Date: 2015-04-02
From: Wilbur Dam Rd

To: Dennis Cove Rd
Miles today: 13.0

Great views and scenic vistas were all along the trail today. We had a second short day in a row and today we had slack-packs instead of backpacks. Bob from Black Bear shuttled us to the AT trailhead on Wilbur Dam Rd. And we hiked back 13 miles to our Black Bear cabin on Dennis Cove Rd. Bob and his wife Marilee winter in Florida and operate the facility in the summer, and their daughter Stephanie lives here year round They have range of facilities including a bunkhouse, a half dozen cabins, tent sites, and other accommodations. The base is a small store with food, beer and other hiker essentials, showers, laundry and restrooms, plus fire pits and outdoor grills. And they shuttle to the nearby trailheads. A fast-moving stream runs past the facility and I've seen fishermen as well as hikers here. I hear that the trout fishing is fabulous in the cold, fast-moving water. We stayed here 2 days last year and returned for 2 days this year. Back to the hike. A short climb from our starting point took us up to a nice view of a portion of Watauga Lake. It's man-made and extends for a number of miles with a very irregular shoreline. After climbing to the first view, we descended and crossed the dam. It's an earthen dam and it appears that much of the rock forming the dam was quarried from the hillsides of the valley just below the dam. After crossing the dam, the trail followed the shoreline for about 3 miles to the opposite side of the lake that sported a recreational facility with a beach, swimming area and lots of grills and fire pits. Along the way, we passed Watauga Lake Shelter. Unfortunately, this entire section of the trail has been closed to overnight stays due to bear activity. The explanation is that too many visitors had been leaving food or even feeding the bears, and the bears had begun to associate food with people and lost their fear of people. So overnight stays in the area Will not be permitted for at least 3 years. At this point, the trail turned away from the lake and we were treated to our biggest climb of the day, across Pond Flats. We climbed for about 3 miles and then came back down in about the same distance. It wasn't steep, but it seemed very long. The remainder of the hike was quite different. The descent took us down to the Laurel River and we followed the river upstream through a canyon to a very impressive falls. The trail along the river meandered through endless stands of rhododendrons until it climbed up to a shelter high above the river with exceptional views of the canyon. Then it dropped back to the river edge and weaved through rocks and boulders until it reached the falls. Directly across from the falls the trail led straight up a high, steep rock scramble to awesome views of the river network down below. There were a few more impressive rock formations, then we hiked out of the wilderness area to our end point, Dennis Cove Road. So it was a really neat hike. We saw Spooner, Maverick and Mobley along the way, and met a thru hiker named Smasher that we haven't seen before. Everyone is eager to get to Damascus this weekend and plans to zero there. We made pretty good time with our slack-packs and finished the distance in about 5 and a half hours. That gave us plenty of time to get cleaned up, eat and finalize plans for the next couple of days. I treated myself to a pint of ice cream, and we had stovetop stuffing, chicken fettuccine, and BBQ sandwiches for dinner. We watched another DVD, Vertical Limit, about mountain climbing. It seemed appropriate for our current endeavor.