Craggy Pinnacle

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
10/4/2026	0.8 miles	151'	?	? mph	286.4

Parking: 

• Craggy Pinnacle, Blue Ridge Parkway

Map:

• Gai Gps app

Directions:

• Misc trails

We took my siblings & one of their wives to Craggy Gardens for a sunset hike. A little bit of fall foliage on the drive up. Clear skies and chilly temperatures tonight.

Bull Creek Preserve, Swannanoa

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
10/4/2026	2.3 miles	?	?	2.3 mph	285.6

Parking: 

• Riceville Road, across the street from Berea Baptist Church

Map:

• Gai Gps app

Directions:

• Misc trails

A short hike with my sister who is visiting. We didn't have time to finish our full hike because we finished after sunset.

Turkey Knob Trail and Poplar Hill Loop, Dupont State Recreational Forest

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
10/2/2026	6.3 miles	2 hours 45 minutes	397'	2.3 mph	283.3

Parking: 

• Pinnacle Mountain Road, room for 1-2 cars only on the side of the road

Map:

• Pisgah Map Co. Dupont

Directions:

• From the trailhead, take the Turkey Knob Trail to the left. Pass the first entrance to the Poplar Hill Loop Trail on the right (there is a sign saying the trail is closed). Take the second sign for Poplar Hill Loop and hike until the sign where its closed. Turn around and return to the Turkey Knob Trail. Turn right onto the Turkey Knob Trail and hike to the intersection of Reasonover Creek Trail. Turn around and take the Turkey Knob Trail back. Pass the parking area, and follow the Turkey Knob Trail over two stepover stream crossings until you reach the third crossing at a closed bridge. Turn around and return to the parking area.

After being out of town for 2 weeks, I was eager to return to Dupont to work on hiking more trails. Neither of us have hiked these 2 trails before. We had no idea what condition Pinnacle Mountain Road would be. Its a dirt road, but is okay for a regular clearance vehicle for the 1.5 miles to the parking area. From what I read, it gets much more rough beyond this. 

We headed out on the Turkey Knob Trail, heading southwest. Its a wider trail with good terrain - very pleasant to hike on. We saw lots of gentians flowering along the sides of the trail. Our Pisgah Map Co. map shows Poplar Hill Loop as a full loop, but we knew it no longer is. The portion of the Poplar Hill Trail that was open, is less well maintained. We went threw a meadow area, where we had to push through tall weeds. Then we passed 2 areas of blowdowns. So, not a trail I'd bother doing again. The remaining portion of the Turkey Creek Trail to the Reasonover Creek Trail, continued to be nice. We saw a handful of bicyclists on that section, but it wasn't busy. We returned to our parking area, and continued on the Turkey Creek Trail to the northeast. We had read that the bridge 1/2 mile in was closed, so we wanted to see if it was passable. The bridge itself looks perfectly fine on top, but from what I've read, its rotting below the decking, making it unsafe. The stream it crosses is trivially small, but the problem is the bridge crosses a steep embankment. Yes, it could possibly be bushwhacked, but it would be very challenging and a pain, so we didn't try. We are going to have to hike the remaining part of the Turkey Knob Trail, approaching from the north.

Trailhead

Turkey Knob Trail

Many Appalachian Gentians on this hike

The first end of Poplar Hill Loop is closed

The second end of the loop is open - now an out and back

A short section is very overgrown

A couple sections had down trees that we had to climb over

A barrier shows the closed section of the rest of the loop

Continuing on Turkey Knob Trail

Which ends at Reasonover Creek Trail

This is on the other end of Turkey Knob Trail

The closed bridge

The top looks okay, but from what I read it is rotting underneath

Hard to see, but there is a steep embankment under the bridge

Mine Mountain Trail and Fawn Lake

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
9/14/2026	5.5 miles	3 hours 8 minutes	489'	2.2 mph	277

Parking: 

• Fawn Lake Access Area

Map:

• Pisgah Map Co. Dupont

Directions:

• From the parking lot, take Fawn Lake Road to the left. Turn left onto Mine Mountain Trail. Turn left onto Laurel Ridge Trail. Turn left onto Shoals Trail. Turn left onto Corn Mill Shoals Trail. Hike to the wide water crossing & turn around. Turn left onto Corn Mill Shoals Trail. Turn right onto Laurel Ridge Trail. Turn left onto Mine Mountain Trail. Turn right onto Fawn Lake Road and return to the parking lot.

Temps in the low 80's and I wanted to get one more hike in this week. We returned to Dupont to hike the Mine Mountain Trail, Laurel Ridge Trail, and Shoals Trail. We've hiked the Mine Mountain Trail before - it climbs, but not too steeply. We've hiked most of the Laurel Ridge Trail before as well. We saw a handful of bicyclists - not too many. We hiked over to the stream crossing on Corn Mill Shoals Trail. We've hiked the trail to the west of the stream crossing, but didn't want to cross the stream. Last time we were there, I think the water was higher. Today it looked shallow. It was tempting to cross, but its a solid rock slab under the water. I put one foot in to test it, and it was very slippery. I'm not even sure if poles would help. We let Krumm wade on leash. We then did a loop of the Corn Mill Shoals Trail to the Laurel Ridge Trail. We took a slightly different route on the way back so that we would walk by Fawn Lake. There was a group of people there on the dock with their stuff spread out along the shore. And one guy sunbathing and occasionally jumping in to swim. We would have preferred to have the whole shore to ourselves, but this is a popular swimming hole. We moved one of the benches under a shade tree. Krumm doesn't like to bring a stick that far up shore, so I had to hang out in the sun. I managed to step in a hole and did a face plant. No harm done. But, at least he got some swim time in. Krumm thought it was strange that there were other people in the water. Sometime, we have to go swimming with him. 

Turn left at the parking lot trailhead

Mine Mountain Trail

Fairy Fingers, or Clavaria Fragilis

We saw many turtleheads, mostly not open

Turning left onto Laurel Ridge Trail

Turning left onto Shoals Trail

Turning left onto Corn Mill Shoals Trail

Wading in the stream

A wide shallow crossing to the other side

Downstream

Staying on Corn Mill Shoals Trail

More turtle heads I think

Pinesap, closely related to Ghost Pipes. It has no chlorophyll.

Swimming in Fawn Lake before heading home.

Wintergreen Falls, Dupont State Recreational Forest

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
9/12/2026	5.8 miles	2 hours 49 minutes	454'	2.4 mph	271.5

Parking: 

• Guion Farm Access

Map:

• Pisgah Map Co. Dupont

Directions:

• From the parking lot, take the Connector Trail next to the parking lot. Turn right onto Tarkiln Branch Road. Turn left onto Wintergreen Falls Trail. Hike to Wintergreen Falls. Turn around. Turn left onto Grassy Creek Trail. Hike to the intersection of Joanna Road. Return the same way, but skipping the trip to Wintergreen Falls.

Temps in the low 80's and we had a free day, so we went back to Dupont. We have never hiked to Wintergreen Falls, so that was one of our destinations today. We usually try to avoid Dupont on weekends due to crowds, but the Guion Farm Access parking area typically is less crowded than other Dupont parking lots. 

We started out on a road, and had the occasional mountain bikers cross our paths. We hiked to Wintergreen Falls, hoping it would be a good place for Krumm to swim. It wasn't.  Its a small waterfall, with a small pool. We let Krumm get in the water, but he struggled to get out, because the rocks on the edge were too slippery for him to climb up. I thought I might have to go in to help him out, but eventually he did. We let him wade in an area that was easier to get out of, but it wasn't enough to swim in. So definitely a 2 paws down rating. 

We continued on down Grassy Creek Trail. We had seen there is a creek crossing, so we brought Crocs and small towels in case we had to wade. There are big rocks at the crossing, so if the water is low, you can cross without getting wet. I would still recommend hiking poles for the crossing if you have shorter legs or have balance issues. We hiked to Joanna Road. We are working on hiking all of the trails in Dupont. Joanna Road was going to be a challenge, due to me not being able to hike longer distances currently. The Pisgah Map Co. map (2022 edition) shows Joanna Road extending to the east. There is a trailhead at the end, but it says you need a high clearance vehicle to reach it. Well - it turns out that section is permanently closed. So no need for us to find a friend with a higher clearance vehicle. On the hike back, after crossing Grassy Creek, we stopped and let Krumm swim there. It is actually deep enough that it makes a decent swimming spot. He was happy.

Sign on the connector path next to the parking lot.

Stream crossing that was shown on the map

Joanna Road is closed to the east of the trail intersection.
I didn't see Briery Fork Trail which I thought was at this intersection too.

Stopping to swim at Grassy Creek