Blowing Rock Hikes

Sunday morning, we headed up to Blowing Rock for breakfast and then parked at Glen Burney Trail.  It was a chilly morning as we hiked down the trail following New Year's Creek.  Some cool ice needles formed on slopes along the trail.

Shortly, we came to The Cascades and I scrambled down to the base.

No snow, but there were some cool icicles around the rocks and branches at the base.

Continuing on, we passed the top of Glen Burney Falls and I went out to the overlook.  In winter, there's a cluttered view before the leaves pop out.

A little further down the trail, we came to the split and first went right to the base of Glen Burney Falls.

In the other direction, the trail descended to Glen Marie Falls.  Most of the way down is a big rock with a nice view of the upper portion of the falls.

I then went down to the base, but I think the view from the rock is the best.

Then we made the hike back to the car.

From here, we headed to Moses Cone Memorial Park and stopped at the manor house.  We hiked over to Trout Lake and headed up the switchbacks a ways.

After a couple switchbacks we turned around and headed back.

It was a little early to head back so we headed up the Blue Ridge Parkway to stop at a few overlooks.  Our first stop was at Yonahlossee Overlook with a nice view of Grandfather Mountain.

Walking up the road a bit, there was a nice distant view of the parkway.

The next stop was at View Wilson Creek Valley, looking down into the valley with so many waterfalls.

Finally, we made a quick stop at Pilot Ridge Overlook.  The view is kind of cluttered, but could see Blowing Rock in the distance.

We continued to Blowing Rock and took US-321 south and stopped at Happy Valley Brewing for dinner.