Moses Cone MST Hike East

Sunday, we drove to Blowing Rock and had breakfast at Blowing Rock Market.  Then we drove to the manor house at Moses Cone Memorial Park.  Today, we were going to continue eastbound along the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.  There was construction ongoing at the manor house.

We headed east along Watkin Road, part of the carriage trail system.

There were some wildflowers blooming along the trail.

We also saw a few blooms on the rhododendron.

The road headed down via switchbacks and passed a lake, though it was fenced off.  After crossing Penley Branch, it ended at Camp Catawba Road.

The MST continued on this road and then took US-321 back to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We turned around here and headed back.

Back at the car, we headed into town for lunch at Blowing Rock Brewery.  It was dog friendly and we could eat outside.  The food was excellent and good beer too.  Heading home, we took the Blue Ridge Parkway to US-421 and made a stop at Grandview Overlook for one last mountain view.

Then we drove the rest of the way home.

Craggy Gardens MST Hike

Saturday morning, we woke up and had breakfast at camp then followed the detour to get on the Blue Ridge Parkway heading south.  We made a stop at Three Knobs Overlook for a nice morning view of the Black Mountains.

Then we continued a short ways to Crabtree Falls Recreation Area and parked at the trailhead next to the closed restaurant.  We followed the trail through the campground and then headed down to Crabtree Falls.

The light was shining right on it, so hard to get a good picture, but it's a really beautiful waterfall.

I got some close-up shots to avoid the poor lighting as much as possible.

Since it didn't look like any clouds were coming, we continued on.  The trail headed up steeply via switchbacks and then leveled off.  There was a nice cascade on Big Crabtree Creek a little ways above the waterfall.

The trail continued following the creek for a while, then headed back to up the campground where we finished the loop.

Continuing south on the parkway, we made a stop at Bald Knob Parking Area (though the sign said Laurel Knob Overlook) for a nice view of Bald Knob Ridge and the Black Mountains.

Then we continued to View Glassmine Falls so Alex could do another hike for #MST40hikes.

From the overlook, we could see Glassmine Falls, but there was no water flowing at all.

Heading westbound on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, we passed through some woods and then along the parkway.  In about a mile, we passed through a beautiful heath bald.

The views from here were really beautiful.

There was a nice view of Glassmine Falls, probably better than the overlook.

Passing through this open area, a number of wildflowers were blooming including some beautiful purple fringed orchids.

Soon, we came to Lunch Rock.

Going behind the rock, we could scramble up to the top for fantastic views.  We had lunch up here.

Scrambling back down was a little tricky for Alex and he needed some help.  Back on the trail, we skirted Bullhead Mountain and then headed back down towards the parkway.  There was a really cool tree along the trail.

The hike ended at the View Graybeard Mountain Overlook near Craggy Dome.  The 6k peak was in the clouds.

But the views from the overlook were really nice.

This was our turnaround point and we headed back with one more quick stop at the heath balds.

Then we made it back to the car at Glassmine Falls Overlook.

Since we were close by, we made a stop at Craggy Gardens at the trailhead for Craggy Pinnacle.  The clouds had rolled in, but we hiked the trail since we were here.  There are some great gnarled trees along the trail.

The rhododendron weren't flowering but there were some mountain laurel in bloom.

When we got to the summit, it was in the clouds and there were no views at all.

We went to the lower overlook but just as cloudy so we headed back to the car.

Driving back along the parkway, we stopped at several overlooks.  First we made a quick stop at Green Knob Overlook.

Then we stopped at View Mount Mitchell.  The Black Mountains were visible but the summits were hidden behind the clouds.

We continued northbound for a ways and made a stop at Deerlick Gap Overlook.

Then we stopped at The Loop Overlook with a view of the Altavista orchard below.

We made one final stop at Bear Den Overlook.

We got off the parkway at the detour and got dinner in Newland then headed back.  Before heading to camp, we parked at the visitor center for Linville Falls for a short evening hike.  We started down along the Erwins View Trail, crossing the river on a big bridge.

In about a half-mile we went to the Upper Falls Overlook for Linville Falls.

The upper twin drops were looking nice in the evening light.

I got some pictures, while Alex took a break.  Glad I got some pictures here.

We next went to Chimney View but the shine was right over the waterfall so no way to get a picture.  The view looking downstream into the gorge was nice thought.

We also went to Erwin's View put the sunlight was just as bad, so we headed back.

It was a just a mile back to camp and we built a nice big fire for our last night camping.

Linville Gorge Loop Hike

We took Alex out to the mountains for another long weekend of hiking and camping.  We left early and headed towards Boone then to Spruce Pine and parked along Spear Top Lane, a small gravel road.  There really isn't parking here, but we were able to get completely off the road.  A lady was here feeding a donkey who took an interest in Alex.  We hiked up the road a short ways and got on an overgrown road entering Yellow Mountain State Natural Area.  After crossing a small tributary, we hiked through an open area with nice views.

A lot of wildflowers were blooming in this open area.

Many daisies and black-eyed susans.

We also spotted some milkweed.

A silver-spotted skipper landed on a flower longer enough for a picture.

At the end of the open area, we entered the forest and crossed Justice Creek.  The road (or roads) followed the creek up on river left side now.  There seemed to be a number of intersecting old roads, but we stayed close to the creek.  There was a big snail in the road.

After about a mile, a very steep path led down to a nice cascades.  The path was really overgrown with stinging nettle.

Shortly after, the road ended and an obvious path continued straight on to Cutler Falls.

It was about a 70-foot falls, sliding and cascades.

The rocks around the base were really cool.

We played around a while and got pictures from different angles.  It was tricky to get far enough away to capture the entire thing.

Then we started hiking back.

Next we drove to Kistler Memorial Highway to enter Linville Gorge and parked at the Pine Gap Trailhead.  Pine Gap Trail headed down into the gorge moderately, passing a couple scenic overlooks.

The trail was rocky and somewhat difficult for a dog, but Alex seemed to enjoy the rock scrambling even if he needed some help in a few places.

Pine Gap Trail ended at the intersection with Linville Gorge Trail (#231) and Bynum Bluff Trail.  We went straight on Linville Gorge Trail to follow the river downstream.  In half a mile, there was a nice spot to go out on the river and have lunch.

Not much further, we spotted Brushy Ridge Falls on the river just below a campsite.

Although only about 15 feet high, it was quite scenic and I climbed around on the rocks for a bit to get some pictures.

Some bay forget-me-nots were blooming along the river here.

After some pictures, we continued on Linville Gorge Trail.  It was very rocky with difficult footing in places so the going was slow.

We followed the trail to Babel Tower Trail and went left to rock outcrop with some of the best views in the gorge.

Getting to the top is difficult, so we took turns to let Alex take a rest at the campsite.

The views from here are just stunning with Hawksbill and Table Rock in the distance.

After enjoying the views, we headed up Babel Tower Trail.  It was all uphill back to the road and quite steep in places.  Near the top, there was a break in the trees with a nice view looking back into the gorge.

At the trailhead, Sandy and Alex took a break while I walked the road back.  There was one spot along the road with a nice view.

Back at the car, I drove back to Babel Tower Trailhead to pick them up.

Then we headed to Linville Falls campground to set up camp.  We got tacos to go from Las Arcoiris in Pineloa and went to bed early after a long day.