Backpacking the Uwharrie Trail Day 1
Curtis in Wilmington, NC | Backpacking the Uwharrie Trail, Day 1 | December 2022
Once we found out that Jess was going to be staying in Iowa and I would be returning to Wilmington for an additional few weeks of training, I set about planning things to do. If my first two weeks were anything to go off of, I figured that I would have plenty of time in the evenings and two whole weekends, and if I didn’t go with goals in mind, I would probably spend a significant portion of that doing nothing.
I ended up packing my metal detector and most of my backpacking equipment along with my normal carry-on material as part of my trip. For the first couple of days, the metal detector proved to be a boon for me, as I would finish up work, go to the beach or park, detect until sundown (or whenever I got bored) and then go back to the hotel and walk around downtown for dinner. I even found a couple of older coins to add to my collection. And on at the end of November, I celebrated my official last day in the US Navy by getting a tattoo of the Submarine Warfare device.
But detecting was also my bane for this trip, as, unbeknownst to me, on day 2 of my time in Wilmington, I detected, dug, and rifled through a patch of poison ivy – and while I cleaned my hands of the dirt and gunk, hotel bar soap doesn’t cut oil the way poison ivy needs you to. By Thursday, I had broken out on my face and chest in easily the worst case of poison ivy I have ever had.
This was unfortunate, not only because it was uncomfortable and painful, but because I had already made arrangements to go backpacking that weekend and was remiss to reschedule the shuttle. After I finished with training on Friday, I went to my hotel, looked at the weather (damp and cold), looked at my bags, and thought, ‘to hell with it’, and decided to go backpacking anyway. A+ decision making skills.
North Carolina is known for quite a few backpacking trails and scenic areas. The Blueridge Mountains, the Great Smokey Mountains, the Appalachian Trail, and the Mountains to Sea trail all pass through the state. But, with the exception of the Mountains to Sea trail, they are all in the Western half of the state, and are 5.5-6 hours away (plus those are things Jess would want to do as well). The Mountains to Sea trail does pass near Wilmington, but the majority of the trail through this area was road walking and did not sound particularly exciting. So I opted to split the difference and travel only 3 hours and hike the Uwharrie Trail through the Uwharrie Mountains just Northeast of Charlotte.
The Uwharrie Mountains themselves are a very small and old eroded mountain range running generally North to South. They are not that tall (<2000′ with an average <1000′), nor do they have exceptional prominence, but they do have a 40 mile trail running North to South through the heart of the hills. The original trail was completed in the 1970’s and as of this writing consisted of two separate sections connected by a road walk. The southern section is around 30 miles in length, and since I only had two days to hike, I figured that this would be more than sufficient for a weekend backpacking trip.
Friday afternoon I made the drive up to Troy, NC, from where I started driving North through the National Forest. The sun was setting, but I wanted to stop at Pisgah Covered Bridge before I set up camp. Because this was only a two day backpacking trip, I strategically located my campsite at West Morris Campground as it was near the trail and at about the half way point. By doing this, I was able to set up my camp and leave it, allowing me to slack pack and not carry any of my sleep system.
The evening was uneventful, though I missed being able to use my pop-can stove (two meals didn’t justify getting more alcohol, and I couldn’t fly with a small bottle). The only major issue was my poison ivy – I could tolerate the itching, but my face was just oozing pus and it was just…uncomfortable in an unsettling kind of way. But somehow I fell asleep, and as Jess pointed out, this is probably the first time I’ve gone camping alone since I drove home for our wedding in 2013.
I woke up earlier than I had wanted, but since I didn’t have to tear down camp, I decided to drive to the Northern trailhead early and scope it out. I’d be lying if I said I was excited. I wasn’t. I was uncomfortable and tired, and when I couldn’t find the trailhead at first I considered just calling it. But common sense prevailed, I found the trailhead, and took a nap in the car. By the time my shuttle arrived, I felt much better about the hike.
My shuttle was provided by Uwharrie Travel and Adventure, a local travel agency who provide shuttle services as a side project to their bigger travel services. For $40 they drove me from Walker Creek Trailhead to Woodrun Trailhead off of NC-27. By 7:45, I had my trailhead pictures and I was on my way North on the Uwharrie Trail.
It was colder and I had brought a heavier rain jacket with me, but since my sleep system was already set up at camp, my pack was light, holding essentially just emergency gear, snacks, and water. I made good time for the first 4-5 miles and the activity warmed me up. At mile 4 I reached the summit of Dennis Mountain, a treed hill without any views, but there was a sign for an Audio tour explaining some of the geology. It was also around this point that I passed some other backpackers breaking camp. At mile 6, I stopped for a late breakfast as it started to sprinkle.
The whole southern section of the trail around Woodrun Trailhead has quite a few other trails crisscrossing the region, including a couple of bike paths. In my planning I had made note of several letterboxes planted on these cross trails. But because they were located miles and miles from a trailhead, most hadn’t been found in 10+ years. But I was able to find a route that would take me past most, if not all, of these elderly letterboxes, and only add two miles. And just as well, letterboxes usually take you to cool locations! And so I made a terrible mistake and left the Uwharrie trail onto the Dutchman Creek Trail
The trail slowly went down a ridge and towards a creek meandering through the woods. This wasn’t too bad, I thought, and soon I reached the bottom just as it started to shower. Fortunately, there was a large Sycamore that I was able to sit under to stay dry. Doubly fortunately, this sycamore was the starting point for two letterboxes. Once the rain let up, I set about searching, finding a smashed box (but still a stamp) for one and signs but no box for the second. I stamped the smashed box and decided to leave the remains in case another intrepid letterboxer makes the journey in 2035.
The letterboxing clues at this point recommended that I return the way I had come, indicating that to continue on would be a steep hike. But I hate to backtrack, and there was another letterbox down that way, so I ignored this kind warning and continued on the Dutchman Creek trail straight up a ridge. And just as I reached the top of the ridge, I realized I had left my hiking pole back at the bottom…15 minutes of cardio and grumbling later I was back at the top. And then the trail went down, and back up, and it started raining. And then I got in my head – ‘What on Earth am I doing out here, adding extra miles and extra elevation for the slim possibility of some 15 year old rubber stamps?’. This mentality quickly turned into ‘Why on earth did someone plant a letterbox out here, there is NOTHING special about this area,’ and cursing letterboxers past and a general existential feeling towards one of my oldest hobbies. To make matters worse, I found that third box…destroyed and a pile of mush. By the time I had circled back to the Uwharrie Trail proper, I was 11.5 miles in, had added considerable elevation and two miles of wet hiking to my day, and still had 7 miles to go. I had really set myself up with this.
But all you can do is put one foot in front of the other in cases like this. The miles passed, and frustration gave way to general exhaustion, which led to probably the biggest lesson I learned on this hike: I do not listen to my body the way I should. I would walk for miles, hours, with a growing discomfort and exhaustion, and would continually push myself to ‘take a break’ at the next mile marker, or next trail junction…points in time and space that I was only guessing at, forcing myself to walk further than I really intended. And as soon as I would take a break, I would feel better. Why was I setting these goals, why couldn’t I just stop and enjoy myself? Why was I rushing to a campsite where I would just eat and sleep? These questions added considerably to my mental exhaustion.
I reached the spur trail back to my campsite, foot sore and generally ready to sit down for a long while. By the time I reached my tent, the sun was at the horizon – and it was only 6. I made myself dinner, tidied up, and then went into my tent. Unfortunately, my phone was critically low on battery so I couldn’t listen to my audio book, so I just lay back and listened to the night sounds. Fortunately, I did learn something from the Black Hills and stayed outside my sleeping bag until my metabolism and heartrate subsided lest I sweat through the sleeping bag.
While I was alone in this campsite, I had passed quite a few people, many with backpacks of their own throughout the day, which made some sense considering how close we were to Charlotte. But this also lead to some other big questions: principle among them – Why? This is objectively, a boring trail. You, dear reader, have been reading about my feelings and actions for 5+ paragraphs, and I have not mentioned the scenery once. And that’s because there was none. I walked through solid deciduous woods for 9 hours and 18 miles and saw not a single unobstructed view; passed 5 creeks and saw not a single waterfall; no historic sites. I was fortunate in that I could see the horizon through the tree trunks, but I suspect that this was only because all the leaves were on the ground. In an effort to have pictures of SOMETHING, I started taking pictures of the mileage posts.
And yet I, and a half dozen others, were out here backpacking. I don’t have answers, only observations.
