Tales From The Wood Booger: What Better Time For A Yuletide Hike Than On The Winter Solstice Above Watauga Lake

Friday, December 23, 2016

What Better Time For A Yuletide Hike Than On The Winter Solstice Above Watauga Lake

Well, Wednesday was the day that one no longer had to worry about Meteorological vs. Astronomical Winter, because with the solstice it is now just winter. To celebrate I went on my annual Yule Hike, this year I hiked out of Iron Mountain Gap at Watauga Dam Road up Iron Mountain, taking the Appalachian Trail (AT) across its spine above Watauga Lake to Vandeventer Shelter.
When I got up this morning (very early) I was greeted by freezing fog while it didn't stick to the roads, but it did to trees...more on that later. To get to the AT crossing at Iron Mountain Gap you drive through the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) area for Watauga Dam. For those who don't know, there are two dams here. The first is the main one, Watauga Dam, which creates the lake of the same name. The second downstream is the smaller Wilbur Dam. Got to the small parking area at the crest of the road before it heads down to Watauga Lake.

Morning fog & sun.

Information sign...

...at Wilbur Dam.

Wilbur Dam.

Wilbur Lake.

AT sign....

...on Wilbur Dam Road...

...at Iron Mountain Gap.

With the freezing fog, it was a cold start to the hike, so I wasn't surprised to run into Rime Ice in the trees. Funny thing was I ended up hiking out of it, but there was plenty of evidence on the trail that there had been plenty of Rime Ice up higher because there were stretches of the trail that looked covered in snow, but it was ice.

AT heads north.

Examples...

...on the AT...

...of beautiful...

...Rime Ice.

Ice & Moss.

It looked...

...looked like snow...

...but I think it was ice.

Another thing the trail was littered with deadfall. To clear these, because of this section of the AT, is in the Big Laurel Branch Wilderness which means that when this is cleared without gas powered chainsaws, but hand powered ones. However, there are some spots that will need clearing. So, the Tennessee Eastman Hiking and Canoeing Club (TEHCC) does a yeomen's job of keeping the trail up, but I do have one suggestion there are spots that need more white blazes.

The hike was in a Wilderness Area....

...no chainsaw are used on deadfall like this.

This spot. about a mile in...

...was blocking the trail...

...more at about mile three.

More deadfall.

However, the biggest bone I had to pick was with Johnny Molloy. He has two books that cover this hike while giving it four stars for the difficulty he only says the first section is the tough part it is reflected in his elevation profile. To be far the Offical Appalachian Trail Guide's elevation profile is no better the only one that is accurate is David "AWOL" Miller's The AT Guide. Once past this taxing uphill, the last mile or so was not too bad. The biggest problem was the temperatures one minute it would warm-up and then cool off. I ended up changing into three different shirts.
Finally, I reached the destination for the day at that was the Vandeventer Shelter. It is a small concrete-block shelter built in 1961 by the U.S. Forest Service and now maintained by the TEHCC. While the shelter was cool it was the vista behind it that was the star of the show. This rocky outcrop provides a spectacular view of Watauga Lake, all of the large peaks of the Roan Highlands and even the "eyesore" at Sugar Mountain is visible. After relaxing and eating lunch I headed back.

Vandeventer Shelter....

...sign about the shelter...

The rock outcrop behind the shelter...

...with this vista...

...this one.

Add caption

Roan Highlands in the background & Pond Mountain in the foreground.

The Eyesore!

The Wood Booger...

...was here!

I will say there were a couple of spots with some good view, which I had noticed slogging uphill. Once back at the car, I had decided to drive to the Watauga Dam Overlook, but it was closed! So, I headed out to the boat launch and it had a great view of the lake just the same. The day turned out to be a good winter outing all the same.