A theme seems to be evolving around winter hiking over the past few weeks: bone chilling mist. The weather forecast was sixty degrees and sunny for Saturday March 2, so we set off to combine views and sunshine. That was optiMISTic. In reality, the temperature began with damp, fog and the mid 30’s as we set off on the Appalachian Trail towards Unaka Mountain.
The great thing about hiking is that it usually doesn’t take much uphill trekking to generate heat and warmth. As the trail wound in and out of the mist, we found either cold mist or warm sunshine.
Every part of this trail reminded me of spring and the wildflowers that will soon carpet the forest understory. It was once again a very wet hike, with typically dry or light branches producing small streams and pools due to the rain (and rain and rain- Tennessee has had record amounts of rainfall which has closed some parks.)
One of the last times we did this trail, we hiked 13 miles up and back to Unaka, which is a spruce and moss haven. So this 6 mile adventure paled in comparison; we encountered no other hikers until the very end, when we met a couple of other dog lovers near our terminus. And the mosses…yet another view of the spectacular microcosm found in nature!
This trail is off Route 107 outside of Erwin, TN. From Interstate 26, proceed to TN Rt 107, continue 15 miles outside of Erwin and look for the trailhead parking to your right at Iron Mountain Gap. If you begin to go downhill, you have passed the trailhead.
