Wild Foods

With summer being in full swing, it means that the forest up here has tons of food to eat – if you know where to look. Luckily, I know a couple of places. I will say, this last week has be kind of drained.

Thursday and Friday, Nova was teething hard. Top teeth were coming in, along with a fever and extremely fussy baby. One minute she’d be playing and then suddenly break down into tears. Saturday wasn’t too much better, but she was happy enough to go for a walk around the lake.

Nova and I walked down on Sunday to pick a bunch of blackberries along the road. Made out pretty well too. I picked a full quart of brambleberries while we were out. Note for anyone foraging with little ones, don’t forget to pay the berry tithe to keep the tiny human happy.

She fell asleep while we were out, but I knew if I tried taking her out of the pack that she would wake up. So I proceeded to do my housework with her still strapped to me. After a little while it became pretty cumbersome, so I wriggled out of the pack and left it on the couch while she slept. I was watching her the whole time though, so I was able to notice the moment she woke up.

Monday rolled around and she woke up in smiles, thankfully. We got up and had breakfast and I decided we were going to take a short hike. I already had the pack ready to go, so I grabbed the baby and off we went up to Licklog Gap. I nabbed a bunch of those white bee balm that were up there. Unlike the red, the white has an aroma and taste reminiscent of oregano and can be used in savory meals. I didn’t pick much, but enough to season a couple of dishes.

Then yesterday, I checked my phone and saw that thunderstorms were likely. I looked again and it said thunderstorms were IMMINENT for Wednesday. So I decided to to take an impromptu trip out to the smokies to find us some Mushrooms. I knew right where to find some cinnabar chanterelle (cantharellus cinnabarinus). It’s easier for such things when I have Nova in her little sling. I have MUCH better range of movement for when I have to lean over. And Murphy got me this nice fishing vest that works great as a foraging vest.

After everything was cleaned a chopped, we ended up with a cup of gorgeous pink mushrooms which I cooked into some wild rice and had with chicken. It’s funny, I’m not a huge fan of most mushrooms, mainly because of the texture. But chanterelles are so tender, they don’t bother me. I also picked up a hedgehog mushroom (hydnum repandum) that I’m currently drying for another meal at some point.

So today (since I was home in a regular routine as I was expecting thunderstorms all day) I cleaned the house. This was no easy task, because every time I’d put something away, Nova would drag it back out. But I finally was able to get everything picked up long enough to vacuum and mop and clean up the kitchen. Everything had been neglected over the last week because of the running around. It’s nice to have a clean place.

No rest tomorrow though. With Murphy being home for his “weekend” that means I can get out in the yard and weed eat, clean up the garden and do some other much needed things around the house that Nova doesn’t like to participate in. Or rather… I can’t just leave her to play while I get them done. Not yet anyway. We’re almost to a point where she’ll keep herself entertained in the yard… we just have a crappy yard. It’s all hay, gravel, brambles or poison ivy. We make due though.

Licklog Gap

At 5,135 feet elevation, at mile 435.7 along the Blue Ridge Parkway, is Licklog Gap. It faces East, looking out over Allen’s Creek and Snaggy Ridge in Waynesville, NC. It’s a funny sort of name, as many places are up here. Though it came by it naturally. It used to be home to an old, holey log with salt licks placed in it for horses which would travel the area.

There’s a picnic table here, shaded under the trees and surrounded by white bee balm (at least in the middle of July). Just to the left of the picnic table is a little social trail that I think most people just follow so they can relieve themselves. It traces along an old fence line that looks like it may have once divided Haywood County property from Park easements. I didn’t travel far up this little trail because it was not my destination.

Across the parkway is access to the Mountains to Sea Trail, and the small section of Licklog Gap Trail begins here. Turn North onto the trail and continue up until you reach Grassy Ridge Overlook. It is about 2.2 miles out and back if you go all the way to the other overlook (ps. it’s worth it).

Protected by the ridge, this trail doesn’t see much sunlight. Needless to say, it’s wet. But it’s also pleasant. The trail dips down a steady switchback to take you a couple hundred feet below the parkway as you travel. Most of the noise is cut off by the trees (unless a particularly loud motorcycle or truck rumbles by). And there are tons of wildflowers. White and red bee balm, phlox, black eyed susans, black cohosh, and plenty of rosebay white rhododendron. There’s also an array of colorful mushrooms along the trail (because it’s wet, remember?)

But don’t worry about getting to muddy or mucky. It’s pretty well maintained, and luckily as Nova and I went through, someone had just come and brushed out the trail.

The best part though, was as we made the approach below Grassy Ridge Overlook, the trees open up and I hear these high pitched chirps. I paused and watched as hundreds of ruby throated hummingbirds chased each other through the flowers. Even Nova watched, enthralled by their speed and sounds. A pair buzzed so close to us I could feel the rush of wind from their wings. I was not able to get a picture of the birds unfortunately. And the couple of pictures I do have are not great. All I took with us was my phone.

Not a bad little trail if you’re looking for something easy and short. And in my case, nearby since I live in Waynseville.

Enjoy the wildflowers, and happy adventuring

 

sources: https://www.sherpaguides.com/north_carolina/mountains/nantahala_mountains/blue_ridge_parkway.html

Curtis Creek, a history

There are houses along the lower portion of Curtis Creek. A few are beautiful. In fact there’s a couple for sale… if I could afford a ridiculously overpriced retreat. But if I had the money? I’d live there in a heartbeat.

So allow me to share a little back story of this road. One day I’ll take the time to actually reach out to some of the long time residents, but for now, this is the official info.

In the early 1900’s, there were many public lands established out West. Raw land that needed preserving. As of 1909, there was nothing in the East. That is until John Weeks, a Representative from Massachusetts pushed for a law that allowed the purchase of 8,100 acres located near Marion, N.C.. It had been owned by Burke McDowell Lumber Company and the area had been logged already. The law was passed in 1911, and the area which encompassed Curtis Creek was saved from future logging.

Over the last 100 years, more than 1.2 million acres was added to this area, Pisgah National Forest.

The Weeks Act provided land purchases which would allow for clean water protections, restoration of forests, and wildfire management. One fifth of the nation’s clean drinking water flows from these lands.

A campground was established, along with a few trails. There is some excellent trout fishing out of the creek (some wild, some stocked by the Newberry Creek Fishery). As for the trails, they are not blazed or always maintained.

Snooks Nose is a 4 mile out and back that is very steep. The Trail winds its way past Slick Falls Branch up to an exposed ridge (the trail’s namesake). The views from Snooks Nose are mostly East facing towards Linville Gorge and the Black Mountains. It is a 1775 foot climb. You can continue from here if you like, another 0.7 miles to Laurel Knob for the bragging rights. But that’s not all. This trail also continues on to the Blue Ridge Parkway itself to the Green Knob Overlook. From this overlook, you can even get onto the Green Knob trail loop. All in all, from the campground, to the parkway and back is 6.5 miles.

Hickory Branch Trail, a 3.3 mile out and back, also starts in the campground. You pass by beautiful Hickory Branch Falls after heading upstream. This trail ends where it meets Lead Mine Gap trail at the ridge above the campground.

Lead Mine Gap is a 4.4 mile out and back if started at the North end of the road near Mackey Moutain Rd. Otherwise, you have to start at Hickory Branch, hike up then back for a round trip of 7.7.

Mackey Mountain trail is a tough one. It’s clear in the beginning as it climbs over Sams Knob and Narrows Knob, but the trail peters out soon. If you continue East over the ridgeline, you’ll reach Mackey Mountain, but it’s considered wilderness and is not blazed.

There is an old waterwheel and a turn off at Newberry Creek Rd. This is at the end of the residential area of Curtis Creek. If you drive down Newberry to where the road ends, there is a trail here.

Newberry Creek Rd splits off at 1.6 miles. If you take the right fork, it connects you up to Snooks Nose. If you take the left fork, you continue up a steep, twisting trail to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a total of an 8.1 mile out and back.

My goal is to one day hike all of these trails. As I do, I’ll link to them and tell you how it all goes and give my own impressions on the trails. Till then,

Awesome Adventures

 

 

references:

• USFS history and culture site: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/nfsnc/learning/history-culture/?cid=stelprdb5321897
• Hike NC: https://www.hikewnc.info/trailheads/curtis-creek/
• AllTrails: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/us/north-carolina/old-fort

Camping Baby

I mentioned we went camping over the 2nd of July, but I never went into detail about how Nova did (besides loving it).

This girl is a born adventurer. We set her down on the ground while we unloaded the car and she sat there long enough to see she wasn’t interested in what we were doing. She immediately turned and started exploring. There was no poison ivy or thorny plants, but there was a pretty steep slope leading down to the steps to get to the creek. We made sure to keep an eye on her so she didn’t get too close.

There was a massive rock in the center of the campsite which she pulled herself up on and started walking around it. After making a full circle, she grabbed some sticks to play with (and chew on) and then discovered the bizarre little beach that someone had made.

Allow me to explain.

A fire pit had been made directly against the massive boulder (to reflect heat) and just outside of the fire ring, someone had poured beach sand down into a little half circle. We’re not sure why – unless someone was just really yearning to be at the beach… but we don’t know where they got the beach sand.

Anyway – Nova sat down in the sand and dug her hands in deep. She grinned ear to ear as it squished between her fingers and clung to everything it touched. I don’t want to think about how much sand she ate because this was her favorite spot to do anything.

We never took her down to the creek. The water was cold, and we weren’t there long enough to need more things to do. It was also a good 10 degrees cooler beneath the canopy of the trees so we didn’t need an escape either.

She had her first taste of wild raspberries and boy was she in love. Most of them weren’t ready yet, but a few had popped. She did really well in the tent and slept like a champ. It was Nova that woke us up the next morning (as usual) and she was back to exploring the campsite.

As we were packing up the car to leave, she decided to scale the steep hill that had been formed to separate the site from the road. It was probably a good 45 degree incline, but up she crawled. She reached the top and instead of diving straight over, she paused, and turned around so she could backwards crawl down the other side.

We gave her a big applause for tackling such a climb and I plopped her on my hip as we finished packing. She was so proud of herself. Her favorite part I think? Was being able to sit in Murphy’s lap while we crept down the old dirt road at 5 miles per hour. She played with all the buttons she could reach, hung her head out the window and let loose her little yodel at the top of her lungs.

All in all, we’re definitely ready to try again soon.

The Camp

We haven’t been able to get out and go camping for a while. It’s mainly been excuses, but either way, it’s been a year since we’ve set up tent somewhere other than home. So we planned to go camping this week for our birthdays. I mentioned that before – but then the weather got in the way.

Well low and behold, the weather… cleared up. Not for the whole week (though come to find out we probably COULD have camped). But I knew I wanted to go camping for by birthday.

So we loaded up the car and took a drive. We got a nice little early lunch at “My Father’s Pizza” in Black Mountain before continuing on to Curtis Creek. I knew the chances of finding a place would be hit or miss, but we had to try.

We hit the old dirt road and slowly crept up. One site still open down low, we were a little hopeful. As we drove though… the places higher up where we’ve camped before were taken. So we decided to turn around and grab the spot lower down. There were people on either side, but we’d come so far. As we turned a corner though – I notice that one spot had opened up (where people were previously).

I pulled into the little spot and cautiously got out.

This particular place had been closed to camping years ago. Massive boulders had been moved into the middle of the open area, piles of dirt kept you from backing your car into the area. But as we walked around – there were no signs. Someone had built a fire ring and had maintained it.

It was open.

It was my birthday.

And it JUST happened to be the spot where my parents were camping the night I was born.

It was a damp night, but we got a fire going, roasted some hot dogs and marshmallows. We took a walk looking for raspberries (they’re late this year) and swung in the hammock some.

I tried out my new paint set (a gift from my sister Nikki), and the pigments in them are great. Here is the picture I painted, along with the inspiration.

I have some more of the camping pictures posted up on my Instagram if you’re interested. There’ll also be a couple more on Facebook when I get them off of the camera.

We only stayed the one night, but it was a good night. And a good birthday.