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Rough Butt
Western North Carolina |
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From the small town of Sylva we headed 9.5 miles south on NCSR 107 to East Laport. We turned left at the BP station on to Caney Fork Road (NCSR 1737). After traveling about three miles east we saw a sign for Judaculla Rock and stopped for a look. This is a soapstone boulder covered with American Indian pictographs. According to Cherokee mythology, these markings were made by a giant named Tsul'kula when he leaped from his mountaintop home to the Caney Fork Creek. Back on Caney Fork Road, we turned right on Johns Creek Road. The USGS map showed an interesting looking trail connecting back to Caney Fork Road. As we left the paved road at the end of Johns Creek, we encountered a steep, rutted out, muddy road leading into the forest. We both managed to make it up this tricky road, but there was some hooting and hollering as we slipped from rut to rut on the way up. Once into the forest, we were unable to find the connecting trail and ended up circling Hench Knob and almost returning to Johns Creek Road. The forest trail was getting worse as we went and finally ended where someone had cut down some large trees to block the trail. We weren't looking forward to back tracking, but actually did much better on the way back down. Returning to Caney Fork Road on the paved road, we again headed east and stopped to ask some DOT tree trimmers what good roads lay ahead. The local tree trimmer gave us an odd look after we told him "the rougher the road the better." He described a horse trail over the mountain that was "rougher than a corn cob." I don't think he saw the grin of excitement underneath Nancy's helmet. He told us to go up another mile and turn right at the brick house into what looked like someone's yard. He warned us to be careful of the falling down wood bridge, the sometimes steep rocky climb, and the two creek crossings. He was probably laughing to himself as we rode off and expected to see us return in a few minutes. We found the turn (it is 9.5 miles from NCSR 107) at the brick house after crossing a bridge. The first adventure was the falling down wood bridge. NOTE: This bridge was recently washed out and the only access to Rough Butt is from the other end. You had to stay on the solid wood plank laying in the direction of travel, one wrong move would mean disaster as there were large holes where the once solid wood bridge had rotted. The elevation here was about 2700' and we would be climbing to over 5400' before descending again. The first section we found bedrock and big boulders which made up the steep trail. After about a mile we found our first water crossing. This scenic water fall was shallow and easy to cross. The road then became even steeper and more rocky and for the next few miles there were few places level enough to stop. We were trying to follow the tree trimmers directions which were "right, left, right, left" when we suddenly encountered a three way intersection. As we approached we were confronted with a very steep rock to climb which we both managed to gun our way up in first gear without incident. Nancy scouted out the right turn which turned out to be an easy way around the rock we had just climbed. So we figured this had to be our first right. This was approximately 2.5 miles into the trail. We continued climbing, although not as steeply, and the road actually improved a little. We did run into a few stinky mud bogs at a clearing at about 4000' elevation. Here we saw some hunters standing by their 4 wheel drive trucks, probably looking for their hunting dogs. We took a left wondering if we were still on the right road. Another ½ mile and we found the second easy water crossing of Rough Butt Creek at a hunter's camp. We then came to an open gate and the road turned into improved gravel - good enough for some 35-40 mph spurts. After about 2 miles we must have missed our left turn which would have taken us out to NCSR 215 at Haywood Gap. We evidently continued right on the gravel road for another 6 miles before coming out onto NCSR 1756 (aka Charlies Creek Road) at Parker Gap. No problem, we were enjoying the ride and there were scenic mountain views in several places. We took a left on Charlies Creek Road and eventually came out on NCSR 215 at Pinhook Gap. We then headed north climbing to the Blueridge Parkway. It was too late for Skeeters BBQ (CLOSED AS OF 2007), so we settled for our crackers and headed home. We had heard of a backway leading down from the Blue Ridge Parkway into Cherokee. We found the route at Big Witch Gap. This road was disappointing as it was nothing more than a poorly maintained gravel road which took us down Big Witch Creek to Wrights Creek Road and eventually to US19 at Paint Town, just east of Cherokee. Summary.... Rough Butt Road is short, but lives up to it's name. We do not recommend this road for inexperienced riders. And, even experienced riders should be cautious and ready for a challenging ride. |
