Best One-Night Hikes

A reader recently sent me a good question... “Can you recommend a good one-night backpacking trip, dog-friendly, for some fit-but-out-of-hiking-shape people?”

I’m not much of a backpacker...I’m more of a day hiker (actually, more of a half-day hiker!), so I sent the question on to my friend Hiking Bill, and here was his response...

Without knowing how many miles they are looking to walk, and not knowing how physically fit they are, it's just hard to make a good recommendation. But, in my opinion the very best overnight backpacking trip in our region is from Carver's Gap to 19E. It's about 14.5 miles with tons of views, campsites, and water sources. If that is too many miles for them or too tough, then another option would be still to start at Carver's Gap and go north, but once at Yellow Mtn Gap you could go down the Overmountain Victory Trail. This would cut off about 5 miles and would be a lot less strenuous (all downhill).

Another option would be in the Grayson Highlands (Southwest Virginia) (more park information here), 12 miles and simply a wonderful one-night backpack! Click here for description and details of the hike.  Click here for an 8 mile option from Elk Garden to Massie Gap in the Grayson Highlands.

Another one that I loved in the Grayson Highlands gives you the chance to summit Mount Rogers (Virginia's highest peak). It's only 11.3 miles and is one that I took some beginners on for their first backpacking experience. Click here for more information.

Another friend, Marty Silver, also weighed in on the question and recommended...
The hike from Carver's Gap to Yellow Mountain Gap along the AT - you can stay at the "barn" at the gap, or push on to any of a number of great camping spots near Little Hump or Hump Mountain.

If you have another one night backpacking trip in our area that you’d like to recommend, please let us know!

Above: Duke stops for a breather along a section of the Appalachian Trail on Roan Mountain (8/08).

color and shapes

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.
--Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) American Painter

ribbon of highway

Sadly, I missed the peak of autumn on the parkway this year. The timing and the weather just didn't work out. I took this photo of the Linn Cove Viaduct from the trail the winds its way beneath this magnificent structure. Click here to learn more about it.

a human need

The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man. ~Author Unknown

This is one of my favorite falls in our region...not for its power, but for its grace and serenity. This was the scene yesterday afternoon when I visited the falls with some friends. However, last night at dusk a student from Milligan fell and was injured here. Thankfully, the initial diagnosis is very encouraging, but she still has fractures, so please say a prayer for Abi that she will recover quickly.

Click here for directions. If you visit this, or any other waterfall in our region, please be careful!

a wedding prayer

Grant that their wills may be so knit together in your will, and their spirits in your Spirit, that they may grow in love and peace with you and one another all the days of their life. Amen.
--The Book of Common Prayer

My good friends Jeremiah and Emily exchanged their marriage vows yesterday in a beautiful and very touching ceremony. They're a wonderful Christian couple: faithful, compassionate, gracious and fun, with a heart for ministry and service. Congratulations and blessings to you both!

In Tennessee's fair eastern mountains...

This weekend is homecoming at Milligan College - a chance to reconnect and reminisce with former students and get caught up on their lives. I'm amazed at the depth of commitment of our alumni to the College. Today I saw alums from California and Colorado who flew in to celebrate their 5th reunion. Tomorrow the class of '59 will gather to celebrate their 50th reunion. I imagine for many of them it really does feel like they're coming home, to the place that expanded their minds and their faith, where they entered a community, which became a family and enriched their lives. I'm grateful to be a part of it.

ALMA MATER
by Bela Hubbard Hayden

In Tennessee's fair eastern mountains reared against the sky,
Proudly stands our Alma Mater as the years go by.

Forward ever be our watchword, conquer and prevail;
Hail to thee! Our Alma Mater, Milligan, all hail!

Cherished by her sons and daughters, memories sweet shall throng
Round our hearts, O Alma Mater, as we sing this song.

Forward ever be our watchword, conquer and prevail;
Hail to thee! Our Alma Mater, Milligan, all hail!

Root Cellar

If you do not sow in the spring, you will not reap in the autumn.
--Irish Proverb

Root cellar at the Dave Miller Homestead, Roan Mountain, TN.

last dance

The one red leaf, the last of its clan,
That dances as often as dance it can,
Hanging so light, and hanging so high,
On the topmost twig that looks up at the sky.
--Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) English poet

all things new

If you think you are seeing the same show all over again seven times a week, you're crazy. Every morning you wake up to something that in all eternity never was before and never will be again. And the you that wakes up was never the same before and will never be the same again.
--Frederick Buechner (b. 1926) minister and author

An early snow made for an interesting contrast of seasons atop Unaka Mountain.

On the edge

I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center.
--Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007) American Novelist

With my insane fear of heights, I'm actually not one to be out on the edge. I'm perfectly content taking in the wide vistas from a safe distance back, thank you very much. :) And actually, in terms of photography, I've found that it's often better to step back to put something in the foreground to help frame and give a sense of depth and perspective to the image. Of course, I'm pretty sure Vonnegut wasn't thinking about hiking when he wrote this!

Above: Unknown photographer at Rough Ridge (taken last fall).

BTW...1,500 of Hugh Morton's photos have been digitized and made available online as part of UNC's Hugh Morton Collection of Photographs and Films. Click here for a discussion of the Collection.

Grandeur

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
--Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) English poet, Roman Catholic convert, Jesuit priest

Above: Unaka Mountain Road

discovery

If there wasn't anything to find out, it would be dull. Even trying to find out and not finding out is just as interesting as trying to find out and finding out; and I don't know but more so.
--Mark Twain (1835-1910) American Humorist, Writer and Lecturer

The above photo is of Millstone Creek Falls in rural Washington County, TN. Click here for more information, links and directions.

Spivey Falls

The quality of the imagination is to flow and not to freeze.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist and philosopher

Pictured above is one of four waterfalls located along Spivey Creek on private, gated property in a remote area of Unicoi County. This is the main waterfall, which is listed as 35 feet tall -- I've photographed two of the other Spivey Falls, here and here. A cabin, which is available for rent, sits next to the one above offering amazing views.

illumination

Now is the time of the illuminated woods ... when every leaf glows like a tiny lamp.
--John Burroughs (1837-1921) American naturalist and essayist

autumn bliss

Every leaf speaks bliss to me,
fluttering from the autumn tree.
--Emily Bronte (1818-1848) English Author

The colors along the Unaka Mountain Road are at their peak right now. In fact, in some places, they're a little past peak, but definitely worth the trip. The entire Unaka Mountain loop is spectacular, beginning with Highway 107 in Unicoi, over the mountain on the Unaka Mountain Road and then coming down Highway 395 (Rock Creek Road) into Erwin. Click the link above for directions and a description of all the things to see on Unaka. Hooray for fall!

Area Hiking Clubs (and other organizations)

I occasionally get emails asking if I know of any hiking clubs and other groups in our region -- So I thought I'd post the list I have. Many of the clubs listed below are quite active - with events planned out months in advance. I don't have a complete listing, so perhaps you could help me add to this. I believe there's a horseback riding club as well as a rock climbing group in our area, but I couldn't find them online. Please leave a comment if you know of them or any other groups to add to our list!

Hiking:
Carolina Mountain Club
Chargers and Rechargers
Greeneville (TN) Hiking Club
Johnson City Hiking Club
Mid-Appalachian Highlands Club
Smoky Mountains Hiking Club
Tennessee Eastman Hiking and Canoeing Club
Tennessee Trails Association - East TN Chapter

Mountain Biking/Cycling:
Northeast Tennessee Mountain Bike Association
Tri-Cities Road Club
Virginia Creeper Trail Club

strength from beauty

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
--Rachel Carson (1907-1964) American biologist and nature writer

Lower Spivey Falls in Unicoi County. Click here for a description of the area.

Update: Check out the Unbelievable FALL COLORS Marie captured from Rough Ridge on the Blue Ridge Parkway! (directions here)

s'marvelous

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
--Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher

Bass Lake, outside of Blowing Rock, NC (click photo to enlarge).

Follow your bliss.

If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track, which has been there all the while waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living.
--Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) American Author, Philosopher and Teacher

memory and hope

Minister Fred Craddock once asked a Cherokee Chief what story he tells the little children in his village about the beginning of the world. And this was the chief’s response:

"I tell them that the Great Spirit created everything starting in the fall of the year. The world started in the autumn. Because all the fruit and vegetables and nuts are ripe and gathered and everyone has food to eat and that gives them a wonderful thing to remember. And remembering it as the winter comes on they hope for it again. So it is autumn and only autumn that provides both memory and hope. And if you don’t have that you can’t live."

mental training

It may take practice to think more positively and more compassionately, but just as you must train a puppy to behave the way you want it to, you must train your mind to behave itself. Otherwise, like the puppy, your mind will just make a lot of messes.
--Tom Barrett

A lucky little puppy gets taken for a walk on Roan Mountain.

Slow and Steady

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
--Lao Tzu, ancient Chinese philosopher.