NC07 (SC01) — Congaree NP

To drive directly from Asheville to Charleston takes about 4.5 hours.  We used about 7.5 h, with a detour to Congaree National Park in South Carolina.  This is a relatively young part of the park system, having become a national monument only in 1976 and then being converted to a national park in 2003.  It preserves one of the few remaining old-growth floodplain forests, which once covered a large proportion of the southeastern US.  We hiked a 2.4 mile loop on a boardwalk with a self-guided interpretive pamphlet.  Among the interesting features were very tall (up to 130 feet) loblolly pines, the bald cypress with the knobby ridges rising above the mud, and the dwarf palmettos.  Now that we are out of the mountains, the weather was very warm and humid (not unlike Singapore).  That's likely to continue throughout our four-day (five-night) stay in Charleston SC.

NC06 — Great Smoky Mtns NP

After saying "farewell" to Ron, we set off for the main part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  We traversed the main road that bisects the park, stopping at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, then taking a brief hike up to Clingman's Dome, a longer hike to the end of Chimney Tops Trail, and ending at the Sugarlands Visitor Center.  This day was easily the most crowded of our time in Asheville, especially at Clingman's Dome.  The 2-h drive home was accompanied by about a half hour of heavy rain, the first of this trip.  I was impressed in learning from a movie we saw at Sugarlands about the concentrated biological diversity of this park.  (Hint: It's tied to the fact that the continental ice sheet from the last ice age stopped only a bit north of here.)  I was also impressed by how steep was the climb up to Chimney Tops.  Ingrid wants me to record that she was just kidding in the photo at the locked gate.

NC05 — Dupont Forest State Park

Today's outing was on the milder side but with some impressive river sights.  The Dupont Forest State Park is about 45 minutes south of Arden, NC, where we are staying.  With easy hiking, perhaps 6 miles altogether, we visited three impressive waterfalls: High Falls, Triple Falls, and Hooker Falls.  The third one had a nice swimming hole beneath the broad and not too high plunge.  The water was cold, but the air was very warm so we all went in.  We also visited (too briefly, because it closed shortly after our arrival) the Cradle of Forestry in American Heritage Site, which memorializes the establishment of science-based forest management on the George and Edith Vanderbilt estate, which later became the Pisgah National Forest (established in 1916).

NC04 — Cataloochee

Ingrid's brother Ron is visiting for a few days, up from Acworth, GA.  He's been everywhere, it seems, including thoroughly visiting this area of western NC.  On his recommendation, we traveled to a lightly visited corner of the Great Smoky Mountains NP known as Cataloochee.  It was a successful and remote settlement for about a century (roughly 1830 to 1930) before becoming part of the new national park.  There are a few remaining buildings from that era, well preserved.  The highlight of the day was a long loop hike around the Boogerman Trail and the Caldwell Fork Trail.  The forest was in full early-summer green.  The Boogerman Trail rose up from the valley floor in a long gradual ascent on a duff-lined path that made for easy hiking.  The Caldwell Fork Trail was buggy (but not too bad on that count) and included six knee-high fordings of the river (plus several more across log bridges).  Although Ron and I dutifully took off shoes and socks to cross barefoot for the first several crossings, by the end, we were all resigned to walking in wet shoes.  

NC03 — Blue Ridge Parkway S

Two stops today: the North Carolina State Arboretum (photos 1-2) and a climb up Mt. Pisgah (the other photos).  The weather has been spectacular!  The Arboretum was pleasant enough.  The hike was better.

NC02 — Blue Ridge Parkway N

After the tiring trip here yesterday, we got off to a late start this morning.  Once on the road, we began heading toward the Arboretum, but then ended up on the Blue Ridge Parkway heading N, rather than S as we had intended.  We followed this unplanned beginning to its logical conclusion: driving about 55 slow miles N and then S on the Parkway.  This quasi national park is constantly lovely, with interspersed bits of spectacular.  The scale demands patience: the entire length exceeds 460 miles and one cannot travel consistently as fast as the posted 45 mph speed limit.  Our extent of travel today was from the Arboretum at about mile 395 in the south to Crabtree Falls at mile 340 in the north.  The outing included two short and nice hikes, to Crabtree Falls and to the lookout at Craggy Gardens.  The posted photos are from these two hikes, with one extra (the 5th) from an impressive roadside overlook.

NC01 — Eno River State Park

We never hike in the early morning.  But we did today.  Our red-eye flight landed at RDU before 6 AM.  Our check-in time in Arden was at 3 PM.  The drive would take less than 4 h.  So, we found a nearby state park with a gentle 5 mile hike along a river and through thick deciduous forest.  We were surprised to encounter cool temperatures. Wildlife sightings included a frog (on the trail) and a large turtle (on a rock in the middle of the river).  Birdsongs were a nice addition, too.