284 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
promised "coves" running up into the mountains, 
close together, one after the other, choked full of 
laurel and rhododendron, grown with forest trees, 
and each contributing a wild little stream to swell 
the waters of the Little East Fork. No wonder peo- 
ple stay at home in this part of the country when 
the waters are up! 
At the end of the road you come, not to a lumber- 
camp, but to a house with a clearing where the occu- 
pants apparently have lived for generations. The 
people here are glad to see you. A visitor up the 
Little East Fork is no everyday occurrence, and 
presently they are telling you all about themselves, 
their neighbors, and the surrounding mountains. 
Shining Rock, the southern end of Cold Moun- 
tain, and over six thousand feet high, is just above 
your head, with a trail only four miles long up to it 
over the Scape Cat Ridge. Scape Cat has no name on 
the maps, being one of those countless ridges which 
are waiting for some one to come and, discovering 
how beautiful it can be made, occupy it and name it 
according to his fancy. In this way, let us hope, will 
be preserved some of the beautiful Indian names, 
the liquid sounds of which harmonize so well with 
the character of the landscape. For no matter how 
wild this mountain country, how inaccessible and 
rough, it is at the same time exquisite in the soft 
lights, with the all-pervading fragrances and the 
enchanting growths. Even the Little East Fork, 
now one sees it, is found to be lovable. Scape Cat 
owes its present name to the fact that "old man 
