Table Rock petroglyphs

The view from the Petrogylph Site is a jaw-dropping gander at the tail of the Blue Ridge Escarpment; one of the carvings looks like the Clemson University tiger paw; about 600 carvings have been documented at Pinnacle Mountain; Dennis Chastain, just under six-feet tall, gives perspective on the sheer size of the Bear Cave.

Charles Sowell photos

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Primitive man’s perseverance always manages to astound.

Imagine how much time, sheer sweat, and devotion it must have taken for primitive North American Indians to chip out hundreds, if not thousands, of petroglyphs in the tough stone of the Blue Ridge Escarpment. Remember, metal was not used by these people. No hammer or sharp chisel to gnaw at the extraordinarily durable Table Rock gneiss.

The primitive carvings are located about 30 miles northwest of Greenville, SC. Hidden in plain sight for generations near the summit of Pinnacle – at 3,415 feet, the third tallest mountain in South Carolina – one of two peaks that make up Table Rock State Park.

The carvings are located just off the Foothills Trail, part of a system of footpaths that roughly follow the spine of the escarpment from Jones Gap State Park in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness area to Oconee State Park near the Georgia state line.

The Foothills Trail is a 76-mile long segment of path that starts at the foot of Table Rock, climbs up and over to Pinnacle and then crosses over to Sassafras Mountain, the tallest peak in the state.

The carvings are located off a much older path, a highway that primitive men and early European settlers used to cross over the imposing palisade of the escarpment and into the rich valleys of North Carolina and beyond.

The highway has carried everything from 20th Century bulldozers to hogs for early 19th Century Greenville and barefoot unknowns from the darkest reaches of American prehistory.

It runs along a geologic feature called “Long Ridge,” a seemingly gently sloping incline that climbs from the southwest to Bald Rock on Pinnacle Mountain where it joins the Foothills Trail.

There is no asphalt paving this highway, no concrete. This road is made of more enduring stuff; a stone called Table Rock gneiss which is one of the harder metamorphosed rocks to be found in this part of the world.

Travel this ancient roadway with someone who is able to read the markers and you’ll get a lesson in both history and human nature.

“This is where me and Tommy (Charles) found the first petrogylph,” said Dennis Chastain, an author and nature guide in the mountains of North and South Carolina.

About five years ago Chastain was approached by Charles, a state archeologist who was looking for petroglyphs. The carvings were being found all over the southeast and just days before Charles had found a couple of hundred petroglyphs near a waterfall some distance down slope on Pinnacle.

“Here’s where we found the first one,” Chastain said, pointing to a weathered oval with a raised center just off the main walking path.

The weathered patch of rock is a supremely unimpressive sight until you stop to consider that the little oval was carved into a legendarily tough stone by someone with no metal tools.

How these primitive North Americans did it is a matter of some conjecture, as is exactly who the carvers were. The best theory right now is the circles were carved by Indians of the Hopewell Culture, the mound builders, between 1,500 and 3,500 years ago.

“There is really no way to date this kind of carving,” Chastain said, pointing to a series of ovals and circles – each with a distinctive raised center which distinguishes the artifact from an accident of nature.

“There’s certainly nothing organic left on this exposed rock to do any kind of carbon dating,” Chastain said. “But we are pretty sure the Cherokee didn’t do them as writings about the tribe from the early 19th Century made no mention of carving in the tribe’s oral tradition.”

There is, of course, no way to prove this theory. But it matches what is observable and checkable about the Cherokee and the tradition of carving petroglyphs in American Indian culture. It is also one of Chastain’s pet theories on the carvings and on the multitude of stone shelters that dot the monoliths of Table Rock and Pinnacle mountains.

On a windblown patch of Pinnacle, under an achingly Carolina blue sky in the heart of winter, the tenacity of these earliest Americans is painfully evident. One feels it in burning thighs and wheezing lungs. The ancients trod this road as a matter of course, no horses. Our own European ancestors did it as a matter economics – driving hogs to market from Western North Carolina and Tennessee along the same paths the Hopewell and Cherokee trod.

Man has been traveling through this part of the world for eons; always on the way somewhere else. “This isn’t the kind of county that supports year-round living. Not enough water, no arable land. The people who carved these petroglyphs were passing through.

“Come on, wait to you see the Petrogylph Site,” Chastain says with a touch of the magician waiting to spring a trick in his voice.

And he does.

Hundreds of circles and ovals, one carving looks like a Clemson Tiger paw, others like daisy chains. Chastain stands with hands on hips surveying evidence of ancient exuberance.

“I think the carvings are of a religious nature,” he said looking Southwest toward the tail of the Blue Ridge Escarpment as it trails away toward Georgia. “I mean look at this view.”

Indeed, one gets a sense of ethereal grandeur here and can appreciate why the ancients chose this spot to chisel and carve.

And they had shelter while they worked, too. Chastain lead the way to a stone shelter, about the size of an apartment kitchen, just yards from the Petrogylph Site.

“You can see how easily this place could be made really livable,” Chastain said, scrambling into the small cave.

He leads on to the Lighthouse Cave. High on a white stone cliff a cleft in the rock was visible from the mountains of distant Georgia when hunters built a fire and gathered around to listen to their hounds chase fox or raccoon.

Less visible, but far more impressive from a size standpoint is the Bear Cave; the spot where Chastain and Charles encountered two black bear cubs and their 250-pound momma while on another archeological errand.

Two cubs scrambled out of one of the cave’s many clefts and sat at Chastain’s feet, bawling. Mom came along seconds later.

“Let me tell you, when that sow bear popped out, it got my attention,” Chastain said.

The sow and cubs eventually wandered off. Chastain lived to climb another day and the petrogylph carvers, seemingly, watched in silence.

Contact Chastain for guided tours of the petroglyphs at DChas878@aol.com or contact me at csowell4@gmail.com for directions.

Cold Mountain

Cold Mountain seen from the Blue Ridge Parkway outside of Brevard, NC; the summit at Cold Mountain seems tantalizingly close from down in the big timber; a massive hemlock blocks the trail between Sorrell Creek and Deep Gap; ferns occupy their own niche in a warm microclimate on the slopes of Shining Rock Ledge; Ryan Holder and his dad, Chris, pick their way back down the trail after spending an icy night on the peak of Cold Mountain.

Charles Henry Sowell photos


Sometimes the mountain wins.

North Carolina’s Cold Mountain, of movie and novel fame, did recently which proves that Tinsel Town and fiction writers often miss the real story.

In this case, more than four miles of spectacular climb on the Art Loeb Trail in Shining Rock Wilderness can humble; particularly when you’re north of 50 and the mountain seems made for those 20-somethings that thrive on thin air and float feet above the rocky ground as they climb.

Well, they float going up the mountain; all are footsore and slow when coming down.

Several lessons stand out from the aborted climb up one of North Carolina’s difficult 6,000 footers: Older persons can still make the hard climbs (they just take longer to do it) and stick to your plan.

People don’t get to be more than 50 years old in the outdoor world without picking up a thing or two along the way. Knowing your abilities – in this case with gratifying accuracy – on how long it will take to retrace my steps, saved the cost of a cold night on a big mountain.

If you believe the hiking guides, one ought to be able to climb Cold Mountain on Art Loeb and come back down in about seven hours.

Perhaps that is true, if you are very much in shape and are counting your hiking success by a clock.

Measures of that kind defeat the purpose of visiting a wilderness. Stopping to listen often will give you the joy of (perhaps) catching a glimpse of a Pileated Woodpecker. This increasingly rare bird thrives on the kind of big-wood mature forest found on the slopes of Cold Mountain.

Pileateds are the size of a crow with a scarlet topknot and black bill. They excavate a characteristic rectangular hole in trees to feed and nest in very large mature trees. Their feeding holes can be so big they cause smaller trees to break in half well up the trunk.

In the United States, only the Ivory Billed Woodpecker is larger and that rare creature (it was thought extinct for decades) has not been reported in North Carolina in a long, long time. Part of its historic range touched on the North and South Carolina coast.

Ivory Bills have a characteristically white bill and distinguishing white rump patch when seen from behind. Nesting Ivory Bills were discovered in the deep swamps of eastern Arkansas in recent years.

On Cold Mountain there are the more subtle surprises than raucous woodpeckers. Mountains in this part of the world are well noted for their biodiversity. Typified on this trip by thriving fern colonies perched atop small boulders in the otherwise winter-dead woodland. Microclimates are very much a part of the Appalachian biosphere and are not startlingly evident, except for the plants.

March is a good time to visit Cold Mountain since the worst of winter weather is done (hopefully); trees are not year leafed out and vistas are unobstructed. But be warned, in addition to a 2800-foot elevation gain from the Art Loeb Trailhead at the Daniel Boone Boy Scout Camp there is always the chance of bad weather and evidence of it abounds all along the trail in the form of downed trees.

Some of them are huge (particularly the hemlocks) and block the trail. Hemlocks in have suffered greatly from Wooly Adelgid an invasive insect that has decimated trees all along the Eastern Seaboard.

Downed trees aside, would-be hikers on the Art Loeb at Cold Mountain should be aware this is not a marked trail. The only maker you’ll see is at the trailhead. No blazes of any color are used in wilderness areas and it is easy to make a wrong turn, although not so much on Art Loeb.

Learn to use a compass and a topographical map before you go. Learn your pace on steep trails and leave plenty of time for mishap. Go prepared to spend the night and let someone know where you’ll be and when you’ll be back so that help can be sent if you’re late.

The Art Loeb Trail from Daniel Boone is the shortest trail to Cold Mountain at 10.6 miles, roundtrip. There are three other trials leading to the top. All of them are much longer and will lead you to Deep Gap on Shining Rock Ledge at 5,200 feet. From Deep Gap you’ve less than 1,000 feet to climb to reach the summit of Cold Mountain at 6,030 feet.

I’d been on the trail for six hours and had climbed to between 5,600 and 5,800 feet when I ran out of hours. It’s frustrating to be able to see your goal and know there’s no way to get there short of spending the night on the mountain.

As it was, I reached my truck at Daniel Boone with about 10 minutes of usable light left in the day. Be sure to take a flashlight even if you’re planning on only a day hike at Cold Mountain. Dark comes early in the deep valleys that make up the slopes.

The Daniel Boone Scout Camp is located off NC 215 about 30 miles from Asheville. Topographical maps of Shining Rock Wilderness are available at most local outfitters.

For more information go to http://www.hikewnc.info/trailheads/pisgah/pisgah/shining.html and for views of actual conditions on the mountains see http://webcam.srs.fs.fed.us/. Odds are the weather there is quite different and a little knowledge can make all the difference in a trip.

Contact me at csowell4@gmail.com for more information on the Art Loeb trail to Cold Mountain.

DuPont Forest's high plateau

Triple Falls as seen from the overlook on the Triple Falls Trail; Mountain Laurel blooms in June along the Trails at DuPont State Forest located just outside of Brevard, NC; Mountain bikers whiz over the Covered Bridge at the head of High Falls; Cathy, front, Stephanie, in red, and Jerry Stark of Shelby, NC on the Covered Bridge Trail; The Little River plunges 120-feet over the waterfalls at High Falls.

Charles Sowell Photos

The newest public access wilderness access in North Carolina, DuPont State Forest is only a few degrees different than the rolling Piedmont of South Carolina and Georgia; only slightly higher than the valley of the French Broad River and Asheville, or the Tennessee River in Knoxville. But what a difference those few degrees and feet can make.

It's the kind of difference that seems to fill your lungs with vitality and your legs with energy – or maybe it is just your mind that’s changed.

No matter. When it feels like you’re breathing through a steaming-hot wool blanket on Peachtree Street in Atlanta; when the sun beats hard enough on your head hard enough to actually feel the vibrations on Lakeshore Dive in Chicago then is the time to go high.

DuPont State Forest, straddles the state line between North and South Carolina, fills that bill in regards to altitude and, more importantly, as it relates to attitude.

DuPont is a land of many waters. Lakes and ponds abound as do high-mountain trout streams and waterfalls of all stripes. You can ride horses on many of the trails at DuPont. Mountain bikers are always welcome. And, if you’re of the plodding stripe, you can hike until your heart is content and your knees quivering.

You’ve got 10,400 acres to do it on, too.

A good introduction to the DuPont Forest is an improvised 4.5-mile loop trail that takes in the major waterfalls (Hooker, Triple and High falls) as well as one minor fall on Grassy Creek
Start at the Hooker Falls parking lot on Stanton Road, near the old DuPont Plant site. It is the only parking area located on the Little River. Take the quick (.36-mile) trip downstream to Hooker Falls – a wide plunge over a 12-foot tall ledge into the headwaters of Cascade Lake.

If you visit on the first day of the trout harvest (the Little River is a delayed harvest stream) you’ll have lots of company all along the river. You might even get to witness a tussle between a fisherman and goodly-sized rainbow, or brown trout.

The Little River is a fairly large stream through this section and caution should be used when taking pictures, or wrestling with a trout – especially near any of the waterfalls.

Back at the Hooker Falls parking lot find the stairway leading up to Staunton Road and cross the bridge over Little River and take the Triple Falls Trail, on the left-hand side of the highway.

Stick with Triple Falls until you cover the half-mile, or so, to the falls overlook. The Little River drops 150 feet in three cascades here. This is one of the rarities in the Southern Appalachians, multiple falls that are actually in sight of one another. The upper and lower falls of the Whitewater River, for instance, are about 2 miles apart.

Follow the Triple Falls Trail uphill (it is ALL uphill in this stretch) until you hit the High Falls Trail. Take a left here and follow until you reach the viewing area (about another half-mile).

High Falls, a 120-foot plunge from the Covered Bridge to a substantial pool at the base, is worth the hike. This is big water doing a big drop all in one place.

If your curiosity is pricked enough by your glimpse of the Covered Bridge at the High Falls overlook, keep climbing. You won’t be disappointed.

The Covered Bridge Trail cuts off of the Triple Falls Trail and parallels Buck Forest Road to the bridge. The bridge was to be the entrance to a gated community at one point and the roads beyond it reflect the developer’s skill. As it stands the bridge offers a good view of the High Falls overlook and the valley beyond.

Bear to the left beyond the bridge on Buck Forest Road and follow the gently rolling roadbed to Grassy Creek. Cross the wooden bridge here and look to your left for the Grassy Creek Falls side trail.

It’s a short hop down to Grassy Creek Falls, a gently sloping cascade covered by sheeting water.

Back on Buck Forest Road; follow it to the junction with Lake Imaging Road for a stead downhill to Lake Imaging, a warm water pond near Staunton Road.

It is a quick half to three-quarter mile hop down to the Hooker Falls Parking Area from the parking lot at Lake Imaging Trailhead.

How to get there: Take I-26 to Exit 53 (Upward Rd.). Turn left on Upward Rd. to US-176. Upward Rd. now becomes N. Highland Lake Rd. Continue to traffic light at US-225S (Greenville Hwy.). Turn left to first traffic light (Little River Rd./sign for Carl Sandburg Home). Turn right on Little River Rd. and go to end. Turn left at flashing traffic light on Crab Creek Rd. and continue for 7.1 miles to DuPont Rd. Turn left for 3.1 miles.

For more information, go to http://www.dupontforest.com/, which is the unofficial web site of the forest.

Or email me at csowell4@gmail.com.

Nine Times

From top, locally known as Mountain Honeysuckle (actually a wild azalea) these showy blossoms can be found on the Nine Times tract in April; Dennis Chastain looks toward Lake Jocassee from the top of Big Rock Mountain; Trailing Arbutus, a small white flower; Dennis Chastain holds a Luna Moth; and Birdfoot violets in bloom on Big Rock Mountain.

Hi, and welcome to Southern Biosphere. This blog will look at the highs and lows of living in, and loving, the outdoors of the Southeastern United States.

Perhaps no region of the country offers more people more chances to hike, fish, hunt, or just explore than the sliver of mountains tucked away in a four-state area defined by Georgia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina. More than half of the country's population lives within driving distance of this area.

And the area itself is growing like kudzu on steroids.

In my native Palmetto State people call the mountains the "Blue Wall." In everyday parlance, it is known as the Blue Ridge Escarpment -- a sinuous, winding, system of mountains that stretches from the the Little Tennessee River's headwaters in Northeast Georgia to Hogback Mountain on the border of Greenville and Spartanburg counties in South Carolina.

This is a land of heart-busting climbs; of rock walls that put cricks in your neck; of nesting peregrine falcons; and hundreds of rare and endangered plants and animals scattered in ecological micro climates that mimic everything from boreal Canadian forests to semi-tropical rainforest.

"The Wall," arguably, is home to one of the greatest diversities of flora and fauna on the entire Eastern Seaboard. Much of that biological diversity is threatened by forces far beyond human control. Some of it is not.

Right now, one of the biggest issues facing conservationists are efforts to preserve an ecologically significant chuck of land know locally as the Nine Times tract.

Nine Times is exceptional for two reasons. One, it is the largest parcel of undeveloped land left along the Blue Ridge Escarpment; and, two, the tract holds a significant number of rare and endangered plants and animals within its 2,000 acres.

Dana Leavitt, land trust director for Upstate Forever (the region's premiere preservation organization) says plans to preserve the tract have hit a speed bump.

Funding sources have dried, leaving Upstate Forever w-a-y "out on a limb.” In 2007, the organization mortgaged its soul to buy 560 acres of the tract from Duke Energy and set up a two-year option to buy the remaining 1,648 acres for $4800 an acre.

Since then, Upstate Forever has managed to offload the 560 acre tract to The Nature Conservancy, recouping part of their cost and ensuring the most ecologically significant portion of the tract is preserved. The conservancy plans to open that section of the tract to the public this spring.

A November deadline looms large for the option to purchase the rest.

Upstate Forever plans to ask Duke for an extension on their purchase option and, perhaps, for a reduction in price. “Economic realities being what they are, we don’t think that’s unreasonable,” Leavitt said.

New rounds of meetings with public and private groups are set for the near future as Upstate Forever tries to set up a similar coalition of groups to the one that came up with the purchase price of Stumphouse Mountain in Oconee County.

“We’ve gotten the most ecologically important section of the tract (the 560 acres on the southwest side of E. Preston McDaniel Highway) protected,” Leavitt said.

After Wadakoe Mountain, Nine Times has been called the most environmentally sensitive area in the region. Wadakoe enjoys special protected status as a state Heritage Trust site, a designation Nine Times does not have.

Dennis Chastain, author and outdoor writer, has spent a lifetime chasing game and classifying plants on the slopes of the mountains that make up Nine Times. Every spring he leads groups into the area to view some of the rarest plants in the East.

He took me onto Big Rock Mountain last April and showed off some of the tract's best (pictures are attached). This spring promises to be even more spectacular as a decade-long drought that has gripped the region has eased.

Flowers seem to do better when they get a little water.

Nine Times would do a lot better if it were to come under the protective arm of a conservation-minded group, or coalition of groups.

As it stands, no one is lining up to contest Upstate Forever's plans for the area. But Duke Power holds all the face cards in this high-stakes game of poker and their consent to an extension of the agreement is essential, Leavitt said.

Otherwise, there just might not be a wildflower tour at Nine Times for Dennis to lead next spring.

For tours contact Chastain at DChas878@aol.com

For more information on The Nature Conservancy's slice of Nine Times contact Kristen Austin mailto:kaustin@tnc.org

Upstate Forever's Dana Leavitt may be contacted at dleavitt@upstateforever.org.