The thought of doing a quadruple entered my mind when I realized it was one of those weeks in the winter where the only sunny day is expected at a time when I had to do it alone, no Scott KW4JM and no Dave KE4EA. Scott had a commitment to provide care for his aging parents and Dave had a commitment to lead a bible study. Incidentally, I am also part of the same bible study group that Dave leads, but I had the luxury to skip this one. I had several choices of summits in short open section of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville NC – Mt. Pisgah, Mt. Hardy, Black Balsam, Green Knob, Rough Butt Bald, Richland Balsam and Steestachee Bald – and I had to pick the easiest 4. I knew Pisgah was hard. I had been there. It was 2 km with 358m of vertical – so Pisgah is out. Black Balsam is a popular hiking spot though I had never hiked it. It seemed promising. Black Balsam is in. I had been wanting to hike Green Knob (CM-023) for a while. It had good reviews from fellow activators. Green Knob is in. I had hiked Richland Balsam before in the fall of 2018 and I remembered it being pretty easy. Richland Balsam is in. The remaining three are bushwhacks. I don’t like bushwhacks. I don’t mind them when I am with Scott as Scott is my “security blanket” when it comes to bushwhacks. He is not afraid of them and seems to relish them. But I had to pick one and I picked Rough Butt Bald based on its proximity to the other three. Rough Butt Bald did not have any good press – Barry N1EU had a rough time (no pun intended) approaching it from the eastern part of the ridge. Even Patrick KI4SVM called it “not so bad when you approach it from the left side of the ridge”. What I had to look forward to where thorns and briars all over the open portions of the ridge.
Green Knob WM-023 was easy, not a “cakewalk”. The trail is the MST climbing a narrow ridge. There were many nice views through the leafless trees. There were some pines and some rhododendrons. I set up my antenna on the narrow ridge as an inverted V with both legs along the ridge. I had one of my Spanish chasers Jorge EA2LU call me along with stateside chasers. By 11 AM I was already on my way to Black Balsam. When I got to Black Balsam, I had a choice of two trails, the upper Art Loeb spur or the lower main Art Loeb trail. In hindsight, I picked the wrong one. The upper trail is below the tree line. The trail is cut like a narrow ditch, covered with rocks and sheltered from the sun by the trees. Water had collected at significant portions of the trail and the trail was covered in ice. I had to pick my steps from rock to rock to not step on the ice. There was this section where there were no rocks to step on. For about 25 meters, I had to use my trekking poles for balance to keep from falling as I very slowly negotiated that portion of the trail. I finally got above the tree line and the trail was so much better. The summit of Black Balsam was large and open with stunning views for a full 360 degree panorama of the nearby mountains – no wonder it is so popular. I lingered up on the summit for about an hour. It was windy and cold. I made my radio contacts and proceeded to hike down. There was this black girl who was also there sheltered in the rocks from the wind. As I was walking down the trail, I had noticed that she had gotten up and started to come down as well. I waited for her and we hiked down the mountain and talked together for a bit. It turns out she wants to become a forest ranger and she is hiking alone for the day for about 8 miles. She took the main Art Loeb trail and we hiked down together this rock covered trail above the tree line. There was no ice anywhere on this trail. I got to the road and knew I still had 500 meters or so to hike back to the truck. The second of the four summits was complete.
I proceeded to Rough Butt Bald just a few kilometers from Black Balsam on the BRP to a pullout at Bearpen Gap. I re-read the description that Patrick KI4SVM had written and found the MST on the north side of the parking area. I followed Patrick’s suggestion to approach it from the left. There were some large fallen trees on the left side and I had to skirt them by either wandering to the open areas on the right covered in briars and to left into the steep side of the ridge. After much zigzagging up the ridge, I entered the “activation zone” which is the area 25m of vertical or less from the summit proper. I did not go into the very summit. There were thorny areas on the way there and I did not need to do it. I made my required radio contacts and proceeded back down.
It was about 4 pm when I arrived at Richland Balsam’s trailhead. I should have stuck to what I knew was easy. But no, I had to pick the lower trail just to be different. On the bright side, there is a nice opening for a good view for photos on the lower trail. On the not so bright side, I slipped and fell on one of the ice covered sections and slammed my elbow into the rocks. The bruise has since healed. I took the known “nice upper trail” on the way back to the parking spot. I also had the nice bonus of a call from my Australian chaser VK4TJ. I probably had about 30 minutes of daylight once I got back in the truck. I lingered there for about 10 minutes relishing the day’s accomplishments – 4 summits and 50 activator points. I began to wonder. Is this some kind of record for the W4C association? Dean Blair K2JB later confirmed that it is. Quadruples are relatively rare and all the previous ones were done before winter. I was the only one to have done it in the winter months.
The previous record was 42 points for 5 summits by K2JB himself.
First stop is Green Knob W4C/CM-023. The trail notes from prior activators are pretty good. I drove to my QTH to Blue Ridge Parkway MM412.5 I had to park on the shoulder precisely at the coordinates specified by WH6LE which is approaching it from the north east.
Park on the east shoulder and cross the road into the Mountains to Sea Trail. It is an easy hike on a nice trail with good views. The entire trail is on the ridge.
The next is Black Balsam by driving to the BRP MM420.2 and making a turn into the road to the Art Loeb trail heads. There are two trailheads, the upper with a privy and the lower one on the right side parking area. I made the mistake of using the upper trail this day. On a summer day, this one is better because it is below the tree line with plenty of shade but this is winter and we had a lot of rain and the rain froze on the trail as ice. It made negotiating this upper trail treacherous. Great views once you get above the tree line. There are no trees on the summit so you need a mast.
Third stop is Rough Butt Bald. This is appropriately named summit. Drove to the Bear Pen overlook and looked for the MST on the north side of the parking area. Enter the MST for a few yards and then immediately head upthe ridge. You will do a lot of zigging and zagging as you avoid obstacles. This is a real bush whack through the ridge. In hind sight, probably should have brought a machete. There are plenty of briars and thorns on the open areas. KI4SVM suggested attacking it from the side of the left ridge which is what I did to avoid the thorny areas. I set up once I reached the AZ..
Last stop is Richland Balsam. I drove to the Overlook at MM 431 and I followed the track below. In hindsight I would have followed the upper trail and not made a loop. The lower trail had sections which were ice covered. I started on the lower trail and made a big loop.
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