Grandfather Mountain Profile Trail

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
11/2/2022	7.7 miles	6 hours 13 minutes	2,138'	1.5	868.8

Parking: 

• See 100 Favorite Trails Map. Note parking is free at this location, unlike other areas of Grandfather Mountain. A permit must be filled out at the trailhead.

Maps:

• FarOut app (for navigation)
• Pisgah Map Co. Grandfather Ranger District
• 100 Favorite Trails of the Smokies and the Carolina Blue Ridge (for directions)

Directions:

• See 100 Favorite Trails map

Carolina Mountain Club Challenge

• 100 Favorite Trails Challenge #97

Marie and Kay joined us for a hike on Grandfather Mountain. I think people either love or hate hiking there. The park has a number of ladders. Not everyone is a fan of ladders. This hike only has 3, very close to Calloway Peak (our day's destination). The first two were easy, well maybe not for Krumm. He doesn't want to be left behind, so he tried his hardest to climb them. Glen ended up lifting him up the first ladder, and then Krumm found a way around the second ladder. The third ladder was over a crevasse - so we didn't do that one with Krumm. Glen and I just took turns holding him while the other one of us visited the Calloway Peak summit. We were in the clouds in the summit, but we did get a little bit of a view. The evergreen trees up there smelled great and were pretty too - it reminded me of hiking in the Catskill Mountains. It smells like Christmas! We stopped by the Watauga view on the way down, but we were completely in the clouds. The hike down was challenging for me - lots of tall wet rock steps, so I was very slow. We got rained on, but it didn't dampen our spirits. A great day to be out hiking.

A view partway up the trail. I can't remember which peaks we were looking at. Elk Knob?

A rock overhang forming a little cave

Beautiful area near the summit

We visited Calloway Peak and Watauga View

Krumm at the top of the first ladder. He was very pleased that he got up there
(with Glen's help).

A great view before Calloway Peak. Some people thought this was the summit.
We ended up eating our lunch here after visiting the summit.

Ladder #2. He tried climbing it by himself but got stuck.
Ended up jumping up the rock next to the ladder (very awkward).
Turn out there is a side trail to the right around the ladder!

Ladder #3 over a big gap. Nope. Sorry Krumm.

Not very happy that his friends left him to visit the summit.

We actually got a bit of a view. Foreground and background mountains behind the tree.

Background mountains looking like they are floating in the clouds

Taking turns going down ladder #3. 

Watauga View, with no view