Looking Glass Rock Trail, Pisgah National Forest

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
4/28/2021	6.3	4 hours 28 minutes	1,617'	1.7 mph	103.6

Map: "Asheville, 35 Spectacular Hikes in the Land of the Sky" by Jennifer Pharr Davis
Parking: See guide book.

Directions: Start at trailhead in parking lot. Hike uphill. Pass helipad. Continue climbing. Pass sign for cliffs. Descend to cliffs for view. Return the same way. See directions in guide book.

This was a hike in the guide book we have. I enjoyed this hike a lot. In the beginning of the hike, there were loads of spring wildflowers. I need to find an online guide to North Carolina wildflowers. Some of them I recognize - trilliums, irises, jack in the pulpit, Johnny jump ups, and lady slippers, but a number of them I'm not familiar with.

As we climbed, the wildflowers went away. This hike has many, many switchbacks to help with the climbing. The trail is quite eroded, and there are places where people cut the switchbacks (don't do this!). Some of the step ups were quite big for me, so this was a challenge. I did okay with the climb, but was sweating tons. It's warm out here already! There are a lot of exposed roots, where there's space between the root and the ground - I call these ankle breakers. Having already broken one ankle, I was very, very careful and slow with my footing in the tricky areas. 

There is a large rockface on the way up, which is used as a helicopter helipad. There is rock climbing in this area as well. We made it up in 1 hour and 50 minutes - I'm happy with that speed! I may have been slower going down. My knees felt achy after the hike (I'm not using poles, because I find it too hard to walk Krummholz on leash and use hiking poles at the same time). 

At the midpoint of the hike, there is a steep cliff, with a view. I'm not 100% confident with my knees and ankle, so I walked slowly and carefully on it. Many young hikers were taking their Instagram shots on a boulder on the summit :) I read that there are rattlesnakes in this area. I have also read that this is a very popular hike, so weekdays are better.