Rattlesnake Lodge MST Hike

Monday morning, we checked out of the hotel early and headed to Craven Gap on Tower Mountain Road.  The Blue Ridge Parkway was closed here, but we could access it on foot from the parking at Craven Gap.

From the parking area, we picked up the Mountains-to-Sea Trail heading east, towards Rattlesnake Lodge.  This would be Alex's 9th hike for #MST40Hike - hike 6.

It was a dreary day, but the rain mostly held off, though everything was soaked.

There would be no sweeping views due to the fog, but it made for a nice atmosphere hiking through the clouds.

The trail passed by some great rock outcrops.

After passing Bull Gap, the trail ascended via some tight switchbacks.

It was about another mile to the ruins of Rattlesnake Lodge.

Dr. Chase Ambler of Asheville built the lodge as a summer home in the early 20th century.  The lodge burned down in the 1920s and now only the foundation remains.

We got some pictures and then started making our way back.  Near the start, we spotted a tree growing over a small cave.

Peeping in here, there was a geocache and small box with a signature log to document we found it.  It was just another 10 minutes back to the car and then we made the drive home.

Green River Waterfalls on Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day, we headed to Green River Game Land to meet up for an adventure with Team Waterfall.  We met up with everybody at 830 at a pull-off on Green River Cove Road.  An overgrown road led upstream along an unnamed tributary that flows down from Pace Cliffs.  We soon came to the lower waterfall on this tributary, sometimes called Pace Yourself Creek.

It was a real nice waterfall in high water conditions, about 15 feet high.

Continuing up this little creek, there were some nice cascades just a little further up.

From here, headed west towards the next drainage.  There was some semblance of an old road most of the way, but lots of downed trees over it.  The road passed by a huge boulder just before reaching the next creek.

As we reached the creek, we could see there was a nice waterfall, but it was very steep getting down to it.  We named this one Amanda Falls and it was very nice.

There were some nice cascades just above Amanda Falls.

And another 25-foot waterfall above that, I'm calling it Upper Amanda Falls.

The stream got pretty small above this point and we found a place to cross and continue up.  Eventually, we came out at a climber's trail and followed that back to Pace Cliffs.

The cliffs were beautiful but too wet to think about climbing.  At the end of the trail, we climbed down to the creek and then went upstream a short ways to Pace Yourself Falls.

The waterfall was very high and quite impressive, but it started to rain when we got here.

So we got some pictures and headed back.  We could mostly follow the creek downstream back to the cars.

After saying good-bye to our friends, we headed back to Asheville.  We were so tired, we just got take-out and ate it back at the hotel.

Graybeard Mountain

Saturday, we took Alex to the mountains for a long weekend of hiking and waterfalls.  We left early in the morning and drove towards Asheville.  In Black Mountain, we headed to Montreat and the Graybeard Trailhead in Montreat Wilderness.  Although private property, the public is allowed to hike the great trails throughout the wilderness.  Starting off on Graybeard Trail, we followed Flat Creek upstream.  There were three crossings of the creek that were a little difficult in high water.  After about 1.5 miles, the trail made a switchback and headed away from the creek.  There were some nice cascades here.

The trail then followed an old railroad grade and made a very long switchback.  Where the trail came back to the creek, a short spur led to Graybeard Falls.

Only 15 feet high, it's not a spectacular waterfall, but was pretty scenic in high water.

The rain had died down so we took a little break here.

Continuing on Graybeard Trail, we soon reached the Walker's Knob Shelter.

Walker's Knob Trail split from here and led a short ways to the overlook.

But it was too cloudy today for much of a view.

Back on Graybeard Trail, it became quite steep past the shelter.  Upon reaching Big Slaty, it leveled out a bit for the final ascent up.

Like Walker's Knob, it was too cloudy for much of a view from Graybeard so we didn't linger long.

Hiking back down the mountain, it rained for a little bit then started to clear up some.  Near the beginning, we made a turn on Harry Bryan Trail and then Julia Woodward Trail.  Near the end was Julia Woodward Falls.

It's a short drop followed by a long slide.

The ended at a scenic rocky area at the upper drop.

Heading back, we took Sanctuary Trail to continue following Little Slaty Branch back towards the parking.

There were more scenic cascades along the creek.

It was just a short ways then back to the car.

From here, we headed to Asheville and checked into the Holiday Inn.  The restaurant was booked so we got room service and then went to bed.

Rainy Hikes in Hillsborough

Sunday, we took Alex for a couple hikes in Hillsborough on a rainy morning.  Our first stop was Seven Mile Creek Natural Area, an Orange County park just outside Hillsborough.  It rained most of the drive out but was just a drizzle by the time we arrived.  We followed the main loop trail and then a short detour on the overlook trail.

The creek was very swollen with all the rain.

Back on the main trail, there was another spot to go down to Sevenmile Creek.

As the trail looped around, we took the Northern Forest Trail.

Finishing this loop up, we headed back to the car.

Our next stop was at Gold Park in Hillsborough for a hike on the Riverwalk.  Alex could get another MST 40 Hike following the Riverwalk to Historic Oconeechee Speedway as well as a stamp for BING-ENO.

The trail followed Eno River under a railroad and towards downtown Hillsborough.

In under 2 miles, it left the Riverwalk and headed towards Historic Occoneechee Speedway.  We stayed on Mountains-to-Sea Trail into James M Johnston Nature Preserve.

The trail ended at US-70 and we weren't going to hike along the road, so this was our turnaround point.  There was a nice cascade on a tributary of Eno here.

On the hike back, we made a loop around the Historic Occoneechee Speedway Trail.

The grandstand, flag stand and several old cars were along the trail.

The hike was under a mile, but lots to look at and very enjoyable.

After the loop, we followed MST back to Hillsborough.

The clouds began to clear and there was a little blue sky as we finished our hike.  But more people were showing up on the trail so a good time to quit.