What do you get when you combine the balds of the Beauty Spot, the beauty of Rock Creek Falls, and the magic of the Emerald Forest? A great camping trip to Unaka Mountain.
Since the Coronavirus never really went away I decided, for now, that I would try and stay away from heavy use campgrounds and try to go somewhere a little less traffic. This was because of my experience at Roan Mountain and my aborted early July outing. So, I headed to the area of Unaka Mountain.
I decided to spend the first part of Wednesday hiking up Unaka Mountain The one-mile hike up the Appalachian Trail (AT) to the summit of Unaka Mountain is referred to as the Emerald Forest Walk The reason is the top of Unaka Mountain is covered mostly in evergreen trees, so it is green year-round. When I first went through here was last October, but I wanted to do it in summer because this is the peak time for the Emerald Forest.
I have done this whole section late last year, but the one-mile starting at where USFS-230 almost meets the AT at a hairpin turn. There is parking here, but no sign but the turn is easy to find. So is the trail, just find the short path to the AT and go left. I will say I did this my first time southbound, so this was my first time going up AT North. What you will notice on your way up is why it is called the Emerald Forest it is a sea of green.
About hallway, bast a rock step up will be a side trail to a tree. When I first saw this back in October I thought it was a Christmas Tree. Technically it is a Christmas Tree but it was created in honor of Max Norrell. He was a 22-year old AT hiker who sadly took his own life in 2016. A nice wooden plaque was added in June. Since I suffer from depression and anxiety and have been in some dark places I sign the notebook and added to the tree.
The thing you will find about this hike up is that it isn't too steep and makes for a good outing. Yes, there is no vista at the summit of Unaka Mountain, but it is beautiful all the same. Oh, I did find a bunch of months flying around the summit. It all makes a trip through the Emerald Forest worth it.
The next stop was heading to Beauty Spot where I was going to set up camp. I hadn't overnighted here since college...that is a long time ago. But, first I decided to do one more day hike from Beauty Spot to the learning and campaigning spot in Deep Gap. I have done this hike both ways and it is a nice one. I never realized how close the big tree in this meadow is to the road... a few hundred feet at most.
When I got back it was time to pick a spot to camp and set up. Since I was the only one there at the time I decided on this really nice spot I had seen on previous hikes to Beauty Spot. It is a large spot, with great views. The bad thing was some people had stayed here and left their trash in the fire pit, so I had to use a bag and a pair of gloves to clean this crap up.
Something I noticed was some of the vistas pointing towards the Roans had been cut out, improving the view. Another thing I also noticed, it was incredibly hot for being at over 4,000 feet, it was the warmest I have ever seen at an elevation like this.
After getting my evening items done it was time to enjoy a fabulous sunset that just hammered home why this is called the Beauty Spot. Another reason I was looking forward to the dark skies was to see Comet NEOWISE. It came up in the Northwest sky and I saw it very faintly with the necked eye. However, it was enough to know where to point the camera. While I didn't take the best picture, I did get one...nice! This was cool because the wind started blowing fierce just before sunset and continued all night, so no fire.
I know Pete got a laugh out of the fact that clouds rolled in that night, so it meant no sunrise, but I did get a few extra minutes in the sleeping bag. There is a beauty to a bald that is Obscured by Clouds. One cool thing was the wind died down, I had wood ready-to-go, which meant I could build a morning fire. The clouds started to lift for a short time but rolled back in. However, when I got back to the car the clouds started to lift again. So, it wasn't very long before I drove out of them.
The final hike of the day came at Rock Creek Recreation Area to Rock Creek Falls. I had done this hike back in July of 2014, however, I don't remember it being this hard. The difference might be I had hike six miles the day before, packed out my stuff and it was so much hotter. Oh, it didn't help that I decided to hike with only one stick. Oh, Pete is right the nats were annoying!
Most of this hike takes place in the Unaka Mountain Wilderness. The interesting thing about the wilderness is that the summit of Unaka Mountain is not in it. This trail is uphill for almost two miles. Now there are several creek crossing and waterfalls. You will know you are getting close to the end when you cross Rock Creek the last time at 1.8 miles and pass two sliding cascades. Then you will reach another sliding cascade, but large at 30 feet. I have heard this called False Rock Creek Falls as some people think this is the end of the line.
However, you keep going [as a 12-foot falls while heading steeply up. Before long the trail will dead-end at Rock Creek Falls. It cuts through the rock cliffs down, too the right and plunging to a pool at the bottom. It is a 50-foot drop from its start and reminds me a little of Raven Cliff Falls in Georgia. One of the best things was it was really cool at the base, which with the heat was a blessing. After soaking it in I turned and headed back, the trip down was not as bad as the journey up. Overall it was a great two days up and around Unaka Mountain.
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