| Date | Distance | Time | Elevation Gain | Average Moving Time | Year to Date Miles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/26/2022 | 9.2 miles | 4 hours 4 minutes | 301' | 2.3 | 989.5 |
- Charles D Owen State Park. Tons of parking.
- Variation of Carolina Mountain Club's hike #677. Too complicated to describe.
Another cold day. We decided to wait until the afternoon to hike, to give it some time to warm up a little. We have never been on the trails of Warren Wilson College, but we had neighbors mention them. We found one hike description in the CMC's hike database. We couldn't quite figure out the description of the middle of the hike, so we decided to just wing it. Gaia was excellent for figuring out trails.
The hike starts out on a trail paralleling the Swannanoa River. There are a number of side trails. So, we did check Gaia regularly. We passed through a bamboo grove. It's invasive, but this section was kind of cool. Actually, the whole river trail seems to be filled with invasives - bamboo and ivy were the ones I easily recognized. We also walked by some pastures today - we saw cows, pigs, and sheep. We eventually get into the woods - I liked this section better, because it's filled with more native plants. We passed by a church/cemetery - on the way home, we noticed there is trail parking across the street from the church. Maybe the next time we hike here, we'll try parking there, so it will give us time to explore more trails. There are a whole mess of trails in the woods. I basically kept my phone out all the time, to help make decisions on where to go. At 2:30 it was time to start heading back, so we made some loops at the top, and then followed the river trail back to our car. There are more trails at the college to explore - this makes a good winter hiking option. The hiking is easy - very little elevation gain, but still some rooty areas.
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| Krumm and the goose were checking each other out. |
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