WNCOutdoors.info Blog

Come enjoy the great outdoors with SAFC by joining our hemlock surveyors on a moderate hike in one of the Pisgah National Forest’s prime eastern hemlock communities! We’ll amble through the hemlock groves at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education and along the Cat Gap Loop trail towards the Cedar Rock Falls area, while discussing the condition of the hemlocks in this region and the pest responsible for widespread hemlock decline. Participants will have the opportunity to learn more about the hemlock conservation initiative within the Pisgah National Forest, SAFC’s partnership with the USDA Forest Service, and techniques for assessing hemlock health and levels of stand infestation. This hike traverses less than 2 miles, roundtrip.

For more information, check out this Events page on SAFC’s web site.

Our latest “Field Research” is up on Breadcrumbs: check out Grandfather Mountain State Park’s Profile trail. The trail is beautiful this time of year, and would make a good, cool summer hike too (on a clear day) thanks to its elevation. You can view the details and download the track on its Breadcrumbs page.

One thing that surprised me about this trail? There’s actually a (very) small waterfall near the beginning of the trail, as it crosses Shanty Branch. This isn’t mentioned on any of the trail descriptions I’ve seen, but I think it’s pretty, and photogenic!

As always, this is just a preliminary map and we’ll be vetting this information more before putting it up on the sites (as we plan on doing for all of Grandfather Mountains State Park). Enjoy!

Although we don’t yet have adequate coverage of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to add it to the sites, it remains one of the most popular spots for hiking in Western NC so we thought this would be worth mentioning. An EF4 tornado touched down on the Tennessee side of the park during the huge tornado outbreak on April 27, ripping down thousands of trees. The park service has closed 7 trails, and more may be closed as cleanup efforts continue. More information, including a list of affected trails, can be found on the National Park Service’s web site (and there’s also a a stunning picture of a mountainside stripped bare of trees):
http://www.nps.gov/grsm/parknews/tornado-closure.htm

Beech Mountain officially opened its Emerald Outback Trail Park, adding 8 miles of hiking and mountain biking trails to the inventory in WNC!  This is Phase 1 of what will be the larger Beech Mountain Trail Park. The trails are open to the public 7 days a week and parking is available at the trailhead. We hope to have more detailed information about the trails posted on the web sites soon; for now, here’s a story about the opening from The Mountain Times:
http://www2.mountaintimes.com/watauga_weekly/Adventure_Park_opens_Emerald_Outback_Trails_id_003449

And here’s a link to the official web site for Beech Recreation, which includes more information about the trails including a map and video:
http://www.beechrecreation.org/

The N.C. Division of Forest Resources lists the following trails as temporarily closed in Dupont State Forest:

• Bridal Overlook Trail
• Hill Top Loop
• Cascade Trial
• Galax Trail

And these appear to be permanently closed:

• Grassy Dam Trail
• Laurel Trail
• Little Briery Trail
• URC Trail
• Vista Trail

The Galax trail closure is a bit concerning, since it’s the only direct way to get from the Hooker Falls area up to Triple & High Falls on a bike. There are some longer, roundabout ways, one of which involves a busy highway. And it’s also sad, since it was closed due to massive erosion taking place along the path. This trail was touted as one of Dupont’s first “sustainable” trail projects back when the waterfalls area was acquired, but it didn’t wear well – horse hooves just tore it to pieces. Hopefully, it can be either re-routed or armored to stand up to the traffic that it gets when open.

The others are mostly short, boring, overgrown, and/or dead-end trails that will have no impact to recreation. In fact, the one time I tried to hike the Grassy Dam trial, I lost it after about 100 yards and struck out through the woods instead.