Sunday Hiking fun

10/21/18

Ashley, me , Riley and Cain (dogs)

I met Ashley on New Cut road in Spartanburg and we headed towards the Blue Ridge Parkway. I thought we would go to Black Balsam Knob to Tennant Mountain. This is a great hike with lots of views. I checked the weather and it said high 49. What I didn’t check was the lows!

I didn’t bring lunch and forgot to stop on the way so I stopped at the lodge on the parkway. When I got out of the car, oh man! It was 26 degrees and the wind was whipping! Brrrr!!

I grabbed a couple sandwiches for us and one for the dogs and we went to Black Balsam.

On the way up the parkway there were icicles all over the rocks. I had to stop and take a picture!

When we arrived there was a lot of cars. I parked and we started walking down. Ashley said it was snowing. I said no way the sky is blue. The trees were frozen and the wind was blowing the frost off.

It was so cold. I gave Ashley my climbing gloves. She brought a scarf. We were not dressed for this. I had a T-shirt and a thin jacket. We walked about half way up the rocks and stopped to take a couple of pics. If the wind were to quit it wouldn’t be so bad but problem was it was kicking!

We decided to go back to the car. If we would have waited it probably warmed up but it was only 9:30. I decided to head to Brevard thinking it wouldn’t be so windy. It’s only 20 miles.

On the way we passed Moore Cove Falls. I turned around and we hiked down to it. It’s only a half mile each way. The dogs really enjoyed it. Cain, the black dog, is so strong he just pulls you down the trail. I caught a rainbow in the first pic.

We headed back to the car. It was much warmer here and less windy! Although it was just in the 40’s.

I decided to take her to Gorges State Park. I love that hike to the falls. She has never been and it’s a good 6 miles so win win.

We left a packed parking lot and headed down the trail. We both took turns walking Cain because it’s so tiring being dragged down the trail by him!

The first Falls is Rainbow Falls. This is one of my favorites because it’s so powerful. The last time I saw it there was way more water going over it. It was still beautiful but a big difference between spring and fall.

We stopped on the bridge then walked down to the observation deck. Most people stop here and turn around. We climbed a steep climb back to the trail and continued down the trail to the next Falls. It was kind of sad because they had signs everywhere warning you not to get near the falls it was dangerous. This was because 2 people died here this year.

This is the one is called Turtleback Falls but has a nickname of Bust Your Butt Falls and people actually slide down this falls. It has about a 20 ft drop into the pool below. I really have to do this!

We continued up the trail to the last falls called Drift Falls. I took the wrong path and we ended up at an old road going back into Gorges state park so we turned around and headed back. We decided not to go to the last falls.

We stopped to take a couple more pictures of Rainbow Falls and hiked back to the car.

The trail back to the car is mostly uphill.

We got back in the car and those dogs were tired now! They actually laid down in the back. I checked the mileage and it was 7 miles for the day. We were a little tired too!

We got back to Brevard and were hungry. We decided to go to the Pisgah Tavern which is a bar attached to a outdoors store. They had a BBQ food truck so we grabbed a BBQ sand which plate and a beer. It was really good.

We sat on the very dog friendly patio and I notice this old chemical drum!

It says Hooker Chemical in Niagara Falls NY. I grew up 2 blocks from the boundary of Love Canal. It was filled in with lots of these that leaked toxic waste over the years. Needless to say I was amazed to find this and a little sad.

It was time to head home. I really love getting to spend time with my girls. I felt lucky to get Ashley for a whole day!