Max Patch is all about the timing. The grassy mountaintop near the North Carolina-Tennessee border is sublime on a clear morning from mid-May to mid-June, when rhododendrons and flame azaleas light up the nearby trails. The rest of the time,…
This is a surprisingly vigorous 3.2-mile hike from the city park of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, to the base of Glen Burney Falls. The town itself is mainly a tourist destination named for the legendary Blowing Rock, a crag where…
I had it on good authority that the rhododendrons were blooming like crazy at Hanging Rock State Park. That was last Monday. Well, as of May 15, the Big Bloom was still on, but like so many hikers it’s moving…
Panthertown Valley might not have any panthers anymore, but it feels about as wild as a big cat on the prowl. The valley is a 6,295-acre swath of Nantahala National Forest in the far southwest corner of North Carolina about…
The first time I landed in Transylvania County, I figured the “Land of Waterfalls” signs represented the typical rural region overselling its meager asserts. Well, two awesome waterfall hikes in two visits has turned me around. This week’s source of…
This’ll be a quick one — a jaunt up to Cook’s Wall at Hanging Rock State Park. While it’s under five miles, this is a pretty vigorous hike with lot of rocky trails and witness-the-earth’s-curvature views on a clear day.…
Reedy Fork Creek along the Laurel Bluff Trail. I defied a rainy weather forecast yesterday and notched another hike on the Greensboro Watershed — this time in a seven-mile loop taking in the Laurel Bluff and Reedy Fork trails east…
Lanier Falls at Raven Rock State Park southwest of Raleigh. The gravitational pull of the Blue Ridge causes a lot of us Triad types to overlook places like Raven Rock State Park, which hasn’t a single peak to its name.…
Lower section of Triple Falls If I drive 170 miles one way to see a waterfall, it’s better be one kick-ass waterfall. This one is. Times two. And it’s in the coolest-named county in the Carolinas: Transylvania. DuPont State Forest…
