Boots on the Trail

  8/24/21 Intro Mt. LeConte has for a very long time been on my short list of hikes I wanted to complete. I have hiked several different portions of most of the trails that lead to the lodge and summit throughout a lot of my lifetime but had never hiked past a lot of the mid point destinations such as Alum Cave or Grotto Falls as I did not have anyone to hike with that shared a willingness to do much further. Today was the day that changed. My good friend Ryan, who incidentally earned his trail name "Steps" on this particular hike, came along as we had been planning a camping and hiking trip together for several weeks. I had read a lot  of information on the Bull Head trail prior to this trip in trying to prepare and I was really excited about this hike. Bull Head was one of the most affected areas of the 2016 Chimney Tops 2 fire and prior to that fire, Bull Head was one of the least travelled routes up to LeConte and many of the earlier reports by those that did use this rou...

Soco Falls is a always a nice stop if you have 10 minutes and there is an available parking spot. It is located just off of the Blue Ridge Parkway on US 19 between Cherokee, NC and Maggie Valley, NC and still inside the Qualla Boundary. Soco Falls is a twin/double waterfall from 2 different creeks that converge at the bottom of both falls and always makes for a beautiful setting. Parking is almost always an issue here due to the beauty of the falls, the actual location, the very limited parking, and the short trail to see them. The parking area typically holds only 4-5 cars if drivers are considerate and park in a manor that will allow for that many as the spots are not lined or marked. I often make a statement when driving through this area that I may stop only if there is a spot available, but otherwise will drive on by. The trail itself gets washed out often since it goes down the steep creek bank but is achievable by most to at least the viewing platform where you can see the l...

8/23/21 Having visited the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) a LOT throughout my lifetime, I have seen and visited many of the popular places. While enjoyable each visit, I have often found myself looking for extra or unpopular places to visit, the hidden gems if you will. Gregory Cave is one of those places that while I have known of its existence for many years, I have never tried to find. This trip, it was on the docket. I made sure I knew where it was as there was a bit of conflicting information online about its location. A friend of mine, Steps, was meeting me at Cades Cove for a camping/hiking trip and he had never actually visited Cades Cove or the GSMNP at all. We were camping at Cades Cove and once he arrived and we dropped a car off at our campsite, we drove through the cove stopping at all of the normal places, the homesites, the churches, the visitor's center area, etc. We even got caught in a bear jam in his first trip around and saw a total of 7 b...

The Lakeshore Trail located in Lake Norman State Park (Troutman, North Carolina) is a nice well travelled, well maintained trail that for the most part holds to its namesake by following a lot of the shoreline in this part of the park. This was actually my first time in Lake Norman State Park, even though we live nearby; we usually go to a few other smaller parks/public access areas around Lake Norman for fishing, etc. The drive in to the state park was a nice wooded drive with plenty of signage directing you to the appropriate areas you wish to visit, including a visitors center, camping, swimming, and hiking. The Lakeshore Trail has its own designated trailhead and parking area and again, is well marked and easy to find with plenty of parking. The trail is actually a loop which makes this hike even nicer and you have a few options as you get started: hike the entire loop in either direction or make a shorter hike with a cut-off trail that is right near the parking area, essentially ...

I drive to Hillsville, VA most every Sunday morning to help a close friend of ours with the music portion of his church service. This is about an hour and 45 min drive from our home near Lake Norman, NC. With the wife and kids out of town for the weekend, I decided to look for a relatively short nearby hike to Hillsville or en route to home after lunch. I figured there would be something nearby as I do cross under the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) on the route to and from the town (and my friend lives almost directly on the parkway). I searched last night for anything nearby Fancy Gap, VA as this is the point at which the parkway crosses I-77. What I found was a fair amount of nearby trails. I also realized that Fancy Gap/Hillsville is not that far away from a lot of more well-known areas for hiking such as Grayson Highlands (which the AT passes through). After reading about several areas, I decided on Cumberland Knob for a short but challenging hike on my way home. Cumberland Knob is a sig...