Roadless Area

A few years ago I went on a hike in the Big Ivy Roadless Area in Pisgah National Forest. Roadless areas are just that...places in the forests that have no currently recognized and maintained roads. Man of them should be protected through Federal wilderness designation, but each time these are proposed there is always a battle against corporate interests who don't appreciate seeing new wilderness.

I posted about this hike before, but I've been recently gathering a lot of the moving pictures that I've shot over the past few years and packaging it all into short videos. Here, then, is one for the hike through Big Ivy in the Pisgah National Forest. It needs to be declared as wilderness and protected. Let's hope that happens.

You want waterfalls? We got waterfalls.

Wandering Around Big Ivy.

Big trees in Big Ivy!

Little Discoveries

A couple of winters ago I was hiking in an area of the North Carolina mountains called "Big Ivy". It's a heavily forested plot of acreage that is dotted with stands of old growth timber. I haven't hiked in there much, but I would like to explore it a lot more.

On that particular hike, on the way back to my truck, I passed a vast rock shelter. On closer inspection I found that I was not the only one to have inspected this spot. Apparently it's enough well-known and is sufficiently popular that people have built a rock wall at the lip of the entrance. I saw evidence of recent fires just under the overhang. Thus, any idea I had of ever camping there fled into the cool air. Not well enough hidden from sight for me, and too friendly to the locals for me to find any guaranteed peace and solitude.

Still, it was a nice find, even if I'm not going to try to ever camp there.

Plenty of big trees in Big Ivy.

Spruce to remind me that I'm in the really high country.

Giant rock shelter with artificial retaining wall.

Shelter and nearby water supply. But too familiar with the locals for my taste.

Bushwhacking in Big Ivy

I went hiking a bit in the Big Ivy area of the Pisgah National Forest yesterday. I'll post a detailed trip report in a day or two.
 

One of the undocumented waterfalls we found on Walker Creek. This one was relatively difficult to get to, involving a serious bushwhack.

This is Walker Falls. Well known, it's located directly on a Forest Service road and is widely photographed.