We hiked this section on October 15, 2011.
We dropped Knitting Bull’s car at Salt Log Gap and then headed for the infamous Crabtree Falls road. Lois at the Dutch Haus got a vehicle stuck on this road and warned us against driving up this road.
Initially the road was in good shape and then we drove over the first water crossing – not too bad.
Then there were more ruts in the road and we soon saw several campsites. Then the road started getting really bad and we thought we must have missed the turn off to the parking lot so we started to look for a place to turn around but in a couple of minutes we arrived at the parking lot.
You definitely need a high clearance vehicle to reach the parking lot. The ruts in the road are really deep!
The temperature was in the mid 40’s when we started to hike and the wind was whipping pretty fiercely. We all had on gloves, fleece, and hats.
The half mile trek up to the AT was relatively quick and we kept moving all day long to stay warm. We saw 2 folks cowboy camping just before reaching the AT and then a little later we saw a tent on its side right next to a tree? Where did this tent come from?
About 30 minutes into the hike, Dirigo told us to put on our blaze orange because she saw several hunters watching us. It turns out these guys in camo clothing were simply on a short hike and were friendly. But, they gave Dirigo the creeps.
We knew that we were getting close to Spy Rock because we started to see lots of people on the trail. There were a pair of father/son backpackers, day hikers, and trail runners.
The trail runners were actually quite rude. As they came barreling down the hill, they yelled “excuse us” – I guess they assumed they had the right of way?
We decided to skip the view from Spy Rock because it was going to be a long day and it was very windy at the top. We wanted to keep moving to stay warm.
We stopped for a nice lunch at the Seely-Woodworth Shelter. It felt good to sit in the sun even though it was still very breezy. Dirigo checked her toe and applied some ointment.
Seely-Woodworth Shelter
The rest of the trail was very soft and gentle.
We were all really happy to reach Knitting Bull’s car!
Dirigo decided that she would try to hitch a ride at some point on the Crabtree falls road because we knew that Knitting Bull’s car would not make it to the parking lot. We made it past the first waterfall without any problems and then spotted a jeep coming down the road. Dirigo hopped out of the car and offered the guy in the jeep $20 to turn around and take her back to the parking lot; unfortunately, he was running late and could not help out. The second car she asked was full so they couldn’t help. A second later a huge black truck came up behind Knitting Bull’s car and they said they could take Dirigo up to the parking lot.