This weekend, we decided to head down to Brevard, NC where Pisgah National Forest is easily accessible and the trail system massive. This has to be one of my favorite little towns honestly. It's home to something like 200 waterfalls and it's just nestled into the woods so quietly, it still holds onto most of it's quaint small town charm. I usually have "7 jobs" on these hikes. Most important one is usually planning the route. So I broke out the trusty map and went to work. I'm not a fan of out and back hikes (there is SO MUCH to see that you don't have to double back on anything) so I decided on a shuttle hike leaving out of Black Mountain and ending at Turkey Pen Trailhead. Trailheads were about 7.5 miles apart as the car goes, but the hike ended up being 12.5-13 miles the whole way.
We stayed at the beautiful Davidson River Campground on Friday night, thanks to my "bestie in the westie" Meredith for snagging the last walk up first come, first serve campsite. Car camping isn't this group's favorite thing, but when you are driving in from Raleigh, NC and need a sure place to rest the night before a long hike, you take what you can get.
Saturday morning, we headed over the base of Black Mountain and the Black Mountain Trailhead. Wouldn't you know that on that very morning a huge endurance mountain bike race had started? Lucky for us, we hit the trail at the right time.
Before I get into the trail description, I want to say this. This first part of the trail is not easy. It's not even moderate. It's difficult. It's 4.5 miles straight uphill. There's nothing about the first part that was pleasant, actually. And that's just being honest. I was dreading my decision to start at this trail. Not even gonna lie. So... we started at Black Mountain and ascended 4.5 miles up to the summit of Black Mountain. Near the top, it intersects with the Turkey Pen Gap Trail. Right at the intersection there is a small campsite on the left, suitable for 1-2 tents and has a small fire ring. We continued past the junction of the two trails to the summit of Black Mountain for a view and lunch stop. This is just a little ways past the intersection of the two trails. It was a "tunnel" of rhododendron that we walked through.
The view was stunning. What you are seeing here is the view from a small rock outcropping at the top of Black Mountain. It was quite windy and cold up here, but we bundled up and got some food in our bellies. From the picture on the right, you can see Looking Glass Rock (middle of the picture).
After a long rest, some photo ops, and a packless exploratory hike along the ridge, we saddled up and headed back down the mountain to continue our journey. We took a left on Turkey Pen Gap trail and were very pleased to find that for the next 3.5 miles, there was a mix of uphill and downhill terrain. For this I was thankful because I wasn't ready for any more ridiculous climbs.
At the junction of Turkey Pen Gap Trail and Wagon Road Gap Trail was a small campsite. We turned left down Wagon Road Gap trail and descended about .6 miles to the junction of this trail and the South Mills River Trail. The scenery really changed on this trail. I wish I knew the names of all of the foliage, but I know there was quite a bit of fern growing in this area, which I think is really pretty when the sunlight pokes through the trees and hits it.
About a half mile down the trail, there is a large campsite on the left suitable for a small village. The small stream that runs alongside the trail here sort of dives in and out of the thicket, but it is accessible if water is needed. We dropped pack here, left a hiker behind and headed a little further to see if anything else was available in the way of sites. We got to the junction of the Wagon Road Gap Trail and South Mills River Trail and hit campsite gold mine. This campsite was large and flat with two fire rings and was about 20 yards from the beautiful South Mills River. We immediately dropped pack and hung the hammocks, thankful for a place to put our feet up after ~10 miles of up and down hiking.
There are quite a few dead hemlocks at this site which made for ample firewood BUT be careful about where you hang your hammock and your liable to pull one straight out of the ground from the roots. Yes, that happened to us and my tent, dog, and I were almost crushed! You would think that your engineer friend would know not to hang a hammock from a dead tree, but this was not the case.
The next morning, we lounged around for a while as we knew that we had less than 3 miles to the Turkey Pen Gap Trailhead to end our shuttle hike. Immediately after leaving the campsite we headed northeast (turned right) on the South Mills River trail and hit the first of two footbridges we would need to cross on our way back. The first 1.5 miles of this return trip was a flat and fast and there were plenty of riverside campsites to choose from.
Made it to the Turkey Pen Gap Trailhead to complete the shuttle hike and headed for our post hike beer and food! All in all, a great trip. I wouldn't recommend the first 4.5 miles to a beginner hiker, but we made it work and thoroughly enjoyed the whole weekend.
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