Grandfather Mountain half-day hike

All being WessexWarrior and me.  No one else showed, which was fine.  We both had a really nice time getting to know each other.

It was a delightfully cool, misty morning on Grandfather Mountain – a nice escape from the 94 hot and muggy degrees that was forecast for Charlotte when I left.  Visibility was not great, but we could still see the surrounding peaks and valleys.  It was actually quite beautiful, and felt like we had the mountain all to ourselves (for the first half of the day at least).

The access to Grandfather trail from the Swinging Bridge was temporarily closed, so we had to drive down to the next parking area and start from a connecting access trail.  Weather conditions made the trail wetter and the rocks and logs a bit slippery.  WW and I both regretted not having shoes with better tread, but we marched intrepidly onward.  We hit the first of the ladders and took in the magnificent views atop the granite outcroppings.  We climbed to the top of McCrae Peak and ate our sandwiches in the misty drizzle.  Wind started to pick up and it got fairly chilly – we continued on, but decided if the rain intensified that we would turn back around.  We climbed the Chute and made it as far as Indian Cave, then decided to go back.  On the return leg we heard a noise crashing through the brush – turned around just in time to see a full-grown doe leaping across the trail and up the hillside no more than 20 feet behind us.

Total hike was probably only 2.5 miles, with an additional 1 mile out to Grandmother view and back. By then the sun had come out and we enjoyed basking in its warmth. We also walked the swinging bridge and talked to the animals at the nature preserve – saw some beautiful black bears, cougars, deer, otter and a huge bald eagle.

A stop in Blowing Rock for a cold beer and dinner was the perfect cap to a perfect day.  Thanks WW for making it so much fun!  I look forward to the next adventure.

Sorry – no photos.  My camera is 3000 miles away, spending the week in Lake Tahoe.

Calloway/Grandfather trail hike, approximately 6 miles total.

"This strenuous pathway of tumbled-down rock joins the Grandfather Trail after a climb of .3 miles. It makes the transition out of the hardwoods and into the Canadian fir zone of the crest area. Calloway is steep and rocky and calls for some careful footwork. Your reward is the view at the top, which opens up as you hike along the Grandfather Trail, an upper mountain ridge trail of astonishing variety, running in and out of wind-dwarfed spruce and fir, across or around rock walls and pinnacles, and into open spaces with views of mountains unfurling in every direction."