2022 Fall Trip - Day 33/37 - 9/26/2022

Monday, Sept. 26, 2022 - A nice long hike in the Great Smoky Mountains Nat’l Park:

Ardath hiked Mount Mitchell when she was down in North Carolina ("The Highest Mountain East-of-the-Mississippi"), so I wanted to have a go at it:

A bit of a nip in the air when I left the Super 8, and headed up into the mountains:

That bridge in the background is the Blue Ridge Parkway, which I'll be on tomorrow.

A Brave Biker on his way up to Mount Mitchell:

"This Bike Climbed Mount Mitchell"

A few minutes later I made the hard-right onto South Toe River Road:

It then becomes a dirt road for 2 miles:

Needless to say, South Toe River Road runs alongside South Toe River:

I reached the Trailhead at 8:53

With no signs telling me otherwise, I took the trail right next to the kiosk. I figure "River Loop" is a nice trail looping along the river, and maybe "Green Knob" is just some intermediate hill on the way up to "Mount Mitchell" ...

5 minutes later, "River Loop" goes flat/down while "Green Knob" goes up - so up we go!

It is a REALLY COOL trail, going up through forests of Eucalyptus(?) trees:

with the occasional Great View:

So, I'm still seeing these signs for "Green Knob":

and I would be worried, but I'm having a great hike, going up along ridges with drop-offs on each side:

and I haven't seen another soul all day.

Suddenly, at 10:44, I SEE THIS - WHAT'S THIS DOING ON MY TRAIL???:

Well, when you see steps-on-a-trail, take them (the closed-hatch was locked):

Well, it turns out that I had hiked "Green Knob Trail":

It took me an hour-and-10-minutes to get back down to the trail intersection, where I took the "River Loop" (I was in the mood for something pretty and loop-ish):

After 1-and-1/2 miles on the trail, I crossed the South Toe River and headed back down the other side:

Over a pretty bridge:

And a few minutes later I encountered THE REAL TRAIL to Mount Mitchell - blue blazes and everything:

and 5 minutes after that I was at the back-side of the parking lot:

All-in-all, a great hike - 8.62 miles in 4 hours 21 minutes:

And That's All Folks for hiking (this year) in the "Blue Ridge" - I look forward to coming back and doing some more hikes!

Although I was done hiking for the day, I wasn't through EXPLORING, so I headed back onto the Blue Ridge Parkway to drive up to Mount Mitchell:

(I didn't see any "This car climbed Mount Mitchell" bumper stickers)

Very nice area they have for visitors:

I bought postcards, and headed back down, stopping at "Green Knob Overlook", and looking up to see my Observation Tower:

I was back in my room at 5:30 - plenty of time to do some laundry - 84 miles driving today:

Thank You GOD for this Great "Unknown Hike Adventure" Day!

Music for today:

Livingston Taylor - Carolina Day: The Livingston Taylor Collection (1970 - 1980), 1998:

Hey, how else do you start off a "Carolina Day"???

Tommy Emmanuel - Live One (2 cds), 2005 live double-album:

excellent acoustic guitar music for driving through the mountains.