The Mount Mitchell Climb Part 4

In Part 1 of The Mount Mitchell Climb, our therapy in the wilderness organization was asked to set up a wilderness program for adolescent boys who were in a substance abuse in-patient facility. Working with the facility, we started the program operating out of an old Boy Scout camp near Old Fort, NC. The boys were at the camp for one week, then carried out a difficult wilderness adventure for a week. They then returned to their in-patient facility for two weeks before coming back to the wilderness program. One of the difficult adventures was to climb up Mt. Mitchell starting from the camp and using the route probably used by early explorers. At the end of Part 1, we had just begun our trek. In Part 2, we backpacked seven miles with a 2,193-foot altitude gain. Part 3 found us climbing 1,400 feet up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, then hiking 2,000 feet down to the Black Mountain Campground where Sarah met us to take out the llamas before we climbed about 1,500 feet up to Higgins Bald. We didn’t get any higher in altitude that day but were seven miles closer to our goal.

Corrections: In Part 1 I wrote that Mischief was among the llamas on this trek. Actually, it was Foxy. We began our climb with six instead of seven boys. Tony was not feeling well and was driven back to Charlotte.

The last morning of the climb began with a clear sky and the sun heating up the day even as it was just starting. It was going to be a hot but exciting day as we made that last and most challenging climb of the trek. Everyone exited their tents with no urging, ready to finish what we had started two days ago.

Two of the boys helped me get the stoves going and water boiling while the rest struck the tents and divvied up the parts into nine piles. This last breakfast of the climb would be a quick one, instant oatmeal and instant grits along with tea and hot chocolate. After we ate and cleaned up, I spread the map out for the boys to look at as I had done the day before. I asked the boys if anybody could say what our route would be today. They all said yes, and I have to say it was pretty obvious. I called on Jaheem to tell me since he had not done much talking the day before. He said we’d follow the Higgins Bald Trail to the Mount Mitchel Trail. I then asked the boys if they saw any places on the map where the trail went downhill. They took a good look. The expressions on their faces became solemn. “No” they said. I asked them to get their heads together and figure out how much altitude gain we’d have today. They studied the map for a minute, but Jabari said, “You told us yesterday, 2,484 feet.” He was right. Map reading time was over. It was time to go.

We packed up our backpacks the same way we had done the day before. We were all anxious to start going up that 2,484 feet of elevation gain. It would be an average of 690 feet gained every mile we hiked on a day that promised to be hotter than normal at this altitude. No matter what the weather, the boys and the adults were excited about reaching the top at last. At 8:30 our packs were on our backs, and we began the last day of this adventure.

We left the flat land where we had been camping and followed the Higgins Bald Trail north to the Mt. Mitchell Trail. We had ascended 320 feet over a quarter mile when we got there and turned west. We strung out along the trail, Noreen in the lead followed by three of the boys then Rob, three more boys and me on drag. I’d asked Noreen to take point because she set a good pace, and the boys wouldn’t want a woman outdoing them. After we got on the Mt. Mitchell Trail, I began to wonder if I had done the right thing. Noreen was setting a fast pace, faster than I would have, but one we could all do, at least for a while. After half an hour, I called for a break. The adults started checking to make sure everyone was drinking enough water, but it wasn’t really necessary, everyone was thirsty and needed no urging. After 15 minutes, we started out again.

A half hour later, we reached a junction with another trail. I checked the map and got the boys to come over and look. It was the Buncombe Horse Trail. We had come up a thousand feet from where we had camped. We weren’t quite halfway to the top from where we had started today but only had about 1,500 feet to go. It was 10:00 o’clock. I challenged the group, boys and adults, to make the top by noon. Everybody yelled that we could do it.

We all fell back into our places on the Mt. Mitchell Trail and started back out with Noreen still in the lead. The next 400 feet altitude gain was tough. It felt like we were climbing up a stalled escalator to the sky. Noreen stopped, turned around, and yelled out “What’s wrong with you wimps? Come on, we’ve got a mountain to climb.” Despite the heat, everyone moved a bit faster. We made it up to a switchback where the trail got easier. Not easy, but easier - 1,200 feet altitude gain to go.

The trail wound like a snake as we went around on switchbacks, but it was a lot less steep now as we neared the summit. We took another water break but were moving again inside ten minutes. Everyone, including me, could just taste getting to the top. 1,000 vertical feet to go, 900, 800, 700…. At 6,500 feet altitude, the trail began to flatten out. Our speed picked up. We only had 183 feet to go! We came to a building and saw a sign that said Mt. Mitchell Summit Trail. We hurried down that trail. Mt Mitchell’s summit was just a few hundred yards way. We came out of the forest and there we were! There were people all around us as we walked towards the viewing tower. It was 11:55. We’d made it!

Around the base of the viewing platform everybody in sight was White. They kind of backed off from us. We knew that we all smelled really bad after three days of sweating and no bathing. Jaheem, who had one of those deep, melodious voices like some Black men have that you think can be heard for a mile, had a big smile on his face, just like we all did. He cried out, “Don’t you worry White folks, we usually shower, there’s nothing to worry about, we just climbed this mountain!” He said it several times while the rest of us laughed and shook hands. The bystanders relaxed somewhat, seeming more befuddled than anxious. They’d all come up in cars and must have thought it strange that these smelly people wearing backpacks had climbed up on foot. We weren’t what they had expected on their vacation trip.

We climbed up onto the platform and looked out over the expanse of woods and mountains we had traversed. We were all rejuvenated by getting here at last, full of energy we didn’t know we had left in us. Finally, we calmed down a little and walked to meet Sarah in the parking lot. The boys ran over to her, telling her how fast we made the last 2,484 feet altitude gain. They helped her lift a cooler off the truck and we all guzzled a cold drink. We had food for lunch on the truck, but the boys wanted to go down the mountain by road to celebrate at a McDonalds or other fast-food restaurant. They put their packs on the truck and retrieved their duffel bags. We all walked over to the inpatient facility van where they stowed their duffels in the back. Noreen, Sarah, and I said goodbye as the boys climbed in, and Rob got in the driver’s seat. We waved as they drove off. We would see them again in two weeks and have other adventures, but no other challenges quite measured up to our ascent of Mt. Mitchell.

Writing this story has made me think about these boys who had become young men on this ascent. I wish I knew what happened to them. The only ones I learned about after the program ended were Tyrell and Jamal. Tyrell’s brother loaned them the money to start their landscaping business. Jamal went to a state vocational school in South Carolina and got an AA degree in landscaping. The last I heard, which was several years ago, their business was doing fine. I hope that all of the young men, all these years later in their 40’s, are doing fine. Wherever they are and whatever they are doing, I’m sure they look back on that experience climbing Mt. Mitchell as an achievement to be proud of, something very few people have ever done. In dark days perhaps their memory of making the Mt. Mitchell climb gives them hope.