three and a half hours.



Looking back at Craggy Dome as we started out on the MST:



In the middle of the bushwhack we came across this tree. A bear has been going to town on it for a long time.



The beauty of winter down on FR74:



The start of Douglas Falls trail. One of the last trails for me to explore in the area:



The trail went through a gorgeous stretch of old growth Hemlock and Oak forest. These trees need to be seen:



Douglass Falls:





Further up the trail there was a nice stretch of frozen cascades:





At the top of Craggy Dome:

breathe in slow

Got away with Terri for a few days last weekend. Rented a cabin just yards away from a back gate to the Great Smokies National Park. When we arrived Friday it was cold and the rain was freezing but that didn't stop me from riding into the park and going out and back as far as you can take a bike on the Deep Creek Trail.



Saturday was to relax so all I did was ride my bike back into the park and then ran Deep Creek trail to the Mountains to Sea and then back down Sukota Ridge trail for a nice ten mile run before riding my bike back to the cabin. Four hours, door to door. And then off to the hot tub.



Sunday to relax as well. We drove out to the end of the Road to Nowhere, walked through the tunnel and then hiked the Gold Mine Loop before driving home. 

double dare 2013

After eight years of doing the Double Dare I have done it in any number of different ways. The first year we were in it with hopes of only surviving, which we did, however barely. In subsequent years I steadily got more ambitious and then eventually found myself racing with the intention of winning. That didn't happen but Zak and I came very close one year and then the next year we failed spectacularly coming in hours after the midnight Saturday cutoff. These days I am barely riding and winning was the furthest thing from my mind going into this year's race with Yuri. Instead my goals were to: finish and have fun. Which we, or at least I, managed to do.

With little need for speed I decided not to put the gears on the bike for the race for the first time since Toby and I last raced together in 2009. Yuri decided to join me in my single speed quest and swapped the gears for a single cog and chain ring on his custom 44 bike.

This year's race started with a 25 mile time trial all the way across the forest to Bent Creek Gap which seemed to rattle some of the racers. I got a flat less than a minute into the race and then two more in the dark towards the end. A broken light meant we skipped the Mt. Pisgah hike and got to ride Buckwheat, Bennett and Coontree instead.

Day 2 comes early after a late night of drinking beer and swapping war stories but I woke up fresh and strong and ready to play all day. Yuri's hangover was a little more stout than mine but we managed to rally and got more checkpoints than we had planned on.

One of my favorite things about the race is the sense of camaraderie shared by the racers. I had a very pleasant trip up Laurel Mtn. - a trail I often hate - with some single speeders whose names I didn't manage to catch. At the Pink Beds on day two we met Jim from Knoxville and his partner, two nice guys who I was glad to see dig deep and go big and beat us. Jared and Andrew, Matt and Brad, Mark and Adam, too many people to name them all.

Day 1:



Cove Creek > 225 > 475B > 276 > 1206 > 5000 > Spencer Gap > 5000 > 5001 > Bear Branch > 5000 > 1206 > Laurel Mtn. > Pilot Rock > 1206 > 276 > 477 > Club Gap > Buckwheat Knob > Bennett Gap > Coontree Gap > 276 > 475

Day 2:



475 > 229 > Art Loeb > 229 > 471 > 471D > Butter Gap > Cat Gap > 475 > 276 > Pink Beds > South Mills River > Buckhorn Gap > Black Mtn. > Clawhammer > Maxwell Cove > Clawhammer > 477 > Bennett Gap > Coontree Gap > 276 > 475 > Davidson River > 475

Spencer Gap:



Bear Branch:



Turkey Spring Gap:



Club Gap:



Saddle Gap:



Farlow Gap:



Butter Gap:



Long Branch:



Pink Beds:





Buckhorn Gap:



Pressley Gap:



Coontree Gap:

two lefts and a right

Friday:

Somewhere on a mountain bike in Western North Carolina. "Stay left until you get to the waterfall and then pick a right," he said.





Saturday:

Duma and I headed up to the Black Mtns. to run a stretch of the Mountains to Sea trail and across the top of three new-to-us 6000' peaks. It was sunny and warm when we left the house so we didn't take much in the way of clothes and gear so when we pulled up to the parking lot and were greeted with blowing sleet and freezing rain I rummaged through my truck and outfitted myself with my work gloves, winter hat and Pura Vida Adventures hoodie. The run started with a nice climb up a series of switchbacks and by the time we got to the top the weather had cleared and it was nice out again. I was tempted to stash all the heavy and bulky clothing I'd brought but thought better of it and carried it all with me. Good thing I did because when we topped out on the top of Potato Knob the conditions had changed again and winter had full on broken out. A hour later it was sunny and warm again.

An excellent run.









Sunday:

Moutain Biking Big Ivy.


Photo by Yuri.

the crest from yuri's lense