Solo backpacking trip

One of my favorite authors:

 Walt Whitman (1819-1892). Prose Works. 1892.

I. Specimen Days

125. One of the Human Kinks

How is it that in all the serenity and lonesomeness of solitude, away off here amid the hush of the forest, alone, or as I have found in prairie wilds, or mountain stillness, one is never entirely without the instinct of looking around, (I never am, and others tell me the same of themselves, confidentially,) for somebody to appear, or start up out of the earth, or from behind some tree or rock? Is it a lingering, inherited remains of man's primitive wariness, from the wild animals? or from his savage ancestry far back? It is not at all nervousness or fear. Seems as if something unknown were possibly lurking in those bushes, or solitary places. Nay, it is quite certain there is - some vital unseen presence. 

     I am home from an overnight on a new trail and stream. I enjoyed it immensely but I have to say, just like the verse above, your mind takes you to some strange places when you are completely alone and immersed in nature. Also, the above verse is vastly more profound when read by a fire miles from the nearest road. I Highly recommend going out, completely by yourself, into the wilderness once in a while. It really resets your values and gives you time for introspection that one rarely gets in our modern life of smart phones and YouTube. Any who, on to the trip report.  

     For this adventure I went to Pisgah National Forest on the Wilson Creek drainage and hiked into a smaller backcountry stream. I normally hike and fish further west of this area and am really enjoying the subtle differences in the terrain in Pisgah National Forest compared to Nantahala National Forest, where I normally hike and fish.

     I could not find very much information about this trail or stream online but what I did find remarked on how unkempt this trail was, very overgrown and in places hard to follow. This turned out to be very accurate and although I did not have any problem staying on the trail it absolutely was very thick and overgrown in places. One particular section went thru an old burn area and was overgrown with greenbriers and blackberries. Along with loads of scratches there were quite a few ticks hiding in this thick brush, luckily I was able to feel them crawling and pick them off before they became imbedded.

Even the portions of the trail that were not severely overgrown, the trail was narrow, faint in places, and did not look heavily traveled.

When I did get to the stream there was a large flat along the stream where others had camped. I was very pleased to see absolutely no trash, hacked and carved trees, or any of the usual foolishness you see on more popular streams. The only real evidence that people had camped here was the presence of the fire ring. 

It is interesting to look at the trees in the picture growing towards the right, away from the steep ridge and towards the open stream and sunlight. The stream itself was fairly small and tannin stained and absolutely full of colorful brown trout that were very willing to gobble a dry fly. I did catch one rainbow trout that was a gorgeous fish with bright black spots. 

Here are a few more pics from the trip. 

Absolutely fantastic trip and I can't wait to explore more of this area. 

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or comments feel free to hit me up in the comments. Chris