Burnt Mountain Loop Trail, Dupont State Recreational Forest

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
3/24/2026	5.6 miles	2 hours 52 minutes	470'	2.1 mph	47.7

Parking: 

• Corn Mill Shoals Access

Map:

• Gaia GPS app
• Pisgah Map Co., Dupont 

Directions:

• Cross the street from the parking area and go through the gate. Follow Corn Mill Shoals Trail to the right. Turn right onto Burnt Mountain Trail. Turn right on Nooks Trail. Where the trail splits, stay to the right to do the lollypop. When it rejoins, stay straight. Turn right when you return to the Burnt Mountain Trail. Turn right onto Corn Mill Shoals Trail. Hike up to Little River. Turn around. Follow Corn Mill Shoals Trail until just before the parking lot. Turn right onto Longside Trail. Go straight onto Twixt Trail. When you reach the road, turn left onto Cascade Lake Road (a paved road with cars) and return to the parking area.

We're back to working on redlining Dupont. The parking lot was pretty busy, but luckily, we encountered only 1 hiker and half a dozen mountain bikers on the trails. We started out on gravel Corn Mill Shoals Trail. Then turned onto Burnt Mountain Trail, which feels very much like a mountain biker trail (hard packed dirt). We saw an unmarked side trail which we were guessing leads to the summit of Burnt Mountain, but we didn't explore it. Shortly after getting a glimpse of Little River, we found the Nooks Trail. It's an unmarked trail, but it looks maintained. We both enjoyed this trail as it had softer footing - pine needles & leaves. You can't see the river from the Nooks Trail. What we did find were tiny fairy doors. I'm not a proponent of leaving anything in nature, but they were fun to find. Upon further research, I found out that the Nooks Trail was decommissioned in 2024: Master Recreation Plan Update  - Friends of Dupont Forest. We took the Corn Mill Shoals Trail to Little River. The map lists the river crossing as "Caution: Major Stream Crossing". I agree. The crossing is right above a cascade and though the water isn't deep, it looks like it would be a slippery crossing on rocks. We'll hike the east portion of Corn Mill Shoals Trail approaching from a different way. It's a pretty spot that we had to ourselves. I wouldn't let Krumm swim there, much to his disappointment. We decided to head over to the Twixt Trail. It's a nice trail, but parallels Cascade Lake Road so has some car noise (as well as a few mountain bikers).

Corn Mill Shoals trailhead

Passing Big Rock Trail

A quick dip at Tom Creek which passes under the trail.

Turning onto Burnt Mountain Trail

Intersection with the Nooks Trail on the right

We started noticing fairy doors in crevices

Looking down at Little River

Bloodroot

Turning right onto Corn Mill Shoals Trail

Yeah, not crossing that

Trailing Arbutus

Turning onto Longside Trail, just before the gate

Leaving Longside Trail and heading up Twixt Trail.

We could have taken the trail back, but we walked next to the road.

Bull Creek Preserve, Swannanoa

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
3/23/2026	3.5 miles	1 hour 48 minutes	183'	2.1 mph	42.1

Parking: 

• Berea Baptist Church

Map:

• Gaia GPS app

Directions:

• Misc trails

Out hiking in cooler weather today. Fun seeing the cattle out in the pasture.

Happy to be in the creek

Star Chickweed

A handful of students were out in the pasture - we think they were tagging newborn calves.

Trail Maintenance, Garenflo Gap to Bluff Mountain, Appalachian Trail

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
3/22/2026	3.8 miles	4 hours 30 minutes	1,000'	0.8 mph	38.6

Parking: 

• Garenflo Gap

Map:

• Gaia GPS app

Directions:

• Hike southbound to second woods road. Return the same way.

Glen, Krumm, and I went out to do our spring walkthrough on our AT section. It was 80 degrees. Ack - that's pretty hot for working. Glen hiked to the summit and removed 2 down trees on the way down. I worked lopping, only hiking part way to the summit. Our section is in good shape. We ran into 11 thru hikers. Krumm can be nervous with strangers, but he greeted them all. Spring ephemerals have arrived.

Rue anemone

Lunch break

There's a waterfall under that blowdown.
We have nicknamed it Krummholz Falls.
Most reliable water source on our section. 

You will always find this dog in the water

Carolina Spring Beauty

Rue anemone

Bloodroot

Bull Creek Preserve, Swannanoa

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
3/19/2026	3.6 miles	2 hours 2 minutes	182'	1.9 mph	34.8

Parking: 

• Berea Baptist Church, Riceville Road (some restrictions on parking in the church lot on Wednesdays and Sundays)

Map:

• Gaia GPS app

Directions:

• Misc trails

My first hike after surgery to remove my toenail. I have to say, toenail removal was way more traumatic than the other 2 surgeries I had this year. It might take a year to grow back, but it feels good enough to hike again. We popped over to Bull Creek Preserve. The weather was just warm enough to let Krummholz have a swim. I was on the lookout for spring flowers.

Trout lily

Vinca, an invasive. My yard is full of it :(

Stopping at our regular swimming hole

Ragwort

Canadian Violets

The Warren Wilson College cows are back

Hickory Mountain, Dupont

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
3/1/2026	4.9 miles	3 hours 4 minutes	694'	2.0 mph	31.2

Parking: 

• Lake Imaging Parking Area

Map:

• Gaia GPS app
• Pisgah Map Co. Dupont State Recreational Forest

Directions:

• Take the gravel road (Lake Imaging Road) from the parking lot. Turn left on the Ridgeline Trail and start climbing uphill. Pass Hooker Creek Trail. Turn left onto Hickory Mountain Loop trail. Pass Hickory Mountain Road. Continue to the Ridgeline Trail and follow that downhill to the end. Turn left on the gravel road to visit Lake Imaging. Turn around and follow the gravel road back to the parking area.

Another hike in Dupont to do some new-to-us trails. Against my better judgement, I chose the Ridgeline Trail to Hickory Mountain. This part of Dupont gets heavy mountain biker use, so hiking there on a weekend is a bad idea. The weather was cloudy but warm. I figured it was still early in the season, so it might not be bad. I was wrong lol. As we climbed the mountain, we stepped aside for around 100 mountain bikers flying downhill. A few almost ran us over. We had to stay very alert the whole time, listening for bikes, and being careful going around bends in the trail where there is limited visibility. Glen was commenting on the safety of mountain biking, especially after seeing so many young kids flying down too. I told him it isn't that bad. Less than a minute after I said that one adult wiped out 100 feet away from us. Oops. Once we reached the summit, we took off our packs, and I had a tea break. We kept Krumm on leash, because it was too dangerous with all the bikers. We started our hike late in the day, so when we came down, we only encountered 6 mountain bikers going downhill. We didn't encounter any hikers (everyone else knows better than us!). At the very end of the hike, we took a short detour to Lake Imaging, to let Krumm have a swim. The water didn't look to scuzzy, so we threw his swim toy for him. He whined in excitement all the way back to the car.

Turning from 

The Ridgeline Trail looks very much like a mountain biking trail with its mini ups & downs.

Hairpin left onto the Hickory Mountain Loop Trail

Some winter views on the loop trail

I almost got run over by a mountain biker while trying to take this photo lol

Summit

It looks like new trails are being built around the Hickory Mountain Loop Trail

We've stopped at this shelter before to play with Krumm

We didn't see any workers, but we saw signs of new trails being built.

Turning left onto the Ridgeline Trail to descend back down.

Done with the loop, staying on the Ridgeline Trail

Passing a turnoff for Hooker Creek Trail

Turning left onto Lake Imaging Road to visit Lake Imaging for a swim

Getting a post-hike swim in.