– Asheville, North Carolina to Laurel Falls –

Today was our hiking day. We are staying in Asheville again tonight, so for today, we planned to drive out to the Dennis Cove Trailhead up near Hampton, Tennessee and hike a short section of the Appalachian Trail to Laurel Falls. Mark has visited before with his brother and his dad when they were hiking the AT. We didn’t do anything quite so strenuous: our hike was only around 3.5 miles.

Originally, we’d planned to get up at 6am, but since yesterday was such a long day, we didn’t set our alarms until 7, and even then we didn’t make it out of bed before 7:30. We finally left with all of our gear around 8, and we stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts for a quick breakfast on the way out of Asheville. It isn’t Tim Hortons, but it is better than a lot of places.

From our hotel, it was about 1.5 hours to the Dennis Cove Trailhead, and we finally made it around 10am. The weather was clear and warm, and we didn’t have any trouble figuring out where we were going. We did pass an antique engine show and a bicycle race. Both were very well attended, since today is a Saturday and the weather is lovely. The roads leading back to our stop got progressively smaller, as did the towns, until we were climbing a tiny mountain road where every curve is blind. When we finally found the entrance, we saw perhaps 20 cars parked in the area, which is pretty impressive, given the remoteness of the location.

Once we were all parked, we pulled Ripley out of the car and everyone geared up for the trip. We tightened our shoelaces, filled our backpack, and put on our hats, among other things. We also looked at the map, and Mark was questioned about the correct route to Laurel Falls. He told the people asking, “I haven’t been here in 15 years, but…” I thought it was pretty funny. He turned out to be right, too. His sense of direction always impresses me.

Finally (and I’ll admit, with some excitement), we saddled Ripley up in her new backpack, which was her Christmas present this last year. We got it for Big Bend, but she never needed it there, so we were taking it for its maiden voyage. We packed her with two half-liter soft plastic water bottles and a couple of treats, for energy. It wasn’t a lot of weight, and the pack was almost empty, but that was the general idea. Since she had never worn it before, I didn’t want her to carry too much in case the pack rubbed while she walked. Supposedly dogs can carry up to 25% of their bodyweight, and even more for muscular dog breeds. That would be nearly 10 pounds for Ripley, which sounds like way too much to me. Her pack probably weighed 3 pounds today, when her water bottles were full at the very start of the trail.

Mark packed the rest of our gear. My job is usually to wrangle the puppy, so I get away with carrying nothing at all. We were mostly carrying water, sunscreen, and bug spray, so Mark’s pack wasn’t heavy either. He certainly was carrying 25% of his bodyweight. I wonder if that same rule holds true for humans?

At the beginning, the trail was smooth and flat, with little difficulty. We did cross a couple of small, narrow bridges that had a wire mesh top, which Ripley didn’t appreciate, but it was fairly easy going for a while. Ripley was incredibly excited about everything about the hike. Everything smelled fantastic, all of the bushes were interesting, and she definitely wanted to keep going. Mark and I got a kick out of how much fun she was having. She’s a cute little thing, there’s no doubt. We could barely get her to sit still for pictures.

Before long, the trail narrowed a bit, and we hiked up our first set of stone steps. Mark tells me that the stairs were all set by hand, because machines are not allowed back on the trails in the area. The stairs are pretty impressive when you look at them and try to imagine cutting them out with just hand tools.

In a few places, I was a little worried about the narrowness of the trail. I’m afraid of heights (and falling from them), and being that close to the edge of anything sets my heart to racing. Ripley of course is blithely unconcerned, which doesn’t help me one bit. She is more than happy to scramble across a narrow opening without slowing down. I lost count of the number of times I had to use the “wait” command going up and down stairs and through narrow bits of trail. She was a good girl and waited for me, though. She didn’t try to drag me off the mountain even once.

One of my favorite (read: least favorite) spots along the trail was the one in the photograph above. When we finally made it down the long set of stone steps and switchbacks that led down to the river, we got to cross a section of trail that basically hung out over the water. You see that but of rock on the right, beside the smooth bit? We went around that. It’s times like those that remind me that I’m not exactly an adventurer. Still, I survived, and Mark and Ripley seemed to enjoy that particular area, so I was happy for them, anyway,

The trail evened out again as we hiked back along the river toward the falls, and we made quick work of the flat parts. The river was clear and rocky, and Ripley found it fascinating. She got her feet wet more than once as we made our way to the falls. I’m not even sure if the water was warm or cold, but either way, she didn’t mind.

We made it to our destination after a final rocky clamber over a rough section of trail that first went back up the mountain a bit, and then came back down right by the waterfall. The Laurel Falls area was filled with people, which kind of surprised me, since we hadn’t seen too many people on the trail. A couple in a hammock was hanging out just to the left of the falls, and Mark was very jealous. He’s been talking about a hammock for months now. Someday I’m going to have to get him one, I guess.

Ripley waded in the water a bit, and scrambled over the rocks with quite a lack of grace, I have to say. Mark tried to take her out on a log to get a neat picture, but she wasn’t having it, and she tried to go for a swim instead. The other dog down at the falls was wearing a life vest, which was pretty cute. He was a Weimaraner, too, so he was at least 70 pounds. I wonder if the vest was just for safety, or if he actually couldn’t swim.

One of the families playing around on the trail had a 10-year-old boy with him, and he was quite the little daredevil. He made it all the way around the pond barefoot, carrying his fishing pole. He didn’t seem to catch much but a crayfish, which he referred to as a mudbug. His Dad feigned interest and then told him to toss it out, but the boy offered it to the nearby campers instead. I guess he thought they might like to eat it. They politely declined, and he tossed the poor critter back into the water, where I assume it swam away. It still seemed lively, despite the fact that the kid had dropped it and picked it back up 3 or 4 times as he made his way across the rocks. It must’ve been a hardy sucker.

After the family cleared out, a lady leading two large dogs on a single leash came down the stairs right next to the waterfall, and we decided we were ready to get out of there, since they seemed like quite a handful. The stairs there are very steep and long, and she barely made it down them alive, from what I could tell. We watched her almost fall nearly twice as they dragged her down the last section. One of them barked at us a few times, and we moved on out of the way.

The trail we took up was different from the one we took down, and it mostly consisted of small stairs and a steep climb almost straight up the hill. The route we took down to the falls meandered a bit, and came down the mountain a bit more gently. This path went quickly back up to the original flat trail, but it was a more difficult climb. We didn’t have too much trouble, although Ripley was definitely wearing out. I was a bit worried about her feet on the stairs. It made me wish we’d brought along her other Christmas present- new boots. Unfortunately, they didn’t make the trip to the Smokies with us, and she had to do without. Luckily her pads survived with no damage.

We took quite a few pictures along the trail, and on a big bridge we had crossed on the way in, I made Mark stop for a portrait with his baby. They looked pretty cute on the bridge out there together. He took a few pictures of Ripley and I out on the bridge on the way by the first time, and the difference between the pictures is a little funny. Mark seemed totally unconcerned about the edge of the bridge in his picture, but in mine, I’m closer to the side and hanging onto the trail with one hand.

In the very last quarter mile of the trail as we were leaving, we ran into a gentleman that was surveying the trail and its plant-life for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Mark talked to him for a minute or two about what he was doing, and he thought it was pretty neat to meet someone out doing work of that nature. We wrapped up not long after, and emerged from the shade of the trees hanging over the trail into what was apparently a blazingly hot afternoon back out on the road where our car was parked.

Mark and Ripley were particularly excited to drop their packs at the car. When we were all settled, we cranked up the air conditioner in the car and drove back to Hampton and then on to Erwin, where we had planned to stop for lunch. Mark wanted to look for a few places he’d visited before, so we drove around the little town looking for them. We started out looking for The Erwin Burrito, which was a legendary meal for Mark’s family, but it turned out that the place had closed and been replaced with a barbecue restaurant instead. He was very disappointed.

Next, we drove around looking for a pottery shop, which we found across from the town library, just like Mark remembered. We have three bowls from the shop: one Mark bought when he was hiking the AT, one his dad bought for him when he was hiking the AT, and one his parents picked up when they drove through Erwin on a road trip. Mark decided he wanted another to match the lonely third bowl, so we bought one to match. Now we can always use pairs of bowls when we have soup, he says.

The shop, which is called Stegall’s Pottery, was pretty neat, and I had a good time looking around. We couldn’t stay for long, since Ripley had to wait in the car, so once Mark had picked his bowl, I went back outside to water the baby and keep her company. It took them forever to sell him the bowl- apparently their credit card reader was on the fritz.

Since the famous burrito shop was gone, we were still faced with our own impending death from starvation (or at least that was how it seemed), so we had to choose somewhere to eat. With mostly fast food options available to us, we were looking for an alternative to the regular fair that we could find in any town.

We ended up stopping at a place called Pal’s Sudden Service, which is a small fast food company that is local to the Tennessee area. The chain, which consists of 28 locations, started in 1956, but the one in Erwin didn’t open until 2013. We had toasted cheese sandwiches, which consist of, and I’m quoting here, “a Big Pal bun flipped inside out with two slices of melted cheese, mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato.” It sounds weird, but it really wasn’t bad at all. Their french fries were fantastic, and they were very fast with the food. I guess they did put that part right there in the name.

At the request of Mark’s dad, we stopped briefly by Uncle Johnny’s Nolichucky Hostel to look around before we left town, although we didn’t manage to get the pictures he was looking for. He made his photo requests after we had already left. Uncle Johnny’s is a lodging place for hikers from the Appalachian Trail, and the guys have stayed there on occasion on their way through the area. It’s a cool-looking little place, and Mark told me that it had grown considerably since he last visited. Granted, that was a long time ago, so I’m hardly surprised that it has changed.

With that finished, we drove back to Asheville, as we were now sweaty and dirty and ready for a shower and a look around the city. Ripley napped in the hotel room while we were away. She was totally exhausted and more than happy to crawl into her bed. We missed the Biltmore, a Vanderbilt estate, which is basically Asheville’s local castle, but I’m sure we will visit someday. Instead, we parked downtown for an hour or so and wandered around the shops on the town square.

My favorite stop was the Mast General Store, which is supposed to be an example of the original type of old country general store, where locals could buy what they needed and visitors could buy trinkets and knickknacks to take home with them from their trip. I would say that these days, it’s mostly the latter, although it still has everything from clothes to candy to soap and coffee mugs. It really does have a little of everything, and not all of it is touristy. The place is huge, and very popular.

From what I’ve read, the original was in Valle Crucis, and it was built in 1882. This one was built in the 1940s as a thrift store, and it didn’t become a Mast General Store until 1999. I was a little sad upon learning that, as I had thought that it was built in 1882, since that’s what the sign seemed to imply. It was still interesting, but I don’t feel like it was a special as it could’ve been now that I know the real history.

Still, I got a new T-shirt, and I almost bought my dad some moonshine jelly, although in the end I didn’t. It’s made from moonshine and white grapes, and it looks a bit like vaseline in the jar- it’s quite clear and solid. He grew up in Virginia, so he’s from the area, and I like to say that we are related to all of the hillbilly moonshiners in the mountains up here, so I thought the jelly would be funny. I’m not sure how it would taste, though, which ended up deciding the matter.

Our afternoon snack came from a café along the town square, and it consisted of Raspberry tea and a giant snickerdoodle, which Mark and I split. When we finished out little break, we walked around and took a few more pictures. We dreamed of visiting a chocolate shop we saw, as well, but the line was so long that we couldn’t risk it. When we finally made it back to the car, our meter was already dead, despite our hurrying back, and we had already ransacked the center console for spare change, so we had to move on.

Not long after, we swung by Whole Foods for our dinner, and then finally made it back to our hotel, where we collapsed in exhaustion. It was a busy day, and so even though we finished relatively early, we are more than ready for bed. Tomorrow we’re heading to the highest point in North Carolina before we drive back to Nashville to begin our trip back to Texas.

– Trip Total : 1,149 miles –