Graybeard Mountain

Saturday, we took Alex to the mountains for a long weekend of hiking and waterfalls.  We left early in the morning and drove towards Asheville.  In Black Mountain, we headed to Montreat and the Graybeard Trailhead in Montreat Wilderness.  Although private property, the public is allowed to hike the great trails throughout the wilderness.  Starting off on Graybeard Trail, we followed Flat Creek upstream.  There were three crossings of the creek that were a little difficult in high water.  After about 1.5 miles, the trail made a switchback and headed away from the creek.  There were some nice cascades here.

The trail then followed an old railroad grade and made a very long switchback.  Where the trail came back to the creek, a short spur led to Graybeard Falls.

Only 15 feet high, it's not a spectacular waterfall, but was pretty scenic in high water.

The rain had died down so we took a little break here.

Continuing on Graybeard Trail, we soon reached the Walker's Knob Shelter.

Walker's Knob Trail split from here and led a short ways to the overlook.

But it was too cloudy today for much of a view.

Back on Graybeard Trail, it became quite steep past the shelter.  Upon reaching Big Slaty, it leveled out a bit for the final ascent up.

Like Walker's Knob, it was too cloudy for much of a view from Graybeard so we didn't linger long.

Hiking back down the mountain, it rained for a little bit then started to clear up some.  Near the beginning, we made a turn on Harry Bryan Trail and then Julia Woodward Trail.  Near the end was Julia Woodward Falls.

It's a short drop followed by a long slide.

The ended at a scenic rocky area at the upper drop.

Heading back, we took Sanctuary Trail to continue following Little Slaty Branch back towards the parking.

There were more scenic cascades along the creek.

It was just a short ways then back to the car.

From here, we headed to Asheville and checked into the Holiday Inn.  The restaurant was booked so we got room service and then went to bed.