Looking Glass Road Closure??

Is the road near the fish hatchery that goes to the Slickrock falls trailhead up to the base of Looking Glass Closed?

Thanks

Mike

I'm not 100% sure, but in the past decade or so, winter weather like what we got overnight would close that road. Call the Pisgah Ranger Station to make sure. You can usually still park at the fish hatchery and hike up the road to get to the South Face (the area accessed from the Slick Rock trailhead you mentioned), but besides that, the East Face way into the Hidden Wall and the lesser known Fate Wall, most other spots on Looking Glass are relatively inaccessible until the road dries out.

Mike, I know that the road was open this past weekend. It has snowed a bit since then. The FS may have closed it since then. Best bet is to call.

It was open as of Friday 2/20 but 4wd or a subaru was pretty much mandatory. The road was essentially solid ice, 3-4" snow w 1/2" freezing rain on top. BTW the John's Rock and Cedar ice climbs got done

Thanks everyone! I will give the Pisgah Ranger station a call before we head out!

Closed yesterday

SK, 215 and LG in a day? You guys really are beasts!

How far is the hike from the gate on fish hatchery road to the south face????
Do you just hike up the road or is there a short cut?

You just hike up the road...it's around 1.1m or so if I remember correctly. It adds around 15 minutes or so, each way, to the usual approach.

Never heard of the Fate Wall. Anyone care to share beta?

John Braun wrote:Never heard of the Fate Wall. Anyone care to share beta?

Not very many people have heard of it :) There may be another name for it nowadays and I'm not sure if it gets any action at all...its basically the farthest south cliff on the southside of LG, although I've never approached it from the South Side.

If you look at an old topo map for Pisgah, you'll see the words "Fate Osteen Cove" following a creek down the south side of Looking Glass, that then heads down to the Davidson River near the Fish Hatchery. The Fate Wall is found where the word "Fate" is on the map, therefore its name. Its not an easy hike to find and you really need someone else to show you the way in, but you park on the left side of FS475 at the last pull off before the turn for the Fish Hatchery. Hike up into the woods across the road, towards the base of Looking Glass, to find a faint trail...follow this trail eventually through the Fate Osteen Cove and up the flanks of Looking Glass to several leadable routes with anchors at the top. I've never heard anyone else talk about this area, but we used to hit it when there were too many cars at the other climbing areas and we wanted seclusion and peace and quiet. Most of the routes were below 5.8-5.9, and the approach was on par or worse than any other approach to Looking Glass, but its always nice to check out something different in a different neck of the woods.
Fate Wall in relation to the rest of Looking Glass

There are some harder routes at fate osteen as well. Although that wall stays wet for a while.

As of today, Tuesday March 10th the road 475B was still closed. If anyone has any questions in regards to road closures call the Pisgah Ranger Station at (828) 877-3265

Has anyone else taken the road that leads into the North
Side. It's been a while since I've taken it but I've then that several times instead of the road that leads by the south side.

Road to the north side was closed Sunday. Currently no way to drive in.

The road was closed Monday as well

headed to the north side tomorrow in search of dry rock... drove by the gate on the way to cedar on sunday and it was closed. any clue if it will be open mañana?

Haven't done it in years, but you could hike the old North Face trail just below sliding rock Falls. Steep but fairly short.

I've heard talk of this trail... Where do I park and where does the trail start?

The trail used to start less than a hundred yards below sliding rock Falls and across the creek from the road. They blocked the parking off years ago with rope.

Awesome, I know exactly where you're talking about.
Thanks.