Duke Gardens on Easter Weekend

Saturday, we took Harper for her first visit to Duke Gardens over the Easter weekend.  We arrived a little after 8 to mostly beat the crowds and headed down to the rose gardens where lots of roses and other flowers were blooming around the fountain.

Since we didn't have Alex, we hiked through the Blomquist Native Plants Garden.

There were lots of beautiful plants that are native to the area, including many we see on our hikes.

Jack in the pulpit, flame azalea and trilliums are some of the flowers we often see in the woods.

Witch alder had cool white flowers.

There was even a Trillium Walk, with many species of beautiful trillium. 

After finishing up the garden, we hiked around the south lawn and to the terraces where the tulips were in peak bloom.

There were also lots of daffodils and irises flowering here as well.

It was getting later in the morning and starting to get really crowded so we took after this.

Early Wildflowers at Carvers Creek

Sunday, we took Alex and Harper for a wildflower hike in the Sandhills.  We headed towards Fayetteville to the Sandhills Access for Carvers Creek State Park.  After getting our stuff together, we set out on Longleaf Pine Trail, the main trail on this side of the park.

Alex enjoys the soft, sandy trails on his paws.  In about a mile, we took the short spur out to Little Pond, an old farm pond.

Back on the main trail, we continued another mile to Fox Squirrel Loop Trail and then continued on Longleaf Pine out towards the end.

As the sun got higher in the sky and the temperatures warmed up, we started seeing more wildflowers popping up.

It was a little early, but the irises were starting to shoot up from the forest floor.

There were a couple big patches of pyxie-moss with its tiny flowers along the trail.

And lots of lots of birdsfoot violets.

It was about lunch time when we got back to the car.

Driving out, we stopped for a recreational survey from some NC State Students then went to get some lunch at Phoenix Bar and Grill.  It was in a country club but open to the public and had pretty good food and drinks.

Rendezvous Mountain

Monday morning, we checked out and headed towards Wilkesboro and drove up to Rendezvous Mountain State Park.

Formerly an educational state forest, it was changed to a park in 2022.  After parking, we took Amadahy Waterfalls Trail that descended steeply for about a mile to Purlear Creek.  As the trail started following the creek upstream, we could see Amadahy Falls.

It was a steep bushwhack down the base of the waterfall.

I wasn't expecting much, but was impressed by how nice this one is. 

From here, the trail continued following the creek upstream for a while and then got steep as it headed up to the gravel road.  We followed the road back around to finish up the loop.

We then drove back down the mountain and had lunch at Dooleys in Wilkesboro before heading home.

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.

Shortoff Hike in Linville Gorge

For the holiday weekend, we took Alex and Harper out to the mountains.  Alex wanted to take his little sister to his favorite spot for a hike, so we first went to the Wolf Pit Trailhead for Linville Gorge.  Shortoff Trail heads up the mountain from here.  Alex really enjoys the rocky steps climbing up the mountain.  Near the top, it meets up with MST and has really great views.

We hiked as far as the campsite with stunning views of Table Rock and the gorge.  There was a group camping here, so we just got a couple pictures and let Harper get her first views of Linville Gorge.

It was really windy up here, so we couldn't stay long anyway.

Once we started heading down the mountain, the wind died down.

Heading back down to NC-126, we made a stop at Fonta Flora County Park.

The Fonta Flora State Trail runs along the shore of Lake James through the park.

After a mile or so, the trail opened up and had really nice views of the lake and surrounding mountains.

There was a bench along here where we stopped for a break and then turned around.

We had worked up quite an appetite by this point and headed into Las Salsas for some delicious fajitas.  We hadn't eaten here in a while and I was glad the food was still delicious and portions huge.  Then we headed to Lenoir to check into the hotel for the evening.