We only have a few days left of our two month stay at Chill Hill in Waynesville North Carolina. We’ve been finding so much to do in the area and we had plans for so much more. We will fit in what we can and save the rest for a return trip to the area. We did manage a couple more hikes. The first one was the Yellow Face Trail. Rated as a moderate out and back hike of 1.6 miles and about 500 feet of elevation gain. It starts near the Waterrock Knob visitor center. The closest parking is at the Browning Knob Overlook on the way back to the visitor center. It was a beautiful morning for a hike with blue skies and low hanging clouds in the valleys below us.
Clouds in Valleys Below Blue Ridge Parkway
After crossing the Blue Ridge Parkway, we spot the trailhead and start up the trail. From the looks of things, this isn’t a popular hike. While the trail surface was in reasonable shape, the brush growing along the sides of the trail was rather thick in spots. The first half mile was relatively easy going but then we started the climb. There were some steep spots and the recent rains made for less then ideal conditions. Even though we were hiking up a bit of a ridge line, the views were rather limited. Occasionally there would be an opening and we could see the valley to the southeast nearly 2000 feet below us.
Slight Opening Along Yellow Face Trail
We eventually got to the top of Yellow Face at just over 6000 feet in elevation. While the tree cover here was greatly diminished, the brambles were out of control. Even though this trail continues on to Blackrock Mountain, we decided wading through the chest high, wet, thorny bushes wasn’t very fun.
View at Top of Yellow Face
The hike back down turned out to be a much bigger challenge. The wet ground made footing questionable so we found ourselves going rather slowly. The pace did permit us to spot lots of interesting mushrooms and flowers along the way. I suspect we could have found a much more enjoyable hike in the area but you don’t know until you try.
Mushroom with Leaves?
Alien-like Mushroom
Turks Cap Lily
Bright Mushrooms
About 4 weeks ago while walking the Oconaluftee River Trail near the town of Cherokee, we had seen people tubing on the river. It looked like fun and figured we should give it a try. Unfortunately weather conditions or other things kept getting in the way. With our time running short in the area, we picked a day and planned our adventure. Tubing seemed to be a better activity for the afternoon, so Chris found a hike not far from Cherokee in Great Smoky Mountains National Park that could occupy our morning. The Kephart Prong Trail starts at a large pullout along the main park road. The plan is to hike up to the hiking shelter about 2 miles and over 800 feet elevation gain and then turn around.
Bridge at Start of Kephart Prong Trail
The trail generally follows a creek of the same name. Just under a quarter mile from the start, we divert off the main trail a bit to check out some of the remains of a CCC camp. Company 411 was located here between 1933 and 1942. There are still a few remnants of the camp - a chimney from the barracks and the camp signboard.
Old CCC Camp #411 Sign
The CCC work that will become more apparent to us will be the stonework that is used to support the log bridges that take us back and forth over the creek a handful of times in the 2 mile hike to the shelter. It’s a generally shaded hike and with the nearly constant sound of running water in the creek, it is a very peaceful hike. The elevation gain is very gradual and the trail was in great condition.
Stairs Up to Log Bridge
Log Bridge with CCC Stonework
Chris Cautiously Crosses
Creek Cascades Below
At the two mile point we intersect the Sweat Heifer Creek Trail and Grassy Branch Trail and find the Kephart Shelter. It looks to be a rather nice shelter (we are not experts though) and could sleep a decent number of hikers. There were two elaborate cable systems attached to large trees near the shelter. Designed to hoist your food out of reach of opportunistic bears.
Trail Intersection Sign
Kephart Shelter
Roomy Inside Shelter
More Turks Cap Lily
Small Falls Near Shelter
After relaxing a bit at the shelter, we needed to get a move on. The 2 miles back down was pleasant and we spotted a few odd plants and a beautiful butterfly that was in the mood to pose for me. It amazes me how different the patterns are on the two sides of it’s wings.
Cool Looking But Unknown Plant
Another Log Bridge Crossing
Iridescent Top
Orange Spotted Underside
About a 2 mile drive back south from the trailhead is Collins Creek Picnic Area. This was ideal for our needs: picnic tables to enjoy our lunch and restrooms to change from hiking clothes to our tubing attire. There are several tubing companies in the Cherokee area. We picked Cherokee Rapids River Tubing for our adventure. They make trip pretty easy. You start at the Little Princess Restaurant in town, sign a waiver, pay the $14 per person fee and hop on the bus. They actually have a pretty unique bus - an old school bus that has had its roof removed.
Our Convertible School Bus
When the bus was nearly full we head off to the launch point. In our case, the wait was only around 10 minutes. They drive about two miles up Big Cove Road and drop us off at a pull out just beyond the very large Cherokee school complex. We head off the bus to the trailer full of tubes and get ours before walking down the dirt path to the river. It took a few minutes for our group of ~25 people to get going. I’ve never tried tubing before so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. We had brought a small section of rope along thinking that tying our two tubes together might be a good thing but quickly realized having independent control might work better. I had brought along my GoPro on a small monopod to see if I could get some video and photos of the trip. I placed the camera in a mode that would take a still frame every 60 seconds any time I was recording video.
Heading to Launch Point
Approaching Rapids
As soon as I started floating downstream, I realized that “controlling” the tube wasn’t going to be as easy as I expected. It didn’t help that one of my hands was busy holding the camera. Each time the tube would rub against the side of a rock, it would start to spin. Sometimes the next rock might spin me in the opposite direction, or spin me faster in the same direction. I was able to use my free hand to help slow down the spinning but wasn’t always successful. Chris had both hands available but her arms were too short or her tube too big so only her fingertips would reach the water. This greatly reduced her ability to control the spinning as well.
Chris Standing on Right as I Come By
Chris Has the Lead
The river itself wasn’t very deep - maybe knee deep most of the route. This was good in one way since I don’t swim. Short of hitting my head and going unconscious, the chance of drowning was slim! The bad news was in some parts of our trip, the water was too shallow to float the tube. This meant there were numerous times where I would come to a dead stop. Sometimes it was possible to simply shift your weight and get free. Other times another tuber would follow a similar lane as I had and would knock me free. Other times I needed to put down the camera and try to dislodge myself with both hands.
Ready for More Rapids
Mountain View
Home Along River
Since I wasn’t controlling when still frames were being taken, I had the majority of the pictures being rather blurry from spinning uncontrollably. Other pictures were of my arm or the tube from when I set the camera down to push. To some degree, the fact that I got any reasonable pictures was simply dumb luck. As we approached town, a worker for the company was directing us where to exit. I successfully got out of my tube and was trying to get a good footing on the rocky river bottom when another person still on her tube snuck up from behind and took my legs out. She was lucky she hit me with the side of her tube, otherwise I would have ended up on her lap! To think, I had managed to not have any real issues in just over 2 miles of tubing only to be taken out in the last 100 feet. It was a fun 2 hours on the river and we treated ourselves to ice cream at the Little Princess before heading home. I’ve included a link to the video of some of the highlights of the trip.
Camera's View While Resting in My Lap
Swimming Hole
Coming into Cherokee and the End
Video of Tubing Highlights
For our last full day in this part of the state, Chris wanted to check out the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville. We have been here once before - just over 6 years ago. I suspect we had gone on some of the perimeter hiking trails with our dog back then, because I don’t recall any of the gardens in the arboretum and Shelby would not have enjoyed the crowds that are present in the main areas. The entrance fee is based on vehicle length not number of people. Standard vehicles cost $16 to enter and park. The full arboretum grounds are over 400 acres. We decide to concentrate on just the more formal gardens which is closer to 8 acres. We will discover that fully exploring even this smaller area will be a challenge in a single visit.
Very Colorful Blooms
There are over a dozen gardens and exhibits in the main area. We slowly work our way through them, trying to make sure we catch all the different flowers in bloom at this point in the season. There are lots of butterflies and damselflies flitting about. One of them posed long enough for a good picture.
Damselfly Rests on Leaf
Very Red Blooms
The Bonsai Exhibition Garden turned out to be one of my favorites. It is a rather large area for such small plants. One of the gardeners was trimming up one of the displays. The patience she requires to perform such intricate work is astounding. If they weren’t on display next to concrete walls on wooden platforms, I suspect the pictures would look like a real sized trees or gardens.
Elaborate Bonsai
Natchez Crape Myrtle
Realistic Forest Scene
Hinoki Falsecypress
They also have a rather large model railroad setup. The trains were not running but the towns and landscaping were still amazing to check out.
Rocky Cove Railroad
Silver-Spotted Skipper
Very Intricate Flower
Another area called the Quilt Garden was quite striking. Apparently the plants are changed out 4 times a year to go with the seasons. The pattern of the quilt design is changed every 2 years. There is an art exhibit inside the Baker Visitor Center that was quite good (no pictures permitted though). The interior of the building is also quite impressive. I suspect plenty of benefits are held here to earn money to run the place. We spent close to 4 hours wandering around the garden grounds and found the place quite nice. If we lived in the area, I’m sure we would get a season pass to allow us to come back many times over the course of the seasons just to see what is different. Plus that would let us enjoy the hiking trails as well.
Overlooking Quilt Garden
Fountain Near Quilt Garden
Real Butterfly
Man Made Butterfly
Inside Baker Visitor Center
Our two month stay at Chill Hill in Waynesville was wonderful. With so much to see and do, we seemed to be constantly on the move. The “campground” was quite different for us. I suspect some travelers might not enjoy the solitude this place provided, but we really enjoyed feeling like we were just one of the neighbors - who’s house happens to have wheels. We also discovered first hand why this area is called the Smoky Mountains. Most mornings we were greeted with low hanging clouds in the valleys around us. The weather phenomenon that surprised us a bit was just how unpredictable the weather can be in the mountains. The storms don’t tend to move across the area in “fronts” but rather materialize out of nothing. If one forms over you, you’ll likely get soaked.
Goodbye Chill Hill
I could easily see this place showing up on our list sometime during the rest of our journeys. Our next stop will be to the small town of Pineola NC about 50 crow miles northeast of Asheville. So not too far but another place that will be all new to us.
