Graveyard Ridge MST Hike

Saturday, we took Alex to the mountains for some early fall foliage hiking.  We left very early and got on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville right around sunrise.  We made one quick stop at View Chestnut Cove for a nice sunrise view.

Then we continued to Black Balsam Road and the trailhead for Art Loeb Trail and the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.  Alex would be completing hike 4 for #mst40hike.

We set off one the MST and enjoyed the lovely fall color at high elevation.

The color was really popping up here.

In about 1.5 miles, we passed the first junction with Graveyard Ridge Trail with views looking north into Shining Rock.

After the second junction with Graveyard Ridge Trail and the MST Connector, we got off the trail near a campsite and went down to Yellowstone Prong.

Since we had the dog, we took turns heading down to Yellowstone Falls.  After crossing the creek, I followed the steep trail down, eventually coming out near the middle of the waterfall.

Going any further would be difficult.  It looked like a landslide had taken out most of the path down to the base.  I managed to get down and a tree had fallen right over the falls, so it was definitely not worth the climb down.  Sandy did not try to get down here.

We headed back up and continued on the trail.  I warned a couple other folks about the base of Yellowstone Falls.  Although it was fall, there were still a lot of asters blooming.

In another mile or so, we came to what's left of Skinny Dip Falls after the destruction from Tropical Storm Fred.

Massive boulders were moved around in the creek and the waterfall looked very differently than before.  It was still a popular spot though.

It was about 1.5 more miles to the end of the hike at View Cherry Cove.

There was a nice view of Looking Glass Rock from here.

Sandy and Alex waited while I headed back to the car.  I took Graveyard Ridge Trail to make a partial loop on the way back.

I finished up the hike and then drove back to pick up Sandy and Alex.

From here, we drove to Sapphire and checked into Brook Trout Inn.  For dinner, we headed to Micas and had a pizza on the deck with Alex.