Mt. Mitchell

8/11/19

Sherri and I

Today we are hiking our 2nd trail on MT Mitchell. This time we are hiking part of the Black Mountain Crest Trail. This trail is 12 miles from the Summit to Deep Gap and has 6 peaks along the way. We are definitely doing 2 peaks but we will see.

We got there early and it was foggy and dreary and oh dear 60 degrees! First stop, the gift shop for a poncho and a T-shirt cause we were not dressed for this! I’m not sure why we thought we needed it because we have hiked long enough to know 10 minutes down the trail and the layers are coming off!

The trail starts at the picnic area and goes up a rocky path to the first peak, MT. Craig. We are still socked in and have absolutely no views!

Mt. Craig is the 2nd highest peak in the Appalachians at 6647 ft just below Mt Mitchel at 6684 ft.

Then the trail does some downhill and about a half a mile late we arrive at Big Tom. This one is named after the man who found Dr. Elisha Mitchels body when he fell to his death in 1867.

There are lots of people on this trail today. I’m pretty sure non hikers usually turn around at Mt. Craig because this is rated as a strenuous trail.

The trail started to go down and it’s very rocky. There are 2 running groups going by us. One guy told us they were on a poetry run. I said then let’s hear a poem! He said what kind? I said haiku. He did a limerick instead and went on his way. That was so odd!

I can’t comprehend running on this trail! It’s rocky and steep!

There were a lot of flowers on this trail. The smell of the balsam trees and the greenery made it super nice since we still didn’t have any views.

We walked down hill for a while thinking coming up this is gonna be lots of fun.🤦‍♀️ Then we decided to turn around and go on another hike some where else. When we got back to the parking lot the sky was showing some clearing! Figures! The parking lot was jam packed as well as the picnic area.

We got in the car and headed toward Craggy Gardens. We stopped at Craggy Pinnacle basically because we have not hiked up it before. We do try to stay away from tourist areas and with only .7 miles up this was one!

There are lots of people here. It’s a nice trail to the over look.

At the top is a nice stone viewing area with 360 degree views.

There is a really cool tree on the trail.

We went back down and got in the car and headed down the Blue Ridge Parkway and went on home. We didn’t do too many miles today but had some short heart pumping miles. We are coming back again to do this whole trail!