Hello, everyone. As you may have noticed, my posting has stalled since I came back to NC. I guess I probably owe you an explanation, since I said I was going to make an effort to explore the areas around Raleigh, and I want to make the case that I did.
In September I went on a
two-supposed-to-be-three-day trip to Shenandoah National Park in western VA. One of the most famous national parks east of the Mississippi and renowned for comprising part of the Appalachian Trail (AT), Shenandoah is famous for its views and Skyline Drive, which traverses the park. We spent the first night at a campground and intended on doing the 13-mile
Mount Marshall Loop, split by an overnight stop. However, the weather forecast, originally projected as sunny and temperate, drastically turned thanks to Hurricane Harvey remnants coming up from Texas. Unfortunately the rain was accompanied by thick fog, which, while adding a haunting, mystical aura to the prehistoric forest, eliminated all potential views we had driven over 4 hours to see. Soaked and cold, we finished our hike in 1 day and went back home.
I would love to visit Shenandoah again, hopefully before the
potential fee hike from $20 to $70, but I would do a longer trail. Because of the rain and shortened trip there wasn't enough for me to say about the hike to warrant a separate blog post, but I hope the pictures convey the feelings I had about Shenandoah: as if you were transported back in time 70 million years.
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| Appalachian Trail marker |
In October I missed out on a trip to Linville Gorge, which I heard was quite eventful, because of a neck injury from flag football and because I'm writing my MS thesis.
So here I am in November, over 3 months since my last successful trip with the hiking season winding down. Even in Raleigh the cold weather is starting to set in, though we haven't gotten any snow, and although the trees are almost bare there are enough colored leaves to remind one that it's fall. Desperate to squeeze in one last hike, I started reaching out to friends about hiking the nearby
Uwharrie National Forest. Not a large national forest, the Uwharrie is near the small town of Troy, NC, about an hour and a half from the Triangle. The Uwharrie Mountains are remnants of an ancient mountain range that once reached over 20,000' in elevation, but now the highest mountain in the range is a paltry 1,188'. As a result, there are no crags or sweeping vistas in the Uwharrie; however, the rolling elevation keeps the otherwise simple hike interesting. We started the first night by staying at the Yates Place Camp in the Southeastern portion of the forest. This campground is free dispersed camping. You can set up anywhere you want, but only a few sites have a picnic table. There is a vault toilet, but there is no water source. As a result, this campsite doesn't see much traffic despite being free, and most people staying when we got there were hunters in elaborate multi-day campsites or pop-up campers (no RV hookups here).
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| Looking down the power line service road near camp |
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| Seth making a fire |
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| Sunset through the trees in camp |
Our trip took us along two of the main trails in this portion of the forest: the Uwharrie National Recreation Trail,
built by Eagle Scouts in the 70's, and the Dutchman's Creek Trail. Both see a decent amount of traffic, but in this cold November weather we saw a dozen or less groups. These two trails meet at 3 points, making for a popular
figure-eight hike that is about 18-21 miles long, depending on who you ask. However, we had some time constraints for Sunday (more on that later), so we planned to do about 11 miles Day 1 and 4.5 miles Day 2.
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| All hiking trails are well blazed, and all intersections of hiking trails are well marked |
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| Dutchman's Creek looking a little dry |
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| View atop Lick Mountain |
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| Middle intersection of UNRT and DCT |
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| Dennis Mountain |
There were two named "peaks" on this trip, Dennis Mountain and Lick Mountain. Lick Mountain was particularly strenuous, but relative to authentic mountain hiking it was not hard at all. Unfortunately there are no clearings or balds in the Uwharrie, so there is nowhere to get a good view when atop a mountain. While you can catch glimpses through the trees, these do not translate well to pictures. When we went the creeks were mostly dry, and we ended up having to filter standing water. While this water looked quite clear and was probably a product of rain from earlier in the week, standing water is not the greatest to drink because of the higher likelihood of parasites and bacteria, and I'm hesitant to drink it even after being filtered. However, I've not gotten worms to my knowledge, and the water tasted fine. Regardless, I would not plan on there being water unless you come during the wetter seasons. Perhaps caching water at one of the trail intersections would be ideal in the future, but we did not consider this. Were you to repeat our hike, note that the trail intersection we make on the southern tip is not a true intersection. You have to briefly go off-trail to meet a bike trail and hike north, although the bike trail was really easy to spot and is only about 20 yards from the UNRT trail.
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| Picturesque early-morning fire |
Overall this hike was pleasant. Being the closest true backpacking destination to Raleigh makes up for the shortcomings in scenery, although even in late fall there were colored leaves on the trees. Something I've had to get used to in NC that I never really encountered in NM is that backcountry hiking and camping is much more restricted. Oftentimes you need permits to camp, and fires are restricted year-round, but the Uwharrie is pretty much free of red tape. This is a beautiful, cozy area with a storied past I'd love to learn more about. It won't make many Instagram photo albums, but the Uwharrie is a once-a-year destination for anyone living in the Triangle who likes backpacking, especially after colder weather has made the mountains unattractive. By the way, my time restriction on Sunday was that grabbing BBQ after a trip has become a tradition, and the BBQ place I wanted to go to, Ron's Barn Barbecue & Seafood in Sanford, NC, closed at 2 pm on Sunday. We made it, and I would highly recommend it to anyone in the area. It was affordable, and the fried chicken was excellent. If you do a similar trip and can't make it to Ron's Barn, The Pik 'N Pig in Carthage, NC, is also an excellent BBQ restaurant that is open until 3 pm on Sunday.
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| Ron's Barn with a line of church-goers out the door |
By the way, we also got BBQ on the way back from Shenandoah. We went to Deep Run Roadhouse near the VCU campus in Richmond, VA. This place was very good, but watch out for the subtle upsell or you will have an expensive tab.
