Winter Hike at Hanging Rock

Sunday, we headed to Hanging Rock State Park for a late January hike.  Arriving around 930, we first got Alex's passport stamped at the visitor center.

After that, we hiked down the short trail to Upper Cascades Falls.

Usually, this one is very crowded but early in the morning, we were the only ones here.

Although melting quickly, there were some icicles right beside the waterfall.

After some pictures we started heading back.  At the stone bench where the trail turns sharply, we got off the trail and bushwhacked down towards the creek.  There's no trail and it's very steep, but it was obvious to follow the path.  About half way down, we came to a small cave with icicles hanging.

Continuing down, we came out at the creek at the base of Tise Falls.  It's a very pretty waterfall and much bigger than Upper Cascades, but lots of downfall on it.

And it's much more difficult to reach.  There were some interesting icicles forming off a branch right in the middle of the waterfall; I bet this is really exceptional when frozen.

We enjoyed the waterfall for a few minutes and then climbed back up.  Back at the top, we followed the campground road and got on Moore's Wall Loop Trail and headed up to its namesake.  It's a pretty steep climb, but at least it was cool out.  We stopped for lunch at the top and enjoyed the views from the highest point in the Sauratown Mountains.

Then we continued along the trail.  It follows a ridge line for a while then starts heading down.  Where Moore's Wall Loop and Tory's Den Trail split, we turned right to head towards Tory's Den, which stays on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.  The trail is mostly flat at first, passing by Huckleberry Ridge, then descends down.  It was steep at first, but got more gradual towards the end with a couple switchbacks.  Moore's Wall was visible through breaks in the trees.

After crossing the road, we headed first to Tory's Falls.  It's the highest waterfall in the park, but on a small stream and its impossible to see the entire thing.

The water was up today, so it was looking pretty nice.  Then we made a quick stop at Tory's Den, a small cave.

After a couple pictures, we started hiking back.  It was steep on the hike up to Huckleberry Ridge, but all downhill after that.  It was particularly muddy on the last portion of the trail passing by the lake.  Alex got really dirty and his toes were orange with the clay mud by the time we got back to the car.  He enjoyed resting on the way home, but didn't enjoy taking a bath when we got there.

Jordan Lake Hikes

Saturday, Sandy didn't have to go to work until the evening, so we took Alex for a day hike to Jordan Lake.  First, we headed to the New Hope Overlook at Jordan Lake State Recreation Area to get a stamp for Alex's passport.

We started off on the New Hope Overlook Trail, blazed both blue and red.  The lake was little foggy early in the morning as the temperature was still below freezing.

Right off the bat, it was pretty swampy as the lake level has been way up from all the rain we've been having.  Soon, the trail went up enough to get out of the swampy mess.  Going right at the split, we headed towards the overlook.  There were some nice views of the lake along the way.

We made a short detour out to the New Hope Overlook for views across Jordan Lake.

Continuing on, eventually the blue and red trails split and we followed red for the longer loop.  Throughout the trail, there was evidence of damage the area had taken from storms and flooding.  There was a lot of garbage along the trail that had been left by high waters.  I had a grocery bag in my backpack so picked some up, but it barely made a dent.  There were also several trees down over the trail, including one that was really massive.  As the trail departed from the lake shore, it headed steeply up and followed a ridge back to join up with the blue trail and then back to the start.

From here, we headed north on NC-751 along the eastern end of the lake.  At Stage Coach Road, we parked for the trailhead for Eagle Spur, part of the American Tobacco Trail through Jordan Game Land.  This trail follows the original route of the American Tobacco Railroad.  When Jordan Lake was created, the railroad was rerouted to the east, the current path of the American Tobacco Trail.  Right at the start, the trail crosses a tributary of New Hope Creek.  The water was pretty deep, but there were rocks to hop across.  Unfortunately, the rocks were very wobbly, but we made it across.  The trail follows the old railroad route and like our other hike, there was lots of garbage and evidence of flooding.

After about 2 miles or so, the trail ends at Jordan Lake, with the rest of the route underwater.

A piece of land sticking out on the other side marked where the railroad line used to go.  We took a little break here and then made our way back.

Along the way, we spotted a turtle just off the trail.

Kerr Lake Hikes

Saturday, we took Alex for some hikes up to Kerr Lake on the Virginia state line.  Our first stop was the visitor center for Kerr Lake State Recreation Area at Satterwhite Point Recreation Area, still in North Carolina.  After getting Alex's passport stamped, we set off for a short hike.

Kerr Lake State Recreation Area is comprised of seven access areas around the North Carolina side of the lake.  Most of the amenities are for camping and lake activities, with just a couple of short trails.  We hiked the Forestry Trail, the park's Track Trail.  The trail starts off paved and spur led out to a bench with a view of the lake.

Being winter, the views were enhanced by the lack of foliage.  Continuing on, the trail turned to natural surface after the amphitheater and followed the lake shore.  There were a couple other spots to go out for a view of the lake.

There was also an old cemetery off the trail with the grave marker for Richard Henderson, the father of North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Leonard Henderson, for whom the nearby city of Henderson is names.

The trail ended after about 3/4 of a mile and we turned around here.

Back at the car, we continued north into Virginia to Greenwood Wildlife Management Area at the western trailhead for Robert Munford Trail.  This trail led along the lake's shore on land owned by the Army Corps of Engineers as part of John H. Kerr Dam and Reservoir.  The trail is named for Robert Munford III, a prominent citizen of Mecklenburg County in the late 18th century.  The main trail was blazed purple and followed an old road.  In under a mile, we turned right where the blazes were blue to lead out to the cemetery where Robert Munford is buried.

To make a loop, we followed a white-blazed trail back to the main trail.  There were some nice views of the lake along here.

We also found what seemed to be the remains of and old home site.

Back on the main trail, we turned right to continue following the purple blazes.  The trail leads to a trailhead near Eagle Point Recreation Area after about 7 miles, but we didn't go the whole way.  We turned around at a tributary near the Taylor's Ferry Road and made the hike back.  Some holly trees still had berries on them.

To make the hike a little shorter, we stayed on the purple-blazed road and bypassed the trails leading back out to the cemetery.