After a very hearty lunch, with several cheese and chocolate choices, of which we said "yes" to all, we headed to the Mingus Creek Trail head. It is just a mile or less down the road from the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. It's highlight is the Mingus Mill ... But more on that in a minute. We headed up to a slave cemetery just before the gate to the trail. It was quite a small cemetery, and I couldn't help but wonder at the shape of the ground over all the graves. I haven't seen that in any of the cemeteries we've seen in The Smokey's yet.
When we got back to the gate/trail head entrance, there was a couple coming off the trail, who had just completed the same portion of the trail that we were planning to hike. They advised us to go to the cemetery that was well-marked about a mile and a quarter in. "It only took us thirty extra minutes," they said.
We backtracked though, and went to the Mingus Mill first, as it was suppose to be closing at 5:00 and we weren't sure that we'd be back in time. It is a fully operational mill open to the public from mid-March to Mid-November. But the Miller was on lunch break, as Millers have to eat as well, so we missed our opportunity to see the mill in action. But a helpful volunteer was in the building giving out as much information as he could. It was an interesting visit and I would love to go back when the Miller is milling ...
Straight from the Guide Book, "An earlier building with a traditional overshot waterwheel once stood here. The current building was constructed in 1886 and was designed to run off the water-powered turbine system still in use today. A 150-yard, oak-lined sluice diverts water from Mingus Creek to a wooden flume which carries the water to the mill, where it drops 30' to the turbine. Rehabilitated in 1937 and 1968 ..."
We headed back to the trail head and off we went, following the wet, muddy trail that itself followed Mingus Creek. At times it felt as if a creek was going down the middle of the trail. Oh, how I appreciate my water-proof boots.
Mingus Creek Trail is part of the Mountains-to-Sea trail that will take a hiker (upon completion) from the Mountains of Western North Carolina to the Sea in the eastern part of North Carolina. The trail is not yet completed.
Once again, the going was slow, as I stopped every few yards for another photo-op with a flower. I saw a number of these beauties on the trip, Vasey's Trillium.
Youthful Squaw Root
Elderly Squaw Root. There were patches of this all along the trail.
This metal pipe appeared to have been tossed carelessly into the hollow log.
This little tiny salamander almost got squished, it's a wonder I saw him at all.
This is the simple little Foam Flower, so much detail up close. I will have to expound at some point on the lense the hubster got me for my iPhone ...
Green has always been my favorite color, and I do believe it is one of the things that draws me to The Smokey's. There is never an end to the green and never too much of it.
It's a jungle out there ...
The Guide Book told us that there were six switchbacks to the top of the ridge, where we were heading to the junction of Deeplow Gap Trail. By the time we reached the top, I was sure that there were at least ten switch backs. In fact, I really believed the Guide Book was quite OFF on that one.
The weather, as you can see, was quite lovely, and although not quite the 80 degrees F that had been predicted earlier in the week, had cleared up completely and all signs of rain had vanished.
It's funny, despite the sign, there was horse poop all over the trail.
Posing with the hubster, and counting switchbacks the whole way back. And what do you know? There were actually six switchbacks. The Guide Book does not lie.
BUT if you don't read the Guide Book carefully, you might think it lies. We reached the sign on the trail on our way back that pointed to "Cemetery." The helpful couple at the beginning of the trail told us it only took them thirty minutes out of their way, and we both remembered that it was .5 miles off the trail. So although we were dreaming of the hot-tub at the cabin, we struck off toward the cemetery, 'cause what self-respecting hiker ignores a cemetery sign? About a half-mile in, uphill the whole way, we were wondering who on earth would have taken their dearly departed all this way? No signs of any homesteads had been seen (although I'm sure they were there, with a mill nearby), and no sign of a cemetery in sight. Another hiker passed us and told us to be careful, "they're all dead up there."
Upon reaching the cemetery, we were rewarded with a rather large, cleared bit of land on a hill. We took out the trusty Guide Book and read the following:
"The fork to the right proceeds as a roadbed 0.8 mile to a path which leads 100 yards to a cemetery." Again, no lies there, just careless readers. And 0.6 miles does make a difference.
This is the only tombstone that was identifiable, the rest of the tombstones were literally stones. It was a quiet, peaceful place that we had all to ourselves.
The hinge where a gate had once been.
The cemetery was 100 yards from this rock, up a hill.
Here's Chuck giving his best, "If-I-had-known-I-would-add-1.6-miles-to-the-hike-by-going-to-the- cemetery-I-wouldn't-have-gone" look. But don't let him kid you, it was totally worth it.
And then we were back. It was a most satisfying venture.
This Luna Moth that greeted us at the hot-tub.
And this is the steps achieved for the day. Not too shabby.
So for the trip STATS:
Which by the way, since I blogged last, I realized that I will have to keep on this blog, as this is the only place we've been keeping up with the stats consistently. We still have to do some tweaking as a group though.
Total Mileage: 5.8 + 1.6 to cemetery = 7.4 Miles
Mileage Added to 900 Mile Challenge: 2.9 Miles (seems awfully low to me)
Total Miles Hiked Toward 900 Mile Challenge: 49.1
Miles Added to Centennial Challenge: 7.4 Miles
Total Miles Hiked Toward 100 Mile Centennial Goal: 47.8 Miles
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