Day 17, Yellowstone Prong to Pigeon Gap

From our campsite overlooking Yellowstone Prong, we didn't have far to go before reaching the stream. It was another tributary of the Pigeon River.

Whenever I see the name, I think of Yellowstone National Park, though here, the name comes from a slightly different reason. The national park's rocks are yellow because of the minerals they contain. Here, boulders in the stream have a yellow tint from lichens that grow on them.

The trail made a turn when it came to the stream just below Skinny Dip Falls. I looked upstream to see the falls, but there wasn't much to see. It wasn't the waterfall I expected.

A cataclysmic event happened on August 17, 2021 that changed the stream. It came after two days of rain were dumped on this part of North Carolina by Tropical Storm Fred.

The deluge of rainwater created a massive flash flood, which altered the stream bed and caused severe erosion.

Yellowstone Prong was inundated by 15 feet of water. The flooding was powerful enough to move massive boulders and cause landslides.

If we had walked here before the storm, we could have crossed the stream over a wooden footbridge. That was gone, destroyed by the torrent of water from Tropical Storm Fred.

Today, however, the stream was low enough that we could rock-hop across.

We were fortunate when we had to climb out of Yellowstone Prong's gorge. The trail had been repaired after the flood. Steps made the climb much easier.

About an hour after leaving Yellowstone Prong, we reached the Blue Ridge Parkway. The trail crossed the road near Cherry Gap Overlook, then soon crossed it again.

One of Western North Carolina's most recognizable landmarks, Looking Glass Rock, could be seen from this viewpoint.

The mountain has an unmistakable wall of exposed granite that stands almost 4,000 feet tall. It got its name because of the way sunshine reflects from the bare rock, which is especially visible when rainwater freezes on the surface.

While we were stopped for the view, we took another look at the map and realized Pigeon Gap wasn't an ideal place for Kim to pick us up. The trail crossed the road there, but there was no place for her to park her car.

There was a parking area just ahead along the parkway, however, so I called Kim and asked her to meet us there instead.

The trail crossed the parkway a couple more times, then began the 600-foot climb we noted during our planning. The route went over Green Knob (5,033 feet).

Though the trail's profile shown on the FarOut app made this look especially steep, it wasn't as difficult as we anticipated.

The trees near the top didn't have leaves yet, and Cold Mountain (6,030 feet) could be seen through them. The mountain is the basis of a 1997 novel by Charles Frazier and 2003 movie, which share the name of the mountain.

We reached the parking spot near U.S. Highway 276 at Wagon Road Gap about 10 minutes before Kim arrived. She drove us back to Asheville to drop off Logan at his home before we continued to our homes in Tennessee.

I had mixed feelings about getting off the trail today. I felt I could have continued if I wanted, but I also knew leaving it was a sensible thing to do.

This wasn't a feeling of defeat. The trail hadn't beaten me, and I intended to come back to pick up where I left off.

Of course, another matter also needed to be resolved. Polecat and I had to return to the Smokies and connect our footpath with the miles we skipped after my planning mistake.