Black Mtn Crest Trail & Big Butt(kikker) fall trip

“ok, for some reason I was reading it as you and embear wanted to stay over till monday. I can leave you two there. I know you wouldn't complain at all =)”

“an awesome view of Mt. Mitchell taken by Pennsy. What an awesome pic.”

“Black mountain range panarama. We'll be hiking over those mountains.”

“[img src="http://ils.unc.edu/parkproject/webcam/webcam.html"]”

“[imgsrc="http://ils.unc.edu/parkproject/webcam/webcam.html"]”

“I posted the pic in the thread for the July trip but I can't seem to get it to post now. It's kinda cool to have a live pic of Mitchell in the thread. The link works too.”

“awesome Ewker. I can never seem to get that to wrok for me.”

“what's cool is that will always pull up the most recent pic of the mountain. That is Mt. Craig in the view, Big Tom behind Craig and behind Tom is Balsam Cone. We will come over top of those peaks on the way to Mitchell.”

“you were trying to post the web address instead of a picture in the form of a picture or something like that”

“There's going to be some interesting parts of that trail if it gets icy!”

“I'm bringing my instep crampon's just in case..”

“I wish I could make thia trip. Being poor sucks.
:(”

“I'm not sure using the terminology "fall trip" is such a good idea to promote a backpacking adventure.”

“it is if I'm going.”

“well maybe not to promote.”

“I went over several times in july.”

“I fell a bunch of times in July”

“you should be ok without crampons then, if not you just slide you a$$ right off the mountain”

“hopefully Mt. Mitchell will not look like it does right now when we are there.”

“If it rains any at all really, theres a good chance of having ice on the knife edge and on the north and south parts of it - which is where the worst sections of the trail are.

crampons would be wise to have in the pack.”

“agreed. When I was there last year a guy was telling me about ice on the trail in July and another guy was telling me that his family was having a picnic on the summit of Mitchell in July and it was 90 degrees in Asheville, when they got to Mt. Mitchell it was cold and windy and the temp was 55. He said with in an hour of being there the weather went down hill and it started to sleet. The park ranger told me that it can snow up there any month of the year. I'm not going to bring 12 pointers or anything but my little insteps should be good just in case.”

“yeah, there won't be glaciers, but those big "steps" could get pretty nasty with a little glazeing on them.

especially on the knife edge section.”

“imagine climbing Winterstar or Big Tom while the trail is icy, or coming down off of Potato Hill and Balsam Cone. Plus like you said Roam, the knife edge, wouldn't want to slip on ice there.”

“Winterstar was one of the more physical sections to get up! and down.

Its at the end of day 1 too, so your physically wiped out by then.

Thus the little celebration pose here!”

“I don't have any crampons. Boohoo.

WD- I am making my schedule for lessons as we speak and I think Thursdays are going to be pretty early nights. I'll let you know asap.

Ewker - why would we need to meet at Marks when he is the opposite direction?!? I think you are the closest to the interstate since I live in Bellemeade. You're in GH right?”

“embear, you can get yak traks or instep crampons pretty cheap at campmor.

those should be all you'd need.”

“Do you think I could use the same things for the Mt leconte trip in December?”

“yeah they have insteps and yaks trax at Cumberland transit for $10. They will do fine.”

“Alright - I'll go talk to Bill.”

“that trip you would want something a little bigger. If the road isn't closed, we will go up the Alum Cave trail and the whole trail get's very icy and is along a cliff with a big drop. They have cables along the trail. If the road is closed and we cant do the Alum Cave, we'll go up Rainbow Falls and on that trail insteps would probably be ok. Yak Trax break easily on hikes. They would work for the Mitchell trip because you would be taking them on and off. On LeConte, we will need the crampons on the whole time.”

“I recommend ice walkers for the Mitchell trip. They are $10”

“embear, I am in Green Hills. You can meet me at my apt and leave your car there. I thought we would swing by and pick Mark up then take 840 to 40. I will need directions on how to get where ever we are going though.”

“ens, what do you mean you fell? you practically dissapeared at least once...



so, if I use crampons, you think they are overkill then?”

“that would be overkill. Unless the weather goes bad, which it could. The insteps are so cheap.”

“did you draw that picture of me. I like it. Thanks. It's so realistic, I am having flashbacks.”

“wOW. Last time I did Leconte was one February a long time ago- went up Alum Cave and down Rainbow. No crampons. Pretty dumb then, huh? I guess I didnt know any better. It was snowy and icy too. Fun cold trip.

Can I rent crampons?”

“I've been watching them on Ebay. You can get good deals on crampons and snow shoes on ebay. You can get a good pair of Crampons for $60-70”

“Looks stormy up on Mitchell right now..”

“I can drive to Nashville and meet yall. It would be easier of me to do that then yall comming to murfreesboro.”

“It was stormy earlier, EarthNsky, but it has given way to mostly cloudy, but the sunset on the clouds is nice.

Pardon me for being a buttinski...I can see Mitchell, etc. from my deck (when it's clear). Sounds like y'all have a tough trip shaping up. As time gets closer, I might try to catch a visit/section of the trip, if you don't mind a local tagging along. I'll pass on the first section though, I've done it before, and my tired old a$$ ain't up to it now.

As to Thursday night, I saw some discussion of camping at Black Mtn. campground, right? If you're interested, I can tell you of some good campsites on Curtis Creek rd. that are designated and are free. This gravel rd. connects to the parkway directly across from the gravel road that leads to Black mtn. campground, and is probably a shorter drive for those of you traveling eastbound. Also, it has the advantage of taking you thru the first tract of National Forest land ever purchased.

As to Mitchell's weather. One of our favorite pastimes is to drive up to Mitchell in Oct. to watch the leaf looker tourists freeze there butts off. Shorts and T shirts and a tourist on Mitchell make for some fun entertainment. My best advice: Take the winter bag any time you hike there.”

“sounds cool hikinfool!

Hey your right about being chilly - funny how people don't think about it being cold a mile higher than they are down in the towns.

It got fairly chilly up in Deep Gap on July 3. Not cold - but it was kinda chilly.”

“Where do you live up there, my mom in law has a house about 1.5 miles from Black Mountain Campground , I'm up at least every three weeks. We could hook up and do some day or over night hikes sometime.”

“The map that you were asking Gemni about is the South Toe River, Mount Mitchell & Big Ivy Trail Maps by the USFS Pisgah National Forest. The Appalachian Ranger District # is 828-682-6146.”

“Yeah, it was pretty chilly up on Mitchell when we were there in July. The museum said it was 55, but it felt colder than that. October will be interesting for sure. Hikinfool, you're more than welcome to hike with us and we would be happy to have you along.”