wanderer COMING HOME TO A NEW PLACE H H H H H H H H WHITESIDE MOUNTAIN. NC Written and Photographed by Jennifer Kornegay A ROAD LESS TRAVELED wanderer IT WAS A BRAND NEW SPOT TO ME, BUT MY CONNECTION, THOUGH INSTANT, FELT ANCIENT, LIKE THE MOUNTAIN ITSELF. Once shrouded in the cover of primeval forest and barely touched by man, Wh- part of the Cherokee Nation, and it holds a dark spot in that culture’s lore. Photograph by emranashraf iteside Mountain in western North Carolina is today more comparable to the According to one Cherokee story, Whiteside was home to Spearfinger, a female Disney World of hiking. The panoramic views of the Blue Ridge range’s sharper monster who preyed on children. In the mid-1800s, when the Cherokee were peaks transitioning to the soft, rounded hills of South Carolina’s Piedmont visi- forcibly removed from these lands with so many others, it was rumored that ble from its 4,900-foot-high summit draw throngs of people each summer and several families took refuge on the mountain, alluding detection for decades. up to 100,000 over the course of Somewhere on its slopes is a cave used any year. as a hideout by Confederate deserters. I am frequently part of the con- The mysteries and secrets tucked into the gestion. Anytime I’m in the area, mountain’s multi-layered past are numer- I make the trek too. And yet, even ous. But I think it also contains deeply when crowds surround me on the personal histories for people who, like me, two-mile-loop trail, I can feel the have fallen under its spell. rest of the world fall away. On my Many consider the jaw-dropping views first hike, I felt something I can’t from the top the true reward for their even put into my own words (an em- effort, but I find equal beauty on the barrassing admission for a writer), journey. All along the path, there’s a sig- but one I can express by cribbing nificant swing in scale: massive rocks tow- John Denver; his ode to mountain ering and minuscule wildflowers poking magic “Rocky Mountain High” through patches of moss; majestic pere- sums up my initial sentiment best: grine falcons air-surfing overhead and an “Coming home to a place I’ve never inches-long neon orange salamander scur- been before.” rying under a log. I’ve now made the hike It was a brand new spot to me, multiple times in the last few years, and but my connection, though instant, Photograph by Jill Lang every ascent does the same thing: puts a felt ancient, like the mountain it- knot of warm joy in my center that unrav- self. A high point in the Cowee Range, it rises like a bear waking from slumber els and spreads with every foot of altitude gained. (its silhouette inspired one of its Cherokee names, unega yanu, meaning white It starts at the trailhead, where on most days, cars and SUVs line both sides of bear), along the eastern continental divide, almost directly between the towns of a gravel parking lot. U.S. Forest Service signs include instructions on payment Highlands and Cashiers, and with an estimated age of 400 million years, is con- ($3 per car) and a map of the route to the top. The trail forms a loop; you can Photograph by ps50ace sidered one of the oldest mountains in the world. It is essentially a giant hunk of choose which way you go, but I prefer to go up the wider and gentler path and granite, technically a pluton, formed by molten rock far below the earth’s surface come back on the narrow, wilder one. That means a few hundred yards into the pushing up and out eons ago when the world was still quite new. It boasts other hike, I veer left to follow the remains of an old road. distinctions too: its exposed cliff with a span of 750 feet up from the tree line is I’m continually struck by the paradox: My easy access to this lovely place the tallest bare rock face east of the Rockies. comes from activity that threated to obliterate it. Whiteside Mountain was once It’s also got a rich and tumultuous history. Prior to 1819, the mountain was owned by a single family, who then sold it and the centuries-old timber covering Above: The mountain’s cliffs look like sheets of ice draped across the mountain from Little Mountain Lake. Top left: A patch of Coreopsis, or Star Tickseed, grows with a beautiful view along the trail. Top right: From January until summer, peregrine falcons—one of the world’s fastest birds— return annually to nest on rock ledges. Center top right: The last 1/2-mile of the trail is a steep downhill section that leads you back to the logging road near the parking area. Center bottom right: Cerulean Warblers are a species of high conservation concern because of their significant declines and have been considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Bottom right: Fiery orange speckled wood lilly, or Turk’s cap. Bottom left: Top of Whiteside Mountain at “Fool’s Rock. 110 okramagazine.com ISSUE NO. 10 A ROAD LESS TRAVELED its slopes, to a logging company in the 1940s. I walk under the branches of broccoli from my lofty perspective. Sometimes I step up on the gray boulder hemlocks, yellow and black birch, red oak and Fraser magnolia. But 70 years at the edge, just to get a few feet higher. I smile at flitting yellow swallowtail ago, I’d have stared up into the canopy of enormous old-growth specimens of butterflies, and avoid, with a twitch of fear, the yellowjackets buzzing too close some of the same species and others, all now long gone. Thanks to the de- for comfort. cades-long lobbying efforts of concerned citizens, today’s trees and the myriad I continue along the top of the mountain, pausing at every additional clear- shrubs, flowers and abundant wildlife they shelter are safe from any such ing to drink in air that’s sweeter and fresher than several hundred feet below destruction. The mountain was included in the protected Nantahala National and to take in every new view, sometimes through the Blue Ridge’s namesake Forest in 1975. bluish-gray haze. One, with its levels of nature-made bare-rock seats, is my As I keep heading up, I stop frequently to examine delicate snakeroot stop for a snack and water break. It’s also the spot I most often witness the blooms, dwarf dandelion, the pale pink bells of mountain laurel or the fiery winged splendor of the mountain’s peregrine falcons. Re-introduced to White- orange trumpets of Turk’s cap lilies. I listen for the trills of song birds — the side in the mid-1980s, they build nests and raise their young on cliff outcrop- wood thrush and the blue warbler — and the machine-gun knocking of a pile- pings and float in the sky overhead. ated woodpecker. I’m soothed by the tinkling of rivulets sliding over and drip- Once I cross the crest, I begin my return journey, via a much steeper portion ping off rocks to my right, part of the flow that creates the mountain’s lush life of the trail. Here, I can’t get quite as lost in my surroundings; being an incred- and later forms area rivers. Classified as a temperate rainforest, the Highlands ible klutz, I have to give my feet a bit more attention, ensuring I avoid a trip area has some of the highest annual rainfall totals in the country, and this wa- over bumps of gnarled tree roots and sharp juts of stone. Usually sooner than ter rushes over Whiteside mountain, on one side forming the headwaters of the I’d hoped, I’m back at the parking lot, kicking dirt off my hiking shoes before Cullasaja River, which makes its way to the Gulf of Mexico, and on the other, getting back in my car. As I leave, my thoughts turn to pulled pork swimming feeding the Chattooga and Savannah rivers before emptying into the Atlantic. in a runny, tangy vinegar sauce from a small stand by the Cashiers Farm About one mile in, and I spy a break in the thick cover of leaves, signaling Market that’s in my near future. And as much as the mountain both roots and I’m at the top. The first overlook steals my breath every time, and I imagine refreshes me, I’m never sad to leave it. Because I know it’s not my last time. it will do the same for decades to come. I gaze across to the peaks of other I’m always on my way back to Whiteside. mountains, down into Whiteside Cove below, its carpet of trees resembling “ AS MUCH AS THE MOUNTAIN BOTH ROOTS AND REFRESHES ME, I’M“ NEVER SAD TO LEAVE IT. BECAUSE I KNOW IT’S NOT MY LAST TIME. Whiteside Mountain is located south of US 64 between Highlands and Ca- Highlands Chamber of Commerce The Zachary-Tolbert House shiers. From Highlands, take US 64E approximately 5 miles. Turn right on SR Highlands, NC 28741 cashiershistoricalsociety.org 1680 and follow signs. 828-526-5841 For more information, contact: Chatahoochee River Gorge Highlands Visitors Center Highlands, NC 28741 US Forest Service/National Forest in North Carolina 828-526-2112 828 526-3765 Nantahala Ranger District Opposite left: Rhododendron maximum — its common names include great laurel, great rhododendron, rosebay rhododendron, and 90 Sloan Road Cashiers Chamber of Commerce On the Side Barbeque American rhododendron — is a species of Rhododendron native to the Franklin, NC 28734 Cashiers, NC 28717 cashiersfarmersmarket.com Appalachians Opposite right: Scenic view over the valley from the top of the mountain.