A cloudy day of hiking around Graveyard Fields as I did a big hike for waterfalls, peaks, and fall colors. Starting at Black Balsam Knob Rd I took the MST and Graveyard Ridge Trail into Graveyard Fields. This hike was primarily in Pisgah National Forest, but I brushed up against the boundaries of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Shining Rock Wilderness. When I reached Graveyard Fields I first hiked up to Upper Falls on Yellowstone Prong. From there I went downstream to Second Falls. Both of these waterfalls are easily accessible from the parkway and usually crowded. Graveyard Fields is a very popular stop, especially for fall colors. The "fields" are a vast, shallow bowl around the headwaters of Yellowstone Prong that suffered a devastating fire in 1925. The soil has not fully recovered so most of the vegetation are shrubs at the 5,000+ foot elevations.
After Second Falls I continued downstream on the MST towards Yellowstone Falls, which is an off-trail bushwhack to an isolated area. Getting to the river was easy, but the tiny hobbit tunnel down the base was steep, slippery, and very wet. The dense fog covered all the trees and weeds in water, so I was wet all day long. I skipped Skinny Dip Falls because of time.
Afterwards I followed the MST back to the Graveyard Ridge Trail and took it to Ivestor Gap. A gorge I noted in the video as Dark Prong is actually Greasy Cove Prong. The clouds cleared for about 45 minutes when I got near Ivestor Gap so I had a few views, but when I started the Art Loeb Trail south they covered the peaks the rest of the hike. Too bad Tropical Storm Nate was ruining the weather. Tennent Mountain was my 26th peak for the South Beyond 6000 Challenge, I'll have to return for some awesome views in the future.
Hike was 14.1 miles in 7 hours and 40 minutes. This hike actually occurred on 10/7/17 even though my intro states 10/8/17. I already deleted the clips so I can't redo the intro.
Hike location
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14 окт 2024
