A walk in the Woods

Written By: Emily Crowell | Issue: 2018/12 - December

A year ago this month I planned and executed a mini-tour of my favorite places in the Highlands area for my then-friend, now boyfriend, Matt.  Other than a quick caffeination mission to Buck’s, all these places were outside. (Surprise, surprise.)

Our first stop was Granite City, where we rock-hopped and climbed up between steep cracks in the huge boulders, hearts aflutter.  We ate sandwiches on top of Satulah Mountain, where I spent an obnoxious amount of time complaining about the unseasonably warm temperatures and the obstinately bright sun.  The last place we went to is sort of a secret spot.  It has evergreens galore, deep, deep carpets of moss and lichen, and fields of grasses and flowers reminiscent of the ones that blanket high mountain balds.  We spent a long time at this secret place, walking and talking and falling in love.

I finally admitted to myself how much I liked this guy when I was planning the trip because, although I write about these places, I don’t normally like to share them with anyone.

Matt has accompanied me on most of my Laurel excursions since then. Today we chased each other through the woods on the Yellow Mountain Trail, beginning at Cole Mountain Gap on Buck Creek Road.  It was a bright day but appropriately chilly, so there wasn’t much complaining from me.  We didn’t go all the way to the terminus of the trail at Yellow Mountain Fire Tower—it’s a difficult 12-mile round-trip hike, which I did a couple years ago with a few girlfriends.  I fell in love with this trail then.  I’ve never hiked it in the summer but when the leaves are mostly gone there’s a spaciousness between the trees that’s like an emotional security blanket for me, allowing me to breathe.  It sort of reminds me of my early days of nature-loving, roaming the woods of Alabama as a kid. There’s nostalgia, distracting me again.  It seems to happen around this time every year.

Today we just wanted to get outside and get a little exercise, so that’s what we did.  We either speed-hiked or slow-ran for about four miles, depending on one’s perspective.  Another couple passed us shortly after we started and asked how far we were going.

“’Till we feel like it,” we answered in unison.  And we turned around when we felt like it.

I do recommend hiking this trail all the way to the fire tower at least once—set a whole day aside for it.  But it’s good for till-you-feel-like-it jaunts, too.

The Cole Mountain Gap trailhead can be found about two miles down Buck Creek Road from Highway 64, which is about two miles from downtown Highlands on the way to Cashiers.  Parking is on the left, and the trail is on the right.