Beech Mountain Hike

Saturday, we went back to the mountains to escape the heat again.  We headed west to Boone and continued on US-321 west to a pull-off after a bridge over Watauga River.  A short trail led up to Laurel Creek Falls.

This is a really popular one, so good thing we got there early.

We got some pictures of the main drop and pool and then went down to the lower cascades.

But we weren't swimming, so after a couple pictures, we took off and headed up to Beech Mountain, parking at the Buckeye Lake Recreation Center.  We got on Falls Trail and headed down to Buckeye Creek Falls.

A cloud conveniently came in so we could get some nice pictures.

Then we headed up and followed Buckeye Creek upstream.

At the dam, the trail met up with Buckeye Lake Loop and we finished the hike back up at the recreation center.

Crossing the road, we got on Grassy Gap Trail and followed the creek up.  There was a detour and we had to take Raccoon Road to get around.  There were some big hemlock varnish shelf growing on a log.

At the end of the road, we took Red Fox to get back to Grassy Gap and followed this all the way up to Hawthorne Road.  On the way back down, we took Sassafras Trail back to Grassy Gap.  Back at the recreation center, we took Buckeye Lake Loop around the lake.

There was some mountain laurel blooming along the lake.

This eventually met back up with Falls Trail near the dam and we finished the loop.

We had worked up an appetite on our hike and went back to Booneshine for dinner.  This time, we got barbecue from the food truck and ate in the outside area.  Then we stopped at the Middle Fork Greenway trailhead on US-321 to work off the barbecue.  We first went north but it was just a short ways to Goldmine Branch trailhead and the current end.  So we then went south half a mile or so and found a nice bench to rest on.

After a break, we headed back.

From here, we followed US-321 back to Lenoir and stayed at the Red Roof Inn again.