where the climate suits my clothes

Saturday the tattered remnants of the WNDC were headed to some mythical land called fats to ride in warmer weather but I decided to skip the long day in the car and opted for Pisgah instead. Driving up North Mills River Rd. I realized there was still more snow than I had thought and decided to skip the lower trails around Trace Ridge and headed for Laurel Mtn. instead. I know that the higher you go on a mountain the less snow there is due the increased proximity to the sun so Laurel seemed like the only reasonable thing to ride.

And as suspected I was right. At the start of the trail there was still a little snow but by the time I rounded the first bend it was smooth sailing with a wide open ribbon of dirt in front of me. I was a little surprised to find that only myself and a bear had been on the trail since the snow. It was a perfect Carolina mountain morning and nothing could have been finer. At times there was still little scattered patches of snow, even some drifts several feet high, but for the most part it was a perfectly frozen Laurel Mtn. trail. Not wanting to go down Pilot Rock I declared it Good Enough before the gap of the same name and headed right back down the way I had come.

Descending Yellow Gap Rd. was interesting. It took me almost 30 minutes to make it down it with multiple dismounts. My studded tire would have come in handy.



Sunday's are still for the dog but I'm still trying to go easy on the knee by not running and no mountain climbing. So where better to go than a waterfall? These are very special places and I took the time to finally go down to one I've ridden my bike past hundreds of times.

Cove Creek Falls:





Cascades lower down: