Clingman's, Mitchell, Sassafras and Brasstown - 04/24-25/2004

What a great little trip. I had planned for this one for several months and was rewarded with great weather and great highpoints during my furthest highpointing trip yet from home. The four states I added on April 24 and 25, 2004 brought my total count to 20.

Here's a brief itinerary of my trip:

April 23 - 9:30 AM - Left Albany, NY and drove all day before stopping around 9:30 PM and grabbing a hotel about 45 minutes from Gatlinburg, TN. Everything I'd heard about the following day was that the weather was going to be beautiful ... sunny with temperatures in the low 80s. The forecast for Sunday was sounding a bit iffy and Monday sounded like a washout. My plan had been to hike Clingman's Dome via the AT on 04/24, mountain bike Brasstown Bald and Sassafras via the summit roads on 4/25 and climb Mount Mitchell via the Mount Mitchell Trail on 4/26. One of the great things about travelling solo is that you can change your mind as often as you like without upsetting anyone. Going to bed that night, I decided that my highest priority was visiting these peaks in nice weather. Time to think on the fly ...

April 24 - 4:30 AM - Woke up full of energy rarin' to go. I was out of my hotel by 5:15 AM and parked at the Newfoundland Gap parking area a little before 7:00 AM. As I parked, I still hadn't decided for sure how I was going to tackle Clingman's Dome. In the end, I hopped on the mountain bike and started the 7.5 mile ride up Clingman's Dome Road. As it turned out, the ride was as much an exercise in uphill bike pushing as anything else, but nonetheless enjoyable. I topped out on Clingman's Dome around 9:00 AM, had a nice conversation with a thru-hiker who was already racking up some high mileage days and headed down after HP #17. The downhill ride obiously went by very fast and I was back at my car before 10 AM.

From here, I made spot decision to head over to Mount Mitchell next. Brasstown Bald had been slotted to be my second highpoint of the trip, but the mountain portion of the Tour de Georgia was today so that was out of the question. I arrived at the intersection of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Mount Mitchell summit road a little before 1 PM and got back on my bike with the intention of doing another hike-a-bike along the 4.7 mile road. Being midday on a Saturday on Mount Mitchell, I encountered far more activity than I had on Clingman's and this included many folks who were doing the full shot road bike along the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Mitchell summit road. Though I admire their stamina, they all seemed to be in a bit of pain and never looked up from the road. I found my hike-a-bike to be an enjoyable way to go once again although I felt somewhat conflicted. I had looked forward to actually "climbing" Mount Mitchell via the Mount Mitchell Trail but had made a spot decision to do it this way instead based on the weather report for Monday. Outstanding peak, lots of folks up top, great outlooks along the way. Back at my car somewhere around 3:00 PM. HP #18.

Still lots of daylight left and I could see the possibility for my first 3 highpoint day opening up before my eyes. I called home to advise my wife of my change of plans and then headed for Sassafras to do another hike-a-bike before sundown. Arriving at the trailhead between 5:00 and 5:30 PM, I quickly fell in love with this little mountain. Nothing touristy here and I encountered not another soul during my entire trip along this summit road. This summit road was much steeper than either the Clingman's Dome or Mount Mitchell roads and had much more of a backcountry feel to it. Being further south and lower in elevation, everything was in bloom and I thoroughly enjoyed my trek. My legs were starting to feel it by this point in the day, however. Upon reaching the top of Sassafras, I had logged 17 miles of uphill hike-a-bike for about 5000 feet in elevation gain on the day. Not a bad effort in my book. I stomped about the summit area for a few 15-20 minutes to be sure I covered every possibility for the true HP and coasted back to my car at 7:30 PM with HP #19 in hand. On to Georgia.

I had finally had enough by the time I reached Toccoa, Georgia and grabbed a hotel at 9:30 PM after a big day. I was so far ahead of schedule at this point that I was considering adding Alabama and Mississippi on to the agenda but in the end decided not to push it. Driving isn't my favorite part of this game and I didn't want to added another 700-800 miles onto my already long drive. In the end I decided it would be a better reward to get home early to my wife and kids.

With that in mind, Sunday turned out to be a very lesiurely day. I drove to the beginning of the Brasstown Bald summit road and parked around 8:30 AM. This time I didn't bother with the bike, not being pressed for time and walked the three miles up to the summit. Another beautiful morning as it turned out ... snapped lots of pictures along the way. Plenty of evidence of the previous day's Tour de Georgia with writing on the pavement professing love for one Lance Armstrong. I found the summit building and platform atop Brasstown to have been very nicely done and walked back to my car having had a great trip, although somewhat abbreviated. As I got to Hiawassee, I realized I still could make at least Alabama happen easily on this day and was mighty tempted. Instead, I actually stuck with my plan today and started the long drive back home with 20 HPs in hand.