Mt Mitchell Adventure: Hiking The Highest Mountain East Of The Mississippi
By admin
Let’s continue this mountain weekend one more day, what do you say? Lots of pictures!
We ended yesterday with an exhausting but exhilarating hike up Green Knob with excitement for the next day.
So after Green Knob…
I stretched and rolled my legs and hips for most of the night while watching movies. We wanted to be up and out of the cabin early the next morning so we made sure to get to bed on the earlier side.
We managed to hit our goal time of departure. With packs filled with water, snacks and layers on (it was in the 40s in the morning) we headed up to the trailhead. For $ 8, we stopped at the desk and bought a huge map so we would be 100% confident on the trails but also for our souvineir (definitely recommend this, we used it several times).
Then it was game on. Time to conquer Mt Mitchell.
Mt Mitchell Here We Come
Mount Mitchell’s summit stands high at 6,683 feet, making it the highest mountain east of the Mississippi River. While there is a parking area at the summit’s outlook, we felt it was necessary to climb from the lower trailhead at Black Mountain Campground for a 5.7 mile, 3200 foot climb.
The hike was beautiful. The inclines were quite steep at times but after experiencing the hike the day before, it felt like a breeze.
Dan and I felt energized and comfortable from the bottom to the top. Because it wasn’t quite as demanding on my body, we were able to take it in and appreciate more of the scenes around us.
Pretty much every 10 minutes, the scenes changed. Thick brush turned to tall evergreen pines turned into stunning firs. When the wind would blow, suddenly it would smell like Christmas. Frasier Firs were hidden here and there, making the air smell fresh, clean, and amazing.
I kept telling Dan I wanted to bottle it, that I wish I could safe it to somehow share here with you all.
His response? You can… go to Yankee Candle and buy their Christmas Candle. Smart guy.
We both agreed that neither of us had experienced anything like this, where the scenery, the ground and even the wildlife changed so drastically.
As we climbed, the air grew chilly, but with all the hiking, I was never inclined to put on my long sleeve top.
From time to time we would pass a couple or a fellow hiker, smile, wave and ask how they were and continue on.
The nice people working the campground mentioned that most people take about 4 hours to get to the top, they guessed we would do it in 3 from our Green Knob time. My goal, of course, was to beat 3 hours.
We did… 2 hours and 45 minutes later we hit the summit!
Amazing, like the day before, we were overwelmed with the endless sea of mountains. I felt as if I was on top of the world, but then again it as the highest I have ever been!
We took pictures, ate our lunch and took out the map to decide what to do next.
We weren’t quite ready to head back down.
Ridge Line To Big Tom
After looking at the map, we figured out a path that would allow us to hike a ridge line (Crest Trail) over to Mt Craig (the 2nd highest mountain) and then over to Big Tom and would then have a small trail that would lead us back to the Mt Mitchell trail for a safe trip home.
Out of all the trails that day, the Crest Line was our favorite.
There were some extremely technical climbs, fun rock cropping, areas where ropes were laid out to help and of course, gorgeous views.
Clearly, a perfect area for impromtu photoshoot and playtime! These are my favorite pictures ever…
This also happens to be some of what we’ll be running for our Quest To The Crest 50K so it was nice to get a preview! Holy moly, I’m not sure how I’ll run it, but I’m excited to give it a go!
After about 1-2 miles on the ridge, we found our little cut through trail and started our decent. You guys, this was so hard! It was practically straight down and seemed to be an old creek bed. Basically, a haven for snakes!
We prayed that those guys were still sleeping since spring wasn’t quite in full bloom yet and carefully (and quietly) made our way down.
I really just kept praying to God to help him keep my knees and ankles strong!
Finally, we hit the Buncombe Horse Trail which would be bringing us back to Mt Mitchell.
This trail was a lot of fun! Wide for the horses making it easy to navigate but sprinkled with rocks, creeks and the start of mini waterfalls. It was beautiful. Oh and it was pretty flat too! Loved that.
At times I wanted to run, but we maintained our quick pace until we re-united with the Mt Mitchell Trail.
Then the fun really began.
No pictures because we decided to run. It seemed as if flew down the mountain, it was freaking amazing. Jumping rocks, skipping over roots and leaping over mud puddles, it was so much fun!
And it was really a confidence booster to know that after climbing for so many hours, we both had enough juice in the tank to finish strong.
We ran out of the trail, smiles from ear to ear and gave each other big high fives.
From the time we left our cabin, to the time we walked into the cabin, we covered a little over 18 miles.
The rest of the evening was spent relaxing, sipping on wine, watching the Masters and reliving the hikes.
I can’t wait to go back! Though, I think this was the PERFECT time to go. We couldn’t have asked for better weather Oh and I might get a tattoo. More on that later.