I have as much fun finding these trails as I do hiking on them. They’re all tucked way, way back in the countryside, and while there are reasonably direct routes (like less than a half-dozen turns from a major highway),…
Pilot Mountain State Park
State park northwest of Winston-Salem, best for climbing but good for hiking too.
Revisiting the peak of Pilot Mountain
by tom • July 18, 2010 • 7 Comments
I’m warming to this idea: at least one sweltering outing a year at the top of Pilot Mountain, just to test the principle that there’s no bad time to hike up there. I finished a sweat-drenched wretch on Sunday just…
River Sections, Pilot Mountain State Park
by tom • March 28, 2010 • 2 Comments
I hiked to this section of Pilot Mountain State Park a few weeks back, but the 13 miles of getting there and returning didn’t leave much energy for exploration. This time I just drove up to the River Sections and…
Corridor Trail at Pilot Mountain State Park
by tom • March 15, 2010 • 1 Comment
The whole point of this hike was to stroll down the 6-mile Corridor Trail connecting the upper and lower sections of Pilot Mountain State Park and check out the Yadkin River at the far southern end. I knew I was…
Early New Year’s Resolution Hike at Pilot Mountain
by tom • December 27, 2009 • 1 Comment
Three weeks of gross lassitude and all-around laziness ended Sunday with a seven-mile hike at Pilot Mountain State Park (site of my first-ever North Carolina hike.)
First hike to the Nipple of North Carolina
by tom • August 29, 2009 • 11 Comments
Pilot Mountain is the real name that inspired the town next door on The Andy Griffith Show (Andy’s hometown is Mount Airy, which got Hollywoodized to “Mayberry”; presumably Andy approved it to protect the identities of Otis the Town Drunk…