Vineyard Gap and Riverside Trails, Pisgah National Forest

[dropcap style="font-size: 60px; color: #9b9b9b;"] T [/dropcap]he Riverside Trail along the South Fork of Mills River in Pisgah National Forest is a great opportunity for boys to be boys, and girls to laugh at them, as the trail fords the river several times. You’ll get to wade in a crisp, cool mountain stream up to your knees as you negotiate the current and the smooth, slippery rocks on the bed. Enjoy the peaceful sounds of the babbling water as you hike alongside this beautiful mountain river that’s full of twists and turns. Start with the two-mile Vineyard Gap Trail up and over Forge Mountain to make a loop of the hike, then put away the boots and get out your water shoes. Obviously this hike is best during warmer weather, unless you don’t mind freezing your tootsies. This hike occurred on Thursday, May 31, 2012 from 8:55am to 12:40pm. Our plan was to take the Vineyard Gap Trail over Forge Mountain to connect with the Riverside Trail, then follow the S. Mills River back.

[box type="info"]

Hike Length: 7.3 miles Hike Duration: 3.75 hours

Hike Rating: Easy Blaze: Yellow, both trails Hike Configuration: Loop

Elevation Change: 685 feet Elevation Gain: 895 feet

Trail Condition: Good; fording a river several times on slippery rocks.

Starting Point: Turkeypen Gap Trailhead on Turkeypen Road.

Trail Traffic: We encountered no other hikers, but there were horseback riders.

How to Get There: From 64/280 junction in Brevard, NC take Hwy 280 north toward Asheville. Go 4.5 miles to the Transylvania/Henderson County line and turn left on Turkeypen Road. Take this rough dirt and gravel road 2.3 miles to the dead end at the Turkeypen Gap Trailhead.[/box]

[button link="#" type="icon" icon="warning"]Warning! [/button] This is a fun hike, but it does deserve a bit of caution. After all, you will be hiking in the river for part of the journey. I would not recommend fording the river in bare feet. The riverbed is quite rocky — it isn’t smooth sand — so you could slip or get your toes wedged between rocks. Something like water shoes or waterproof sandals is fine, but probably not flip-flops. There is some current that will try to pull you down, so if you have trekking poles or a hiking stick they would be useful. If there has been a lot of recent rain in the area the current is likely to be a bit stronger. If you’re worried about expensive electronic equipment like cameras and smartphones, you may want to consider a dry bag as well.

Turkeypen Road, the dirt and gravel road that goes from Hwy. 280 to the trailhead got a little rough over the winter. There were some pretty good size potholes. You can still make it fine with a conventional 2-wheel drive vehicle, but until it gets graded just take it slow and easy.

Enough with the cautions, let’s get on with the hike. The Vineyard Gap Trail (#324) is on the right side of the parking area at the dead end on Turkeypen Rd. It starts off immediately going uphill. There isn’t much climbing on this hike. It’s all at the beginning and the end. But you will go up about 300 feet in the first 15 minutes. After the first climb, our crew reached a small flat area where the trail took a hard right. There is a sign there, but be aware and don’t go left.

The trail climbs moderately to the ridge of Forge Mountain. In the fall and winter when the leaves have fallen, there are some nice views to the northwest. Be sure to follow the yellow blazes marked on trees since there are unmaintained side trails that intersect. The forest alternates from hardwoods to laurels. There are the requisite rhododendron canopies. It wouldn’t be Pisgah National Forest without them after all.

From the summit of Forge Mountain the trail makes a sharp turn to the northwest and drops steeply nearly 700 feet to the South Fork of Mills River. Here Vineyard Gap Trail ends and the Riverside Trail (#115) begins with a fording of the river. For us, that meant it was time to change footwear and secure our gear. On this last day of May, the water was cold, but really not as much as I expected. We didn’t know it at the time, but this first one turned out to be the deepest of the crossings that were ahead of us. Near the north bank the depth reached about the middle of my thighs, but none later were above my knees.

Page 1 of 4 | Next page