Blue Ridge Parkway MST Hikes

Saturday, we took Alex back out to the mountains for a day trip for him to complete the #mst40hike challenge.  We left very early and arrived to the Blue Ridge Parkway before sunrise.  Arriving at E. B. Jeffress Park right around first light, it was too cloudy for much of a sunrise.  But the view from the overlook was nice.

We first got on the Cascades Trail and headed to Cascade Falls.

The first overlook was at the top of the falls and the second was further down.

The water level was low, but it was scenic there was a splash of fall color.  Heading back up, we got on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail for Alex to complete the Blue Ridge Escarpment hike.

Although the trail was mostly forested, we got the occasional glimpse through breaks in the trees.

The trail crossed the parkway and continued following it northbound.

We passed through an open meadow at Phillips Gap and then back in the woods.  At the next meadow, there were some milkweed follicles that had popped open to reveal the seeds.

We headed back in the woods for about another a mile.

The trail popped back out on the parkway at Benge Gap, our turnaround point.

 Sandy waited with Alex while I ran back to get the car.

After picking them back up, we made a quick stop at View Betseys Rock Falls.  With the leaves still on the trees, it was difficult to see much of Betseys Rock Falls.

But the view from the overlook was great, even if we couldn't really see the waterfall.

Our next stop was at Basin Cove Overlook in Doughton Park.  We first stopped for a couple pictures from the overlook.

Then we got on the MST heading eastbound.  In about 1.5 miles, we came to View Bluff Mountain overlook.

This spot had some really fantastic fall foliage views.

Continuing on the trail, we could soon see Bluff Mountain.

The trail came out at Alligator Back Overlook, just before climbing up.

With some switchbacks, it wasn't too steep and we took another snack break near the top to enjoy the views.

From this point, the trail headed down to the picnic area through a beautiful open area.

The trail then climbed up a small hill with a lone tree at the top.  I love that tree.

We saw a few banded woolly bears in the grass.

After passing the inn, we came to the turnaround point at the visitor center.  Sandy and Alex waited while I ran back to get the car.

We made one last stop along the parkway at Stone Mountain Overlook.

Nice views from here and the fall foliage was beautiful at the overlook.

After some pictures, we headed to Elkin for dinner at Angry Troll and then made the drive home.

Blue Ridge Parkway MST Hike

Monday morning, we checked out of the hotel and headed to E. B. Jeffress Park along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  We got our stuff together and headed northbound along the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.  The trail followed Falls Creek down and there were some nice cascades along the trail.

Crossing a footbridge, the trails diverged and we went right towards Cascade Falls.

With high water and the leaves off the trees, this waterfall was looking really good.  There was some ice near the top.

The view from further down was great.

After some pictures, we headed up and got back on the MST.  Heading northbound from Jeffress Park, the trail followed along the top of a cliff.  It was very forested so the views were obscured but it was a scenic hike overall.

It crossed the parkway and climbed up, running high above the road.  A few parts of the trail were very narrow.

Soon, we descended to an open field where some guys were flying a model airplane.  Alex said hi to their dog and then we continued on, walking along the road a short ways before getting back on trail and climbing up.

We crossed the parkway one more time and hiked about a half-mile further and came to a nice spot for a snack break.  Then we turned back and hiked back to the car.

Driving southbound on the parkway, we made one stop at Elk Mountain Overlook.

The views from this overlook were really great and we could see Grandfather Mountain in the distance.

On the way home, we stopped in Winston-Salem at Foothills Brewery for an early dinner.  Then we drove the rest of the way home.

Waterfalls on the Way Home

Saturday morning, we were heading back to NC. But of course we had to get some more waterfalls on the way. After checking out of the hotel, we headed towards Erwin and headed into Cherokee National Forest on Clarks Creek Road. In about 3 miles, we reached the trailhead for Sill Branch Falls. After getting our stuff together, we started hiking. We had to dress in layers as it was very cold this morning, unseasonably so for Tennessee in April. We didn't have any warm clothes so we wore rain jackets to help stay warm. The hike was only about half a mile to this very scenic 50-foot waterfall.

After a few pictures, we headed back and drove a short ways further on Clarks Creek Road to the trailhead for Longarm Branch Trail.

It’s over 2 miles to Longarm Branch Cascades and we weren’t going to go that far. Instead, we followed the trail for about a half-mile to a crossing.

Right after rock-hopping across, we turned left to follow a path heading upstream along Devil Fork Creek.

Shortly, we reached the 25-foot Pine Ridge Falls.

It's a very scenic waterfall and very easy to reach, especially from the trailhead for Sill Branch Falls. After some pictures, we made our way back to the car. We then headed to the Rock Creek Recreation Area. This is also a pay area, though most of the roads were gated. After paying we hiked in on the roads to the campground and then followed the Rock Creek Trail as it followed its namesake upstream, eventually entering the Unaka Mountains Wilderness. The trail was pretty easy to follow, but it was very cold. As we hit around 3000 feet in elevation or so, we started to see snow on the ground. Soon we came to Lower Rock Creek Falls, a 30-foot slide.

We climbed down to the base for some pictures, then headed back up to the trail. At one point, there was a nice view of the waterfall from the side from up on the trail.

Above that was a much smaller cascade with icicles all around.

We could really tell how cold it was getting - snow was now covering the ground Then soon we made it to the Rock Creek Falls, a two-tiered 50-foot waterfall. It was really scenic, but hard to get a picture.

The upper part was illuminated by direct sunlight, while the lower part was in the shadows. It was very cold and windy so I didn’t try for too long.

We then headed back and made our way back into NC. I counted up our waterfalls for the week and got to 49. That just won’t do. After getting through Boone, we hopped on the Blue Ridge Parkway and drove a couple miles to E. B. Jeffress Park.

Here, we made the short hike to Cascade Falls, a very tall cascading waterfall. The overlook is near the top and it’s difficult to judge just how far down it does.

After some pictures, we made our way back and drove home after an epic week of Tennessee waterfalls.