Grassy Creek Falls, Dupont State Recreational Forest

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
7/26/2026	3.9 miles	2 hours 1 minute	372'	2.2 mph	208.8

Parking: 

• Lake Imaging access area

Map:

• Gaia GPS app
• Pisgah Map Co. Dupont

Directions:

• Take Lake Imaging Road from the parking lot. Turn right onto Hilltop Trail. Turn right onto Grassy Creek Falls Trail (no sign). Hike down to the waterfall. Turn around and stay on Grassy Creek Falls Trail, passing the Hilltop Trail on the left. Turn left onto Lake Imaging Road and return to the parking lot.

A hot day in Dupont. We've never hiked the Hilltop Trail or visited Grassy Creek Falls, so that was our goal. Lake Imaging Trail is actually one of my least favorite trails (despite having a lake) at Dupont due to the high concentration of mountain bikers. It was a weekday which helps - we only saw a dozen today. We didn't see any mountain bikers on the Hilltop Trail or Grassy Creek Falls Trail. Many of the waterfalls at Dupont are crowded, but this one had no people. That said, there isn't a large access area for it. We hiked to the bottom of the falls, but there really wasn't a good area for swimming unfortunately, so we just hiked back up. 

The bottom of the falls

One of two lookouts

Bull Creek Preserve, Swannanoa

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
7/26/2026	3.5 miles	2 hours 3 minutes	220'	2.0 mph	204.9

Parking: 

• Riceville Road, across the street from Berea Baptist Church

Map:

• Gaia GPS app

Directions:

• Misc trails

85 degrees with high humidity made today's hike feel like a sauna. 

Bull Creek Preserve, Swannanoa

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
7/25/2026	3.5 miles	2 hours 3 minutes	220'	2.0 mph	201.4

Parking: 

• Riceville Road, across the street from Berea Baptist Church

Map:

• Gaia GPS app

Directions:

• Misc trails

Back to hiking after returning from a trip. It's raining a lot here, which means lots of mushrooms along the trail. 

Craggy Gardens

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
6/30/2026	0.9 miles	?	?	? mph	197.9

Parking: 

• Craggy Gardens Visitor Center

Map:

• Gaia GPS app

Directions:

• Take the trail on the left side of the parking lot. Turn left immediately after the pavilion. Return the same way.

Hot and very humid day in the 90's. Rather than just not hike, we headed up to Craggy Gardens for a mini hike. Temps were pleasant in the mid-70's. Being July 4th, there were tons of people on the trail. Still, we managed to snag a spot under our favorite tree, and no one joined us. Bugs were out. I threw Krumm's toy as I often do up there. Unfortunately, he overheated after a while. We offered him water, made him lie down and rest, and when we felt it was safe, we headed back down. The high humidity must have affected him. We headed down just as it was starting to thunder. We got him in the air- conditioned car, and by the time we got home, he was feeling all better.

Too hot. Time to cool down.

 

Bull Creek Preserve, Swannanoa

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
6/30/2026	3.5 miles	2 hours 3 minutes	220'	2.0 mph	197

Parking: 

• Riceville Road, across the street from Berea Baptist Church

Map:

• Gaia GPS app

Directions:

• Misc trails

Hot and very humid day. We took Krumm for his swim. Looking forward to fall.