Busy Day in Western North Carolina

August 10, 2022                                                            Most Recent Posts:
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Spruce Pine North Carolina

Today was a hiking day.  It started off at Flat Rock Loop Trail and then to Beacon Heights Trail.  Thought I’d go to Blowing Rock for lunch on my way to Cascade Falls but that didn’t work out and I ended up in Boone in a rain storm.

When one stays a month or two in one spot it is necessary to venture out in order to see all the things an area has to offer.  Today I started with a 16 mile drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway going North to the Flat Rock Trail.

I’m hiking the Flat Rock trail to what is described as a massive Quartzite outcropping .   The Flat Rock Trail starts out flat but can’t stay that way if I’m to see any views.

Along the trail I am so happy to see a little American Chestnut tree.  I know it won’t grow to be  huge like its ancestors, but the roots live on and the tree doesn’t give up.  These little ones grow back from the old roots and may grow for years but cannot get to the 100’ tall and 10’ diameter size of their forbearers before succumbing to the oriental Chestnut blight.  This is one of the serious down sides of global commerce.

 

Prior to the 20th Century, the chestnut was the giant of the Eastern Forests and we have remnants of them growing just like this little one on the hills at the farm.  The have distinctive leaves that are often mistaken for the Chestnut Oak.   There are 28 native species of Oaks in North Carolina but only one American Chestnut.

 

The Flat Rock Trail went through the forest and up to the flat rock which was being colonized by all sorts of plant growth.   It’s a HUGE rock summit and hard to tell how much of the area it covers because it is so covered.   Flat rock has what are known as “bath tubs” like the small one on my right.  They are shallow basins.

Notice up in the top right it appears that a trail goes on further.

From this sign I learn that small cracks and pits collect rainwater which loosen the natural cement around the rock grains.  In winter the freezing moisture splits the rock and pries out larger pieces.  Strong winds blowing across the ridge cause mini whirlwinds in the bath tubs rounding and deepening them as the loose fragments spin against the walls.  And thus the basins are formed.

Every time I thought I’d reached the end, exploring the rock face showed me yet further to go.   That “trail” in the top right of the first picture above turned out to lead me on to the spot below where I had some distant mountain views.  Is this the summit??

I was serenaded by the Eastern Towhee whom I still prefer to call the Rufous Sided Towhee.  They are one of my favorite birds and I was so pleased to be able to get even a so so picture of her and to hear his song though I didn’t see him.  

Use this link to learn about them.  If you go to this site, scroll down and on the lower right side of the page you will find samples of their classic song which I hear as “drink your teaeeee” and their call which sounds to me like they are saying their name, “towee, towee”.  There is a video later of my personal bird singing his call.

I guess over time soil has formed which enable these plants to grow leaving only wonderful rock paths to take me to other views.

At some points, I’d get to a dead end and have to go look for another rock path.

But everywhere the views were great.

Another dead end.

Another view.

I thought this path was too narrow to be anything but it turned out to be the way down.

On my way back down this loop trail I passed what looked like a group of slabs stacked up by a giant to make a patio.   How do these things happen?   Nature is just amazing.

Flat Rock was a short but great trail I would highly recommend.

From Flat Rock I got back on the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped at the Grandfather Mountain overlook.

  Does it look like a grandfather laying on his back?  I was surprised to learn that the United Nations designated Grandfather Mountain as an International Biosphere Reserve.  Traveling from the base of the mountain to the top provides a variety of habitats as if you’d traveled from North Carolina to Canada.    Grandfather Mountain’s Calloway Peak at nearly 6000 feet is the highest point on the Blue Ridge Range.  My friend Brenda who “bagged” 4000 foot peaks all summer in New Hampshire and Vermont should check this one out.

From seeing Grandfather I went on to the Beacon Heights Trail which turned out to be another relatively short trail but rocky and going straight up.  The elevation at the top was 4340 ft and the views were grand.

There were views from multiple directions.

One showed storm clouds but I didn’t think much about them since the rest of the sky was white puffy clouds.  Here’s a short video of the views with a chirping towhee as a sound track.

Pretty clear where the Blue Ridge Mountains get their name.

I loved seeing the clouds settle down on the distant ranges.

Further on down the parkway I stopped to get a closer look at Cool Spring Baptist Church.  The sign told me that on summer Sundays mountain families gathered here from miles around to hear circuit riding preachers like Willie Lee or Bill Church expound from the shade of a large maple tree.  “This reconstructed mountain church was mostly a weather shelter since  the infrequent preachings generally were outdoors affairs.  I had wondered, since it was so small. 

I wish the sign had explained more about the “reconstruction”.  Was it reconstructed from materials found here or was it moved from somewhere else.

It was obvious from the size of the logs that original materials had been used.

Perhaps the chimney too was moved with the building.  Don’t you just hate people who have to mark up something wonderful like this.  What is the matter with them?

Look at the size of these logs.  I have a small hand and it would take at least 3 or 4 of them to measure the width of this log.

I loved the notching of the logs at the end and imagined that originally these logs were chinked to keep out the cold.  Although if the building was only used in the summer during inclement weather, perhaps not.

I was just so amazed at the size of these logs knowing that the tree, before being planed was larger than this.

My ultimate destination was to have been Blowing Rock but when I got there it was driving rain probably from the clouds I’d seen at Beacon Heights.  It was pouring and showed no signs of stopping.  I sat in the little town for a bit trying to decide whether to wait it out or not and decided to drive on to nearby Boone and see if it was also raining there.  Rain in the mountains can be quite localized.

It was and it was early afternoon.  I didn’t want to turn back so I did a totally uncharacteristic thing for me.  I saw that Where the Crawdad’s Sing was on at the movie theater and since it was mid day and mid week tickets were $5.  I’d read the book when it first came out and enjoyed it so I thought I’d see what the movie folks did to it.  I’m usually disappointed at what they have to do to squeeze a book into 2 hours.  But this time I was pleasantly surprised.  It was very true and the scenery alone was worth the price of the ticket.  Although the swamp girl somehow never seemed to be bothered by mosquitoes.

It had been a good call to go to the movie as the rain had stopped by the time the it was over.  I had stuffed myself with movie popcorn with butter of course.  It’s not possible for me to go to the movies without popcorn even though I paid way more for it than for my ticket.  Because of the popcorn, I wasn’t hungry and decided to go on to what was to have been my last stop after a late lunch, The Cascades.

These falls are on Falls Creek, aptly named.  The creek cascades down the Blue Ridge enroute to join the Yadkin River, then the Pee Dee River to the ocean at Wynyah Bay, South Carolina, a trip of more than 373 miles.

The trail starts out in the woods and flat.

The first set of steps to the upper falls which you have to walk down to.

Just beyond this point it began to get muddy as I climbed on down.

The falls are really only visible from the side but they are lovely and of course the sound is fantastic. 

Here’s a short video that is much better than the pictures.

More steps heading further down.

I guess these would be called the lower falls.

For those like me who love waterfalls and their sounds, here is a video of this lower falls.

Of course if you go down, you must go back up.  I always wonder how they got these rock steps in place.

This is a loop hike along the creek as it wanders down the mountain.

It’s really amazing that such a little creek creates such lovely falls. 

I crossed the bridge and once in the parking lot headed back to Boone where I had dinner at a restaurant recommended by Laurel when she and Eric were here.

Although the Stick Boy Bread Company Kitchen was also in a shopping center, the food was in a whole different class from my lunch in Marion.

The atmosphere was also quite different.

I had their Harvest Salad (kale, organic spinach, apples, bacon, avocado, dried cranberries and sliced almonds) with balsamic vinaigrette on the side.  Makes my mouth water just typing this.  It was delicious.  But then I knew it would be since Laurel and Eric ate here.   Thanks you guys!!

Tomorrow I’m heading to two iconic spots on the Blue Ridge Parkway.