Punchbowl Shelter to Highway 60
Day Two - Tuesday, March 31, 201512.2 miles
We left Punchbowl Shelter at 8:30. It was steady down, down, down to US Forest Service Road 39 and Pedlar River Bridge. Leaving the road it was one little steep up then rolling and low terrain for about 5 miles.
Walking beside Brown Mountain Creek we saw a sign indicating that this was the home of a community of freed slaves who lived here after the Civil War until about 1918. We saw rows of stacked rocks which they might have used as fences. We reached Brown Mountain Creek Shelter at 2:45 and stopped for a rest and water refill from the stream in front of the shelter.
When we reached Highway 60, we debated calling Oma from Three Springs Hostel to come pick us up because we were already tired and had quite a climb in front of us up to Bald Knob at the end of the day. We decided to walk on and pitch our tent for stealth camping somewhere at the top before reaching the planned shelter.
About a mile up the mountain, we crossed a forest service road and decided that was far enough. However, when we started looking for a campsite, all the flat spots were under trees with dead limbs. Considering that the wind was gusting up to 30 miles per hour, we decided that would not be a good idea. We could not find a good place to tent, so we called Oma to meet us back down at Highway 60 and we hiked back down the steep mile.
The good night's sleep inside the hostel, the shower and the wonderful fajita dinner made it worthwhile.
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| Pedlar River |
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| Pedlar River Bridge |
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| Pedlar River Bridge |
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| Brown Mountain Creek Shelter |
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| Highway 60 |
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