Pinnacle Park in the Snow

Saturday, we left Raleigh to spend a week in the mountains with Alex for winter shutdown.  Leaving early, we got Sylva around 930 and headed to Pinnacle Park.  There was quite a bit of snow in the mountains when we arrived.  We set out on West Fork Trail following Fisher Creek upstream.  In about 0.5 miles, we passed Split Rock.

Soon, the trail started getting steeper and it was slow going in the snow.  Every step up was half a step down through the snow.

After about 2 miles, we got off the trail and bushwhacked down to Gina Falls.  In the snow, it was quite the winter wonderland.

Of course in the snow, bushwhacking is that much more difficult without being able to even see the ground.  I didn't get down to creek level or cross, but still enjoyed the views of the snowy waterfall.

Back on the trail, we soon reached Pinnacle Trail and went left to go out to the park's namesake.

The Pinnacle is a rock outcrop below Pinancle Bald.

Climbing out on here, the views of the surrounding Plott Balsam Mountains were beautiful.

Sylva could be seen far below.

We had lunch out here and then started making our way back.  To make a loop, we continued on Pinnacle Trail past West Fork Trail and turned to go down along East Fork Trail.  In a mile or so, we passed by Fisher Falls.

I scrambled down from the trail but I couldn't find anywhere to get a good view and it looked like there was a lot of down trees over it.

It was about 3/4 mile back to West Fork Trail.

There were some nice cascades and we took our time hiking back to enjoy the snowy views.

Alex really enjoyed his day in the snow.

Leaving the park, we drove to Franklin and got fast food and ate with Alex at Currahee Brewing.  They had a great outdoor seating area on the river and it was dog friendly.  Then we checked into our Airbnb at Gooder Groove.