Monday 16 May 2022
Last night, dinner was at the Fryemont Inn in Bryson City. I had reservations for 6:15 and I walked into the restaurant around 6:05. At first the hostess wanted me to wait (the restaurant was virtually empty) and then she decided to seat me. Their claim to fame is the inn was built in 1923. Everything here seems to be either 100 years old or nearly 100 years old. The other major claim to fame is the fireplace in the restaurant is so large it can accommodate eight foot logs.
I opted for the vegetarian item on the menu (white beans in a tomato sauce). It was a prix fixe night and you got soup, a salad, an entrée, and a desert. I would have thought that asking for the vegetarian entrée, they would think about the soup. Nope, it came out with bacon in it.
Unusual for these days, you were presented a check and you had to walk to the cashier to pay. I haven’t seen that in quite a while. The food was just so-so.
Beechwood Inn spoiled me for breakfasts at hotels, inns, and B and B’s. It wasn’t terrible this morning at McKinley Edwards Inn but it wasn’t the same as what Eli would prepare at Beechwood. There was fresh fruit and an egg concoction in a tortilla. There were also homemade waffles.
In any case, after breakfast, I decided to attack my nemesis today – Deep Creek trail. When I first started hiking after retirement, my first attempt was a three day trip along Deep Creek. The campground is about 1.9 miles out of Bryson City. My first day was 6.2 miles and it pretty much killed me. I decided to come back down the mountain after the first day.
Today was much easier. Of course, I was only carrying a day pack as opposed to 45 lbs on the three day trip. That might have something to do with it. I decided to hike the Juney Whank trail to Juney Whank Falls. It’s all up hill to the falls.
So far, it’s exactly like my last attempt at this hike – steadily upward. Then I joined the Deep Creek Horse Trail (no horses thank goodness – only horse droppings). That takes you up, up and more up until you reach around 2240 feet in elevation. That’s 426 feet elevation gain in 0.8 mile. That’s pretty steep.
From the top of the trail you start descending along side Deep Creek.
The terrain begins to level out and the walking from that point on gets easy. The Deep Creek Horse Trail merges with the Deep Creek Trail and you start you walk back to the parking lot.
Where Deep Creek Trail merges with Indian Creek Trail, you can walk an extra 200 feet and see Indian Creek Falls.
It’s worth the extra 200 feet uphill to see this falls.
As you continue downward, you run into the tallest of the three falls, Tom Branch Falls.
What makes me feel so good about this 3.1 mile loop that I did today is that I did not stop to rest once the entire trip. I normally have to stop and catch my breath at least a dozen times on an elevation climb this steep but I pushed through.
After the hike, I headed to Bryson City.
The city has certainly grown since 1970’s when Crag Knox and I first stopped in for breakfast after a hike. On Main Street, there was really only one store open for food. It was a pretty run down little town. Today it is a booming tourist area.
Lunch was at Mountain Layers Brewery. Actually, they only sell beer but they have an outdoor area upstairs and a food truck in the back.
The food truck is called the Rice Wagon. I’ve eaten at a lot of food trucks over the years and the food generally runs from horrible to mediocre.
I hade the Kalua pork and it was delicious. If the rest of their entrées are as good, this food truck is a definite winner!
I have a 4:30 massage scheduled. It’s back to town for dinner (something simple) and then an early night.
As a point of interest, while driving up on this trip, I somehow dislodge the leather head rest from the plastic on the drivers side. I figured since I had three days in Greensboro, I’d take it into Crown Dodge/Jeep and have them put it back together. I called this morning and they can’t put it back together; you have to purchase an entire new headrest. They checked and it is not in stock and there is a 3 month backorder. I’ll tend to it when I return home.
Stay tuned!
