#2: [18-Apr-06]

24-Jan-2001 -- This confluence is in the Appalachian Mountain chain in western North Carolina, slightly west of the Eastern Continental Divide. It's also about 21 miles from my house.

My buddy Jim made this trip with me. He had the car, the compass and the water. I brought the GPS and the camera. The confluence is on the side of a rather steep mountain, which can be approached from several sides. We came in on Hwy 221, turning off to go through the tiny communities of Stamey Town and Pyatte. This route offered a chance to minimize the amount of uphill walking.

Within about a mile of the confluence, the road got too rough for the car, so we started hoofing it. Most of the area around the confluence is used for Christmas tree farming. The road was on a ridge, so the views were great. We hiked over a bald peak that had a cell phone tower on it and started descending towards the confluence. We entered a hardwood forest about a quarter mile from the destination. As we got closer, it became apparent that the spot was in a rather dense rhododendron thicket. Zeroing out the GPS was becoming a pill until Jim brought out the compass. The spot was quite close to a springhead. The ice buildup from the spring was a nice site in the rhododendron. After shooting pictures of the area, we started the trek back out.

There were several man made rock formations along our path in and out. They could have been the result of clearing the pasture at the peak or an abandoned mine in the area. There was also quite a bit of mica on the ground, which is probably the main product of the mine.