Glen Burney Hike

Sunday, we had breakfast at the hotel and checked out, then headed back up to Blowing Rock where it would be a bit cooler at higher elevation, parking at Glen Burney Trail.  The trail followed an old road behind houses then switchbacked down towards the creek, passing by the Ruins.

This was location of an old sewer plant for the town of Blowing Rock from the 1920s.

The trail then crossed the creek on a bridge and continued downstream.

In just over half a mile, we came to the Cascades and I scrambled down to the creek for a picture.

The trail got a little steeper and rockier after this point.  At the split, we went left first and came to near the top of Glen Marie Falls.  There wasn't much of a view here.

The trail then descended down the waterfall.  About half way down was a view of the upper section of the waterfall, but there was too much foliage to see much.  It would be a better view in winter.  We finished the trail at the base of Glen Marie Falls.

We then climbed back up and went straight at the split out to Glen Burnie Falls.

We stopped and had a snack at the base, enjoying the view before heading back up.

There were some wildflowers and mountain laurel blooming and we stopped for some pictures.

It was a little late in the season, but some summer blooms were hanging on.

By the time we got back, it had warmed up quite a bit.

From here, we got on the Blue Ridge Parkway and parked at Thunder Hill Overlook.

There was a nice view here and then we got on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail heading westbound to hike the section between here and Moses Cone.

There were several gates to climb and the trail went through some scenic meadows.

We went as far as Old Camp Catawba Road and turned back.  But we continued on past the overlook for another mile.

Some jack in the pulpits were blooming along the trail.

As we got closer to Raven Rocks, there were some really cool rocks along the trail.

We popped out at Raven Rocks Overlook with a nice view west.

There were a lot of cool rocks at the overlook, but had unfortunately been vandalized with graffiti.

Then we hiked back.

From here, we started driving home and made a quick stop at Carroll Gap Overlook.

We stopped at Dooleys in Wilkesboro for lunch before making the drive home.

Moses Cone Bass Lake Hike

Saturday, we took Alex to the mountains for the weekend to escape the heat in Raleigh.  Our first stop was in Seven Devils at Otter Falls Trail.  After getting our stuff together, we took Red-Blue-Orange Trails to Otter Falls.

It was a sunny day so it was hard to get a good picture, but it's a pretty waterfall and flowers were blooming around it.

We went upstream a bit to see some scenic cascades along Valley Creek and take a break.

On the hike back, we took the other direction of the loop trails.  The Orange Trail followed Valley Creek downstream past the falls for a short ways before looping back up.

Yellow Trail is a short one-way trail that splits from Blue Trail.

Mountain laurel and galax were flowering along the trail.

It ended at an overlook above Valley Creek but there was too much foliage for much of a view.

Then we took the other end of the Blue Trail loop back to Red Trail.

Some fire pink was flowering along the trail.

The Red Trail loop ended back at the parking lot.

From here, we headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and parked at the manor at Moses Cone Memorial Park.  We hiked past the manor on Duncan Trail and followed it down towards Bass Lake.

There were oxeye daisies and other wildflowers blooming in the open areas.

Some great spangled fritillary butterflies were enjoying the flowers as well.

Further down the trail, we some some big hemlock varnish shelf mushrooms growing.

More butterflies on a nice summer day.

Down towards the lake, we started to see mountain laurel blooming.

And there were a couple jack in the pulpits remaining.

Duncan Trail ended at Bass Lake and we took the trail around the scenic lake.

A lot of fragrant water lilies were floating in the lake.

At the north end of the lake was Heart Pond, a little double pond that the Cones built.

Finishing up the loop, there were great views of Flat Top Manor way above the lake.

On the way back up, we hiked around the Maze, a winding carriage road.

It ended up near the Apple Barn.

From here we took Deer Park Trail back up towards the parking area.

Some fire pink were blooming along the trail.

It was after noon by this point and we had worked up an appetite, so headed to Booneshine for an early dinner.  After dinner, we stopped at Brookshire Park to walk off the food and beer.  The South Fork New Greenway headed downstream along the river for just under a mile to the end.

There were some common ninebark flowering along the river.

On the hike back, I spotted some southern blue flag irises along the trail.

We finished back up at the park.

From here, we drove south on US-321 towards Lenoir with a short detour to see Silvervale Falls.

It's a scenic waterfall, but unfortunately has been heavily vandalized with graffiti.  We finished up the drive to Lenoir and checked into the Red Roof Inn.