A couple weeks ago while on a ‘country drive’ (see: 88 A Country Drive) we stopped at a few parking possibilities along Parker Ridge Road, including one at a campsite under a big old oak tree just north of a 90° turn, this is where we park today. We choose Hurricane Knob today for two reasons, first it’s mostly on old roads with little elevation change, and second, I
haven't read or heard anything about Hurricane Knob, so a high potential for ‘the sense of discovery’ since we have no idea what to expect.
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daffodils and tulips coming up but no signs of a house
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From our parking spot we cross the road, climb over a dirt berm and head east down the old road.
This road is easy to follow, a good trail most of the way, although we have to detour around the occasional greenbrier patch. Maybe, I haven't seen anything
written about this hike is its lack of interesting sights along the road, we
keep looking off in the woods for any evidence of old
homesites, we do notice many low crumbling rock walls along the road,
so we
assume people once lived around here before the establishment of
Hurricane Creek Wilderness.
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exposed culvert
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After about
a mile down the old road while detouring around an exceptionally large briar patch, we finally
stumble onto an old homesite. Right next
to the road is what appears to be a stone water trough, or maybe a culvert, I’m
not sure what it is but we look around the immediate area for more evidence of
human habitation. Just some piles of
rock and a pretty sad rock wall, we continue on the old road.
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Granddaddy Pine
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Although there isn’t much to see along the road it is a very nice easy hike, we focus on the many
dogwood trees that are starting to bloom, when a little over a quarter mile past
the old homesite on our left we spot a big tree, I name it Granddaddy
Pine. In another quarter mile is a fork in the road at the base of Hurricane Knob. Left this ‘main’ road continues to the east,
right is a ‘lesser’ road to the south.
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Dogwood in bloom
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We take the path south and immediately have to detour around a big deadwood fall, even though we’re off the
main road there's still a trail on this old road. Less than a quarter mile we come to a
little drainage which is part of the headwaters of Greasy Creek the
largest tributary to Hurricane Creek, totally within the wilderness. We leave the road and bushwhack uphill
to the east, all uphill but not bad, mostly open woods
with the occasional briar patch, we soon
crest the top of Hurricane Knob and take a little break.
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Dogwood close-up
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From the top of the knob, we head north down another little drainage,
this one being the headwaters of Mill Creek, right away we notice some pretty good-sized rock piles. We end up finding
five of these piles of stone, I assume a farmer once cleared this small area for
a garden, but we find no evidence of a homesite.
Past the rocks as we continue downhill now there’s water flowing in
the little creek which gets steeper as we get closer to the road.
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rockpile on Hurricane Knob
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At the road the creek flows through a steel
culvert with some nice stonework then tumbles steeply down the north of the
road, down what should be a gorgeous cascade when there’s a little more water. We turn west back on the main road and soon
come to a little campfire waiting for someone to strike a match. Somebody fairly recently built a small
fire-ring and filled it with kindling right in the road but didn’t light
it.
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Redbuds are also in bloom
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A hundred yards further we’re back
at the fork in the road, we turn right and head back the way we came following the old road back to Parker Ridge Road. Although there wasn’t a whole lot of interest on
this hike it was still a very enjoyable and peaceful day in the Hurricane
Creek Wilderness, and we had a great time hiking 4.9 miles with an altitude
gain just over 300 feet.
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Bradford Pear?
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Hurricane Knob: Statistics Chart 90 To the parking area is pretty easy, on Highway 16 in Deer turn east in front of the Deer Schools on Parker Ridge Road (NC 7410). Follow Parker Ridge Road about 4.9 miles and just before the 90° turn to the right pull in under the big oak tree and campsite, this is the parking area.
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