Corn Mill Shoals Trail, Dupont State Recreational Forest

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
10/30/2026	4.8 miles	2 hours 24 minutes	403'	2.3 mph	355.4

Parking: 

• Fawn Lake Access Area

Map:

• Gai GPS app
• Pisgah Map Co. Dupont

Directions:

• Turn right at the trailhead. Turn left onto the Conservation Road. Join the Airstrip Trail. Follow the Airstrip to the end, then turn around, and turn right to follow the Airstrip Trail. Turn left onto Shelter Rock Trail. Turn left onto Corn Mill Shoals Trail. Turn left onto the Laurel Ridge Trail. Turn left ont Mine Mountain Trail. Turn right onto Fawn Lake Road and return to the parking area. 

We had a beautiful sunny day in the mid 70's. A perfect day to take Krumm for a swim in Dupont. We hadn't finished hiking all of the Corn Mill Shoals Trail this year, so our goal was to finish that today. And bonus, we could stop by Fawn Lake for a swim.

We started out on the Conservation Road. Although it's just a gravel road, it was looking quite spectacular. Fall foliage is at peak this weekend in Dupont! We walked down the air strip and walked to the end to see the fall foliage on the mountains. Then off to some single-track trails heading to Corn Mill Shoals Trail. As much as possible, I've been trying to do whole trails on my hikes to complete my Dupont redlining challenge. But I knew I wasn't going to do the Corn Mill Shoals Trail in one piece, because I didn't want to do the sketch river crossing. So, we've actually done it in 3 pieces. I liked this section of the trail as parts of it are solid rock faces, reminding us of Harriman in NY. We returned a different route to keep it interesting. And of course. to stop by Fawn Lake. There were 5 people at the lake, 1 fishing, 1 stand up paddle boarding, and a family of 3 on the dock. Krumm enjoyed some swimming, without getting too cold. A perfect day to be out hiking.

Conservation Road

Airport Strip

View at the end of the airport strip. More vivid in person.

Turning onto the Corn Mill Shoals Trail

Where the trail is solid rock, reminding me of sections of Harriman.

Turning onto the Laurel Ridge Trail

Fawn Lake Road

We let him off leash here and he raced to the shore next to the dock.

Now we're talking!

He's too scared to jump off from the dock.

Gentians

Fawn Lake Road

Bull Creek Preserve, Swannanoa

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
10/28/2026	3.5 miles	1 hour 52 minutes	177'	2.3 mph	350.6

Parking: 

• Riceville Road across the street from Berea Baptist Church

Map:

• Gai GPS app

Directions:

• Misc trails

Krumm is happy to have me back home from my California national park trip. He wants swimming! We took him on our local hike which has his swim hole. He was shivering by the end, but he didn't want to stop.

Sheep Creek, Kings Canyon National Park and Forestiere Underground Gardens, Fresno

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
10/24/2026	2.1 miles	1 hour 9 minutes	549'	1.9 mph	347.1

Parking: 

• Cedar Grove Visitor Center

Map:

• Gai GPS app

Directions:

• Cross the street from the visitor center and then cross the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway. Follow the Don Cecil Trail uphill to the Sheep Creek Cascade. Return the same way.

After our Zumwalt Meadows hike, lunch, and a bear talk, we still had some time. We stopped by Knapp's Cabin - built by a wealthy man who led fly fishing trips here. Then we went for a short hike. It was an uphill hike to a cascade. This hike was very fragrant. After the bear talk, I was on the lookout for bears! But we never saw any in this park. The cascade wasn't anything special, but I did enjoy the hike.

We went to check in at the lodge at the end of the day. They told us they had been trying to contact us all day (the park doesn't have cell service), and that they were overbooked! So, we had no room. They tried calling all of the other lodges in the park, but they were full too. We asked if we could stay in the Cedar Grove Campground (despite it being 30 degrees at night), and she said the campground was full too (related to the celebration of life today). She suggested we try Gena Sierra's Inn (where we had just stayed), but they were fully booked too. There wasn't anywhere else to stay that we could book this late in the day. Ack. We ended up driving 2 1/2 hours to Fresno, the closest city where we knew we could find a hotel. We drove to the hotel we had booked for the next night (before flying home), and luckily, they had a few rooms left.

The next day we had an unexpected free day in Fresno. Unfortunately, we missed out on seeing the General Grant Tree in Kings Canyon. My brother told me he thinks Fresno is boring, so we set out to prove him wrong.

Our first stop was the Forestiere Underground Gardens. Wow! This place was so interesting. An Italian came to Boston and worked digging tunnels. He moved to Fresno and worked there. He discovered Fresno to be very hot in the summer. He ended up building an underground house. The house used to have rooms over 80 acres! Some of it is gone now due to things like highways... But some of it is preserved by his ancestors. He grew plants underground too (with open ceilings) - mostly fruit trees. We went on a tour of the house (the only way to see it). The tour was excellent, and it was such a unique discovery.

After that stop, we went to the Shinzen Japanese Garden. The garden featured a bonsai exhibit, which I enjoyed. Although there is a lot of car noise, it's a relaxing place to hang out.

We had a little time left before returning our rental car, so we went to a restaurant called Dumpling U. They had custard buns that look like pigs. That was enough to sell me on it.

A bridge over the cascade.

View driving back to Fresno

Zumwalt Meadow, Kings Canyon National Park

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
10/24/2026	5.5 miles	3 hours	221'	1.9 mph	345

Parking: 

• Zumwalt Meadows Trailhead

Map:

• Gai GPS app

Directions:

• Take the trail from the parking lot. Turn left at the end onto Zumwalt Meadows Loop Trail. Hike to the intersection with the bridge at Kanawyer Loop Trail. Turn around and walk back on Zumwalt Meadows Loop Trail. Pass the turnoff for the parking lot and keep going straight. Hike to Roaring River Falls. Turn around and hike back to the trail to the parking lot. Turn left at the trail to the Zumwalt Meadows Trailhead parking lot.

We stayed at Genas Sierra Inn last night. We didn't have a reservation for tonight yet. We loved the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon, so we booked one night at the Cedar Grove Lodge for tonight. Our plan was to hike in Cedar Grove today, and then the General Grant Tree area tomorrow. It's a 1 1/2-hour drive from our motel to Cedar Creek. We had some challenges getting gas (there isn't much gas out here), so we were a little late for the ranger hike we wanted to go on.

We started on the Zumwalt Meadow Trail and actually caught up with the park ranger. She was just doing a very short hike, so when she turned around, we continued on. We hiked from the meadow to Muir Rock, where we started yesterday's hike. We turned back and hiked the other way to Roaring River Falls and then returned to our car. During our hike, we encountered a very large group of hikers - for a celebration of life ceremony. I think the person must have been connected to the national park. In the parking lot, we ate lunch at a picnic table and spread out our wet tents to dry. 

We went to the visitor center and attended a ranger talk on bears. Despite living with bears, I found the talk really, really good and informative. They only have black bears in the park (not grizzlies) - and apparently a lot of them. We learned about how the park manages "bad" bears (that phrase is mine, not the NPS phrase). 

We drove through the controlled burn area on our way to Cedar Grove.
Lots of fire trucks on the highway.