If I’m going to travel a good ways, as I did for my stay at Ash Grove, I try to add something else to the trip to make the most of it.
In this case, I stopped off on my way up to take in a class on backcountry navigation put on by REI. I already knew a good bit about navigation, but it was helpful and interesting to put that knowledge to use in a different context. The class took us up to the old airstrip in what is now the DuPont State Recreational Forest in western NC, USA.
Afterwards I realized that, while I have a pilot friend who would be interested in what was still there at the old airstrip, I didn’t take any pictures. With some time to spare, I stopped off there again on my way back and took a little walk up there to get pictures.
The airstrip is long abandoned and I wouldn’t suggest anyone land there except in an emergency. Of course, in an emergency, you’ll land wherever you can.
The airstrip was used by DuPont when they built a plant there. The local lore is that they built there because they needed the pure water for whatever it was they were manufacturing. Eventually, as has happened so many other places, the plant closed down and the land was conveyed to the state to form the recreational forest, which is what the area is today. The area where the plant itself was is closed to the public, the story being that that’s because of industrial contamination. It’d be rather ironic that they built the plant there because of the clean environment and then left it uninhabitable.
There are also stories that this airstrip is where most of the illegal drugs coming into the eastern US in the 1970s landed.
Anyway, after getting my pictures, I started back and stopped at the fork: hmmm…. I think I’ll take the road that’s less of a road, the Mine Mountain Trail.
The trail offers a commanding view of Fawn Lake (I never did see any fawns there though):
The trail is also used by mountain bikers. This would be a Bad Place to run off the trail, on either side:
Nice view from the top:
Made for a nice little walk. Also on Strava