Tanawha

Miles and I went to hike some of the Tanawha Trail yesterday along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It is a 13.5 mile trail, but we only did the first few miles of it from Beacon Heights to Rough Ridge. I have had this trail on my hiking bucket list because so many of the trail descriptions I have read online describe it as “covering a wide array of geological features” which makes it totally perfect! I was absolutely impressed. We traveled through at least four different types of ecosystems along the first four miles that we hiked of this trail (with a goal to come back and finish it on later dates, but having to retrace our steps back to the car made it impractical to do the entire hike in one day). The quartz veins we saw at so many different spots along the trail were really exciting for Miles to see. Beacon Heights exists at one trailhead of the Tanawha Trail and offers amazing views of several mountain ranges from its exposed rock faces.  Views of Grandfather Mountain are spectacular from the left portion of Beacon Heights.  As we continued from Beacon Heights, we traveled through dense forests of rhododendrons and hemlock which had relatively easy trails which had only a few steep sections.  Weathering is very evident in the first mile past Beacon Heights on all the felsic rocks which were present.  Quartz was abundant in this area which is expected because of Bowen’s Reaction Series which I explained in my previous post.  Additionally, the large waterfalls we saw in the boulder areas were definitely contributing to weathering and erosion.  There were a lot of small bridges which allow for hikers to walk across the waterfalls for excellent views, and these bridges are often tall enough to see the waterfall almost in its entirety.  Miles and I spent time looking at the different sizes of boulders, pebbles, and gravels in the bottom of these first order streams.

The left portion of Beacon Heights is much wider and flatter so that the erosional patterns are much easier to see in the rock.

 

The large boulder fields between Beacon Heights and Rough Ridge were incredibly impressive. We came across at least six areas with GIGANTIC boulders (which also had some beautiful waterfalls).

I have decided that Rough Ridge is definitely my favorite place in the entire world.  It used to be Beacon Heights, but the views from Rough Ridge along the Tanawha Trail offer views which are unparalleled to any other trail I have ever hiked.  This is a very fragile ecosystem which is protected from hikers by a boardwalk system, so it is crucial for hikers to stay on the designated trails.  The lowlying, windswept plants which grow on the top of Rough Ridge are protected and monitored throughout the year.  More quartz veins were present in this felsic igneous rock as well, and Miles was having fun with me as we pointed them out to each other.  The best features of Rough Ridge are the boulders and rocks toward the summit.  These offer views of Grandfather Mountain as well as Beacon Heights (which is easy to spot because of the unfortunate cell phone tower which makes Beacon Heights easier to recognize).

Enjoying Geology while Hiking

I like to head to the Blue Ridge Parkway roughly about once a month to do some serious hiking. My major deciding factor on which trail I want to hike is simple. I want to see views.

http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/v.php?pg=61 is a link from the Blue Ridge Parkway’s website of the hiking trails within North Carolina according to overlooks and mile markers. Most of the trails are listed, but somehow there are a few trails missing. Anyone who sees this list may wonder about the trail names and what they mean. I know I did. My goal with this first entry is to give a rough explanation, geologically speaking, about what some of the features in the trial names mean. Balds and knobs are just two examples of features I had never known about before I actually was first able to experience them and see them in real life. How would I describe these features to other people though? These definitions are how I would describe these features and are not completely accurate, so I hope that anyone who reads this can offer some more insight by leaving a comment. My assumption is that these features are probably found in mountain ranges of different areas, but maybe these particular terms are of some sort of southern Appalachian vernacular.

A bald is a summit or crest of a mountain which is covered by native grasses or lowlying shrubs rather than covered by a heavy forest. I was told by a hiker before that a bald occurs in the southern Appalachian Mountains because of the unique climate which has too short of a growing season for forests. So does this mean that a “bald” only occurs in this area? Maybe. This strange occurrence is unique because a bald occurs with a warm climate and high elevation, and these factors are often very suitable for forest growth.

A knob is a hill or mountain with a rounded top. A rock climbing buddy once told me that knobs are fun for bouldering. An important feature of a knob is that it does not have much or any plant cover.

A pinnacle occurs at the top of a mountain where there is a sharp peak. The first pinnacle I ever hiked to the top of was actually part of Crowders Mountain in Gaston County, North Carolina. It is about 45 minutes or an hour from where I live, so it is somewhere I enjoy hiking frequently.

A gap is an area along a mountain ridge which is lower than the surrounding areas. Windy Gap is an area which comes to mind whenever I think of a gap because it is an area I traveled to frequently as a child. Maybe its name is “windy” because this lowlying area acts sort of like a wind funnel?

I may not have defined these terms correctly or in a manner which is the least bit helpful, but the whole purpose of science is the pursuit of new knowledge. I will be the first one to ask questions because I know I do not have all the answers. Keep exploring.

And Wikipedia has a great list of balds at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_balds for anyone interested