Early Fall Color at Moses Cone

Saturday, we took Alex and Harper to the mountains to catch some early fall foliage.  We got on the Blue Ridge Parkway towards Blowing Rock and made a quick stop at Yadkin Valley Overlook.

The skies were clearing but the clouds hanging over the valley were really beautiful.  We then continued on to the Manor at Moses Cone Memorial Park and parked.  After getting Harper in the stroller, we followed Watkins Road to Deer Park Road and headed down towards Bass Lake.

There were some nice Indian oyster mushrooms growing in a stump.

At the bottom, we got on the Bass Lake Trail to make a loop around the beautiful lake.

It was still a little early but the fall color was looking very nice.

There was some agueweed flowering along the lake.

Almost around the lake, there was a great view of the manor house way above.

After finishing the loop around the lake, we took Duncan Road back up to the manor house.

Harper's stroller did very well on the carriage trails and she seemed to enjoy the hike.

From here, we made a short drive to Julian Price Memorial Park and managed to get a parking spot at the lake.

The fall color was really pretty, but Alex and Harper were getting tired.

So we only went as far as the boat rental and enjoyed the lake for a few minutes before heading back.

Mile High Swinging Bridge

Friday, I headed to the mountains for a long and challenging day hike.  Parking at Boone Fork Trailhead, I took Tanawha Trail to enter Grandfather Mountain State Park and started off on Nuwati Trail.  In about a mile, I turned on Cragway Trail and started heading up in earnest.

It was really chilly when I had started, but soon took of my jacket as I warmed up quickly going steeply up.  About halfway up this trail was Top Crag View, which has one of the nicest views in the park.

The trail ended at Flat Rock View at the intersection with Daniel Boone Scout Trail.

I turned on that trail and continued heading steeply up.  Near the top, there were a couple ladders to climb to reach the summit.

I topped out at the summit of Calloway Peak, just under 6,000 feet above sea level.  A runner arrived shortly after me, he was the first other person I had seen on the trail.

Heading back down the other side, I made a quick stop at Watauga View.

It was moderately steep heading down to Calloway Gap and then was fairly flat for a short ways.  As I got close to Attic Window Peak, there was some rock scrambling and more great views from the trail.

After crossing Attic Window, the trail headed steeply down through a rocky draw, reminiscent of hiking in the Rocky Mountains.  Then from MacRae Gap, several more ladders to head back up.

Getting closer to the private attraction parking, I was seeing a lot more people and there was a bottleneck at the ladder to get up to the top of MacRae Peak.

I took a break and had an early lunch up here enjoying the view and talked to some guys who had hiked up Profile Trail.  I descended the ladder and continued down.

There were more traffic jams along the ladders heading down and I continued on to upper parking lot for the private attraction and hiked across the mile-high swinging bridge.  It was exceptionally crowded, even on a weekday, but wanted to say I crossed after a very challenging hike.

But it was so crowded, I didn't stay long and started making the hike back.  Past Attic Window, I made a short detour to see Indian House Cave.

I made another detour past Calloway Peak to see the plane crash, just next to the Raven's Roost campsite.

Then I stayed on Daniel Boone Scout Trail the rest of the way down.  There were some cute honey mushrooms growing on a stump.

Daniel Boone Scout Trail ended back at Tanawha Trail and I hiked back to the car.

On the way home, I stopped at Two Boros in Wilkesboro for dinner.