BY GARRET K. WOODWARD
A picturesque view of Cold Mountain. Bill Russ photo courtesy of North Carolina Department of Commerce, Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development
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October 9-15, 2013
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Smoky Mountain News
I needed to make an escape. Last Tuesday morning, my cell phone vibrated incessantly on the nightstand. It was 8 a.m., and the sender was my news editor. My eyes creaked open like a rusted The Alash ensemble will perform the ancient cellar door. The message tradition of throat singing Oct. 16 at Western informed me that the government Carolina University. shutdown had taken effect. Thus, we needed to scrap our original Chris Blaylock plays Oct. 12 at the Water’n cover story while going to press Hole Bar and Grill in Waynesville. that day and do a whole new feature on the closures in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Catman2 will host “The Cat’s Meow Auction” and along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Oct. 19 at the Jackson County Public Library Oh, and did I mention all of this in Sylva. came during the height of the fall tourism season for the area? Storyteller Victoria Casey McDonald will I was assigned to rush up to discuss her new book Oct. 12 at City Lights the national park and get firstBookstore in Sylva. hand accounts of the closure chaos and people being turned The comedy thriller “Murder Among Friends” away. I got myself together, will hit the stage on Oct. 17-20 and 24-27 at physically and mentally, and the Martin-Lipscomb Performing Arts Center jumped into my (usually) reliin Highlands. able pickup truck. I put the key into the ignition and turned it. porch. As I pulled up to my building, one of Nothing. A few failed tries later, I realized the repairmen who was renovating the apartthe starter was dead. Damn. After borrowment above mine ran towards me. ing an extra vehicle from my news editor, I “We need to get in your apartment right left my truck in the driveway and headed now,” he shouted. for the national park. It was a day of “Why?” heartache and reflection cruising through “A water valve just exploded upstairs, and the empty park, which normally is brimwe don’t know how much damage it did to ming with people eager to explore this natyour apartment.” ural wonderland in our own backyard. I unlocked my front door, hoping for the After a whirlwind day, running around best. Flipping on the light switch, the room Western North Carolina, we finished the new was a disaster. Innumerable gallons of water cover story, proofed the paper and put it out leaked from the upstairs floor, causing my in a somewhat suitable timeframe. I was ceiling tiles to explode like water balloons. exhausted. All I wanted to do was go back to Luckily, me being a minimalist, I didn’t really my apartment and sink into the couch on my
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This must be the place
own much to get destroyed by the onslaught Balsam Road (off the parkway), I laced up of water — though I can’t list my personal my running shoes and hit the trail. Coasting laptop as a survivor. The carpet was soaked along the rocky terrain, I jogged by hikers, and started to smell like an old, wet dog. young and old, all immersed in the fall “Well, we’ll do the best we can to clean scenery. Eventually, it was just me, alone, this up tonight and come back tomorrow to amid a silence only found in nature. I wantsee what the next step is,” the repairman said ed to find a bald mountaintop, so I jumped with an uneasy chuckle. onto a side trail straight up a ridge. Reaching “Yep,” I said dryly, staring at a large pudthe top, I stood on a large rock and took a dle that had condeep breath, exhalsumed my bed. into my 360When the going gets tough, ing I needed to make degree view of endan escape. less mountains. some people either lash When the going After a few out or have a breakdown. gets tough, some moments, my body people either lash relaxed, every musFor me, I head for the hills. out or have a breakcle unwinding, finddown. For me, I ing peace once There was enough daylight head for the hills. again. I could hear left at this juncture to find a the wind drift There was enough daylight left at this trailhead and lose myself in through the trees juncture to find a below. Gazing out the serenity of our natural trailhead and lose into Southern myself in the sereniAppalachia, I knew surroundings. ty of our natural surall was well in the roundings. world again. Soaked Still unsure of how the shutdown would apartments and dead trucks are just things, affect regional hiking, and if I would have to while nature is everything. pursue guerilla tactics to enter the woods, I Editor’s Note: To get to the Art Loeb Trail decided on the Art Loeb Trail. Winding down from Waynesville, head down Route 276 Route 276 from downtown Waynesville, I towards Brevard. Turn right onto Route 215 turned onto Route 215 at Jukebox Junction (near Jukebox Junction) and follow the road and headed for the Blue Ridge Parkway. Route until you reach the Blue Ridge Parkway. Turn 215 was a peaceful jaunt into the mountains, left onto the parkway and go a few miles before as, layer by layer, the matters of the day you turn left onto Black Balsam Road. From peeled away. there, you can park at any of the trailheads or In the parking lot at the end of Black parking lot at the end of the road.
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