Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2014 - 7

Wilderness!
AS THE ACT THAT CREATED OUR MOUNTAIN WILD PLACES
CELEBRATES ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY, IT'S TIME TO EXPLORE ONE.
OUR FIRST VISIT to an officially designated Wilderness Area was soon after
a hurricane remnant had passed
through the western side of Virginia.
As a result, the wilderness's namesake river, Ramsey's Draft, seemed to
have had its way with the terrain surrounding its flow.
The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All
will outwalk me on most any trail
there is - up the mountain, along the
ridge, through a valley - but one of
the points of a wilderness is that there
are no designated, blazed trails.
Especially after a flood has washed out
most of the pathways inevitably worn
by hikers.
And while The Day Hiker does not
cotton to a vaguely marked trail, she
downright hates bushwhacking. And
bushwhacking with multiple stream
crossings over logs? Over rocks with
water rushing by? And with no real
sense of where you're going, aside
from upstream?
Well, it's a battle to keep her going.
But like any undertaking with a
degree of difficulty, challenge and
uncertainty, the having-done is at least
as sweet as the doing. For The Day
Hiker does not day-hike without the
prospect of a fine evening meal at
which to allow the protests and I'mnot-doing-its to soften into we done
good.
Which is at least one major attraction of a designated Wilderness.
We've had similar adventures in St.
Mary's and West Virginia's Cranberry,
and lesser ones in a half dozen others.
Always with that evening meal
awaiting.
In fact, our Ramey's Draft and St.
Mary's excursions were built around
not just dinner, but also live music and
then a night's stay in Harrisonburg and
Staunton, Va., respectively.
And what better time than this, the
50th anniversary year of the

BILL HODGE

From the
Editor

BILL HODGE

Kurt Rheinheimer

Look up or look down: These shots - of Linville Gorge Wilderness (top) and of Joyce
Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness - provide a sampler of the ruggedness and the views.

Wilderness Act that created these
wonders, to set out on your own finedining-nearby adventure in celebration
of the Southern mountains' wildest
and most-remote places. Just a few
samples of great Wilderness areas
and inviting, dinner/entertainment/
lodging-friendly towns nearby:
Linville Gorge Wilderness near Blowing
Rock, N.C.
Southern Nanatahala Wilderness near
Hayesville, N.C.
Joyce Kilmer/Slickrock Wilderness near
Tellico Plains, Tenn.

Big Laurel Branch Wilderness near
Elizabethton, Tenn.
Blood Mountain Wilderness near
Dahlonega, Ga.
Rich Mountain Wilderness near Ellijay, Ga.
Ellicott Rock Wilderness near Clemson, S.C.
Brush Mountain Wilderness near
Blacksburg, Va.
Lewis Fork Wilderness and Little Wilson
Creek Wilderness near Damascus, Va.
Take your pick or pick another. To
help celebrate the 50th, go to southeastwilderness50.org for hikes, camping, festivals and other goings on. 
MAY/JUNE 2014 | 7

http://www.southeastwilderness50.org http://www.southeastwilderness50.org

Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2014

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