Yellow Mountain

We woke up on Weds morning and ate some breakfast. Left the campsite at around 10 am and headed north towards franklin, NC. We drove by the Callusalla Falls which are in some massive gorge. They are the largest falls east of the Mississippi. But it is tough to get a view of them other than the glimpse you get from a treacherous winding two lane road. The locals drive the roads like they are straight and wide so they aren’t too happy with tourists driving 13 miles an hour while white-knuckling the steering wheel. We made a couple turns and got to the trailhead for the Yellow Mountain Fire Tower. From this tower at 5,200 feet, you can see Georgia, Tennessee and of course NC. Satellites have put fire towers out of business, but the forest service built a couple back up for trail destinations.

The trail started at 4,300 feet and we knew the fire tower was at about 5,000 feet. The trail was out and back 4.8 miles each way. So we assumed it would be a low-grade ascent. It turned out that the start and end elevations were accurate but in the middle there were a couple lesser peaks and valleys so it was some work. After running out of water the previous week we maxed out our capacity. We started out with just a little over two gallons.

The trail was pretty rugged and we started later in the day than we wanted to so it was getting hot. But it was mainly in the shade so it wasn't too bad. Some bugs but nothing unbearable. About three hours into the hike, we encountered a structure that could be considered a fire tower (if'n you have no knowledge of fire towers) but it was rather disappointing. We kept going past it and made a few more turns before we got to what was obviously the bonafide fire tower. It was only two stories but because it was at the crest of a bald, the view from the second level was 360 degrees and vast.






After hanging out for a while we headed back down the mountain - and still towards the top we almost stepped on the snake in the attached video. I was convinced it was a copperhead, but i think it is a rat snake. We avoided it.

We made it back to the car with a little water to spare. It took a little under 7 hours to do the 9.6 mile trip. I had to carry the dog some of the last bit. Then we went and got ice cream.