Bull Creek Preserve, Swannanoa

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
6/15/2026	3.6 miles	hours	'	mph	179

Parking: 

• Riceville Road, across the street from Berea Baptist Church

Map:

• Gaia GPS app

Directions:

• Misc. trails

My schedule is easing up a bit, so I hope to get out to other trails soon. But today, another hike on our local trail. I like a lot of variety in my hikes. But Krumm - he is happy to hike here every day and get a swim in. 

The weather was much better today, so we took Krumm out for his swim. We found many people scattered along the creek, taking a dip. Krumm was thrilled. He likes hiking, but he loves swimming. We seem to be getting a fair number of ticks still. Yesterday I found one on my scalp. Ew.....

Craggy Gardens

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
6/13/2026	0.9 miles	hours	'	mph	175.4

Parking: 

• Craggy Gardens Visitor Center

Map:

• Gaia GPS app

Directions:

• Take the MST from the left side of the parking lot. Turn left immediately after the pavilion. Hike to the tree with a bench. Return the same way.

A hot and humid day in Asheville, so we didn't want to hike. We ended up driving to Craggy Gardens in the evening. We hiked in and found the popular spot underneath a tree to be free, so we settled in. I sketched & threw Krumm's floaty toy. Closer to sunset, a group of 20 kids arrived and asked if we minded if they climbed the tree we were sitting under. I said sure. I didn't mind the company, but gosh they were they noisy. It became cloudy so the sunset was okay, but not spectacular. You never know what you'll get when you go up there. By the time we left it was chilly, and I had to put on my hoodie. 

Bull Creek Preserve, Swannanoa

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
6/10/2026	3.6 miles	2 hours	185'	2.2 mph	174.5

Parking: 

• Riceville Road, across the street from Berea Baptist Church

Map:

• Gaia GPS app

Directions:

• Misc. trails

A hot and humid day, but after being too busy over the weekend to exercise Krumm, I wanted to get him out for a swim. We had a hike with a lot of creatures (no bears though).

First, I almost stepped on a large frog on the trail. 

Then we stopped at our swimming hole. Krumm was lying in the water waiting for me to throw a toy. A water snake (I think) swam right behind him. Luckily, Krumm didn't move. It climbed up on a rock to sunbathe. In the meantime, a family of ducks was walking above the waterfall. One of the ducklings slipped and fell down the falls. There was a lot of screaming by the mother and baby duck. The baby duck was trying so hard to climb up the falls but failed again and again. The mother acted like she didn't know what to do, because she didn't want her other children to fall down the falls. Eventually she walked them all over to the side and rejoined her poor duckling. They swam together downstream. While this was happening, the snake slithered away somewhere - so I didn't know if it was back in the water or what. 

Moving on, we saw cows back in the pasture. They were all huddled in the shade on the opposite side from us. They aren't appreciating the heat either. Then as we headed downhill, we had a turkey run across the trail in front of us. Krumm didn't care. On the way back up, a rabbit crossed the trail in front of us. Lots of excitement, and way more animals than we normally see.

Striped Wintergreen

Bull Creek Preserve, Swannanoa

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
6/3/2026	3.7 miles	1 hour 45 minutes	185'	2.2 mph	170.9

Parking: 

• Riceville Road, across the street from Berea Baptist Church

Map:

• Gaia GPS app

Directions:

• Misc. trails

I'm eager to get back to hiking new trails in Dupont, but this week is really busy. Back to Bull Creek Preserve. Krumm cut his lower lip open when some friends were over playing ball with him. We have no idea how it happened. We decided it was best to not do retrieving/swimming with him for a few days, so that it heals. We took him hiking today. We passed our swimming holes. He was confused as to why we weren't stopping. Poor Krumm. We did let him wade in one spot.

Getting the stink eye

Bull Creek Preserve, Swannanoa

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
5/29/2026	3.6 miles	2 hours 11 minutes	205'	2.1 mph	167.2

Parking: 

• Riceville Road, across the street from Berea Baptist Church

Map:

• Gaia GPS app

Directions:

• Misc. trails

We haven't been hiking in a while due to soooo much rain. No rain in the forecast today, so we did a local hike. I would have loved to have gone out for trail maintenance or a Dupont hike, but my schedule is packed right now. The creek was very full, making for a good swimming day. We stopped at two places along the creek, because Krumm just can't get enough swimming in :) Our second spot was very muddy.