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Wilson Creek, NC June 9-12

ctenidae

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Joined
Nov 11, 2004
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8,959
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Location
SW Connecticut
The purpose of this trip was a bachelor-type thing for my younger brother. Nine of us in the group, seven of whom live in NC. Travel arrangements got dodgy, so I spent some time trying to get directions/topo quad/any information I could.

I ended up getting the 1974, un-updated topo (Grandfather Mtn quad, NC)from one of the guys going, except it didn't show either the trail, or the road it was off of (the road looped out off the right side of the sheet, then came back). Surprisingly, I had no problem with the trail (despite the 4 am start time, solo run, and monsoon rains that ended about two hours before I got there). Hardest part was finding the USFS road the trailhead was on- the USGS map from 1974 and the $5 road map I had didn't agree in any meaningful manner, so in spite of actually getting to the area about 10.30, as planned, it was still 3 o'clock in the morning before I got to the car park, 4 before I'd changed out of work clothes and repacked my gear from airline-portable to back-portable.
We set base camp on Wilson Creek, just below where Laurel Mtn Branch joins it. Stunning, truly. Hundreds of waterfalls, nice pools, very nice. Trout weren't out much (it could have had something to do with the 3 dogs who were along), but the snakes were. I've gotten complacent living up here- I don't think to watch for snakes anymore. Oddly enough, there was very little wildlife in the area- the only bird was a mockingbird who flew around, no other critters. Lots of centipedes and millipedes, but those don't count, and two deer. Eerily quiet, wildlife wise, the silence only broken by occasional screams of "Squeal like a pig, boy!" wafting across the mountains.
The weather, essentially, was atrocious. Massive dump prior to my arival, then again around 5 on Friday. Saturday had some sun, just enough to dry my pack out pretty well, then the sky opened around 2 am Sunday morning, soaking everything again. Some poor TSA baggage screener apparently had the misfortune of checking my suitcase before it got loaded on the plane, stuffed full of wet, nasty gear. Had to be lovely for him.
Didn't do much of anything in the way of trail hiking, but we did go a fair distance up and down the creek. After 3 days completely out of touch with civilization, one of the hardest hikes I've ever done is coming in to work.
 
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