Crowded Mountain

I sometimes go to hike at a local state park called Crowders Mountain. People who go there for solitude will mainly look in vain because its nickname is "Crowded Mountain" for good reason. Not only are there almost always a lot of people there hiking, you can never really get away from the sound of automobile engines due to the park's proximity to major roadways, including Interstate 85.

So I don't go there very much. (Only when I'm desperate.)

Similarly, I no longer go on extended hikes on the famed Appalachian Trail. It was never really a place to find true solitude. There have always (in my experience) been too many people hiking on it to find any real silence and peace. However, when I was younger you could travel it at certain times of the year and find yourself alone for a day or so. But as the years have passed I've found that this is no longer the case, with literally hundreds of people using stretches of it on any given day.

The last time I hiked a multi-day trip on the AT I swore would be my last. This is because I found it to be just way too crowded. Groups of people hiking together. People hiking with their freaking dogs. Camping areas and shelters packed to bursting with humans. The stench of human feces blasting for many yards in every direction at overused pit toilets. Bothersome creepy through-hikers with their annoying nicknames bugging the crap out of you.

This was not the Appalachian Trail of my youth.

But occasionally I would still venture there to day-hike. Sometimes I'd even find myself alone on the Trail with complete silence all around me and no pesky humans to bug me. This year I even entertained the idea of an overnight backpack on a section of the AT where I figured I might find some solitude if I went when the weather was cold.

But something is about to happen that I've feared for some time. The long-rumored movie to be produced and starred by Robert Redford is going to hit the screens. Yes, Bryson's excellent A WALK IN THE WOODS is going to be seen in movie theaters and home systems in the near future. After that, everyone who ever had even the slightest inclination to backpack the Appalachian Trail is going to go out and buy equipment and hit the Trail. It's going to be one long wait at the mountain range's checkout line. Yes, your local REI and Dick's Sporting Goods are going to rack up massive sales, but any chance one might have to enjoy the Trail are going to be gone. At least until the coming fad withers away.

Oy.

May of 2011 on the AT on Unaka Mountain. Actual solitude. I saw not one other hiker.

On the AT, same day. Soft grasses and cool mists. No voices.

May 2010. My last multi-day backpack on the AT. Everything I hate about what the trail has become. Dogs. Crowds (there were, eventually, about three dozen people at the shelter). Annoying folk. Fecal stench. No thank you.

And here come Redford and Nolte to compound the problem. Alas.

In a Pinch

I've written about Crowder Mountain State Park here a number of times. It's where you go when you have a jones to go to the mountains but don't have the time. So you hop in the car and drive 30 miles south of Charlotte and there you are, at a park centered around a couple of quartzite monadnocks. They're pretty good little mountains with two major peaks. One is called Crowder Mountain and is the bulkier of the two. The second one, which is my favorite, is called King's Pinnacle. It's about 100 feet taller than Crowder but not quite so impressive a mass when viewed from a distance. It does stand about 900 feet above the surrounding Piedmont, and that's not bad for this neck of the woods.

Over the years I've spent a lot of time hiking that park, and I've covered every trail there more than once. Eventually, though, I got tired of the place and these days I only head over there when I'm feeling really desperate to get away for a little while and don't have the time to go anywhere else. The bad thing about the park is that you can't really get away from the sound of automobiles. I-85 lies just to the west of the park so when you get up on the ridges you hear that constant roar of tires on pavement and the growl of motors. Even in the forest you can often hear the internal combustion engines firing along, the whir of rubber against pavement.

But in a pinch the park's A-OK.


I took this one just below the summit of King's Pinnacle. The air was really clear that day. If you click on the photo and enlarge it, you'll even be able to see the Blue Ridge Mountains far to the west.

As near as I can tell, this is actually the highest point on the mountain. A tad over 1600 feet above sea level.

The nearby Crowder Mountain from the top of King's Pinnacle. That should be the visitor's center down there between the two mountains.

I was having twice as much hiking fun that day.

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Forest Calm

I go into the forests for quiet where I can relax and meditate. There I can forget about the machines and lose myself in places where the stench of diesel and gasoline are not present. No voices, no cigarette smoke, no pushing, no noise, no violence, no press of people and our society.

My last day out was December 29. I'm hoping for another outing on January 6. Somewhere. Not sure just where.

The brief journeys bring me a measure of peace and help me to write. So that's where I'll be when I can find the time in the next few days--at my desk, writing.

The quartzite caprock of the Crowders Mountain area.

The forest is calm, and quiet.

I Know What John Muir Meant

"Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." -- John Muir

Living here in Charlotte, it generally takes me about two hours of driving to reach a place in the mountains. Ironically, just about the easiest place for me to reach is the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area. You'd think I'd spend more time there, but I don't.

Today I woke up and had to run a few errands. I'd sold some copies of THE FLOCK and had to ship those. And I needed to send some gifts to friends. So that took some time away from my day off, but I really needed to get into the woods to escape the city for at least a few hours. Luckily, we here in the Charlotte area have a safety valve for that kind of thing. We have Crowders Mountain State Park located just southwest of the city near the town of Gastonia.

After I'd run my errands, I loaded my daypack and camera and headed to the park. It took me roughly forty minutes to drive there and I was quickly on the trail to the summit of Kings Pinnacle, the highest point in Gaston County.

As mountains go, this wouldn't even make the definition in places where there are real mountains. Its elevation is just a bit over 1700 feet above sea level, and it doesn't quite show 900 feet of relief above the surrounding Piedmont. But it does rise abruptly, and the summit is ringed by towering cliffs of quartzite rock. And due to chance and the efforts of some local people with the help of the State of North Carolina, the summits of Crowder Mountain and Kings Pinnacle and several thousand surrounding acres were spared from development and locked up into a state park.

It's where I go when I'm desperate to get away from the city, but don't have the time to drive into the real high country farther west. The Interstate is situated about a mile west of the park and from the ridge lines you can both see and hear the constant roar of the chrome blood rushing along its surface. But if you get the bulk of the mountain between yourself and the highway, you are greeted with nothing but the wind and blessed silence.

Today, I went hiking there. The skies were clear and blue. The weather was fine and cool. Chilly breezes blew over me and washed me clean.

On the roof of Gaston County: Kings Pinnacle.
(I love Photostitch!)

The lower slopes.

Crowders Mountain to the north.

Bushwhacking off trail.

Composite view of the north section of the summit area.

Summit Film.