I had THREE trips over the fall get canceled for one reason or another and I've developed a bad case of cabin fever. Since the weather wasn't too cold for the gear I have, I decided to do a quick trip down to the Birkhead area. I had some new toys to try and was doubtful of my three season gear so I packed extra. I ended up with a very hefty ~40lbs that felt like 50. I had heard via Greenmon's Folly about a new trailhead so I decided to go there.
This is on High Pine Church Road right beside a private drive. The location is 35.597693,-79.886488. There is an official forest service sign with the usual warnings and map. The parking lot is gravel and would probably hold a dozen or so vehicles.
Apparently, this tract of land was to become a new subdivision and a few houses were built before the recession a decade ago. The Central Carolina Land Trust purchased the land and if I understand, it's been added to the designated wilderness. I can't find anything on the FS sit indicating this trailhead exists. Odd.
On the satellite view, you can see the curving would-be road that looks like it was bulldozed but never paved. The trail follows this for perhaps 3/4th of a mile before you start to see lots of spurs and side trails. It's always like that in the Birkhead from what I've seen. You eventually leave the subdivision area and end up on the same old roadbed that the Camp 3 trail follows for part of its route.
I followed a random side trail to the right that looked like another old road. This was blazed in blue but there were no signs of any recent trail work. It has to be old but doesn't show up in Childrey's book as far as I know. I wanted to hike up Cedar Rock Mountain to a spot Greenmon has mentioned on his blog a few times. This is also noted on the ExploreNCOutdoors.com map. That map is incidentally the only complete digital one I can find of the area and even it is missing a few things, but I digress. I followed the blue blazed trail around till it seemed likely I was going to end up at the end of Fiddler's Creek Rd. I turned uphill and starting climbing. The actual top is on private land and there appears to be a house there. The overlook, however, is inside the wilderness. This is a semi bare rock face with relatively few trees to obscure to view to the Northwest. For the greater Uwharrie region, this is pretty good as far as views go. From here, you can make out some of the Caraway Mountains which like the Birkheads, belong to the Uwharrie range.
This is Caraway Mountain itself at 1148ft and 9.4 miles away.
Caraway Mountain.jpg
To the left of that, we have Mount Sheperd which is the tallest of the Caraways at 1168ft (10.3 miles away).
Sheperd Mountain.jpg
The Peakfinder view for this overlook is here http://tinyurl.com/CedarRock
After that, I headed downhill and found a place to camp not too far from the headwaters of Betty McGee creek. I relaxed, ate some Packit Gourmet, read and slept in my new DIY extra wide hammock for the first time. I don't think it got any colder that the upper 40's and there was almost no wind, so it was very comfortable even with just 3-season gear.
In the morning, I took my time breaking camp before making my way up along the ridge between Cooler's Knob and Cedar Rock Mountain. With the leaves off the trees, this ridge had some decent views in between the branches. You'd have to lug your water up there, but this wouldn't be a bad place to hang. There was what appeared to be a very faint road bed on top. It would disappear completely for a while and then show back up. I'd love to know what it was for and where it went. I wish I had an app for that. I always want to follow everything I see. It's a peculiar affliction I suffer from.
I hit the Camp 3 trail and worked my way around counter clockwise and then followed the old road bed back to the subdivision and to the car. I was the only car In the parking lot and I didn't see a soul the entire time I was out there. That's a major plus you get when camping in January.
Totals for the trip are something like 5.76 miles and ~1660 ft of elevation change. It's an easy warm up to what I hope is a very active year of hiking.
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Originally Posted by Gqgeek81
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