Agile Trekker: The Pinnacle, Crowders Mountain State Park

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
2/19/2023	4 miles	2 hours	690'	2.3 mph	93

Parking:

Enter park at Sparrow Springs Road. At Y intersection keep left and park at the parking area at the end of the road.

Map:

CRMO_Map_2020 (ncparks.gov)

Directions:

Take Turnback Trail (white diamond blazes). Turn left on Pinnacle Trail (orange circle blazes) to the Pinnacle. Return the same way.

Not doing long hikes gives me the opportunity to do other things. I decided to join an urban sketching meetup south of Charlotte. I went once before last summer. Normally their outings conflict with hikes I have planned. Glen doesn't sketch, but he came along. I also found a south Indian restaurant in the area. So exciting! I love south Indian food, and it's hard to find. I used to regularly visit a restaurant in Massachusetts on my way to dog agility trials I went to in NH. The restaurant I found has zero ambiance, and their tamarind sauce was watery, but the food was great! Then we went to Amelie's for my sketching meetup. I tried macarons for the first time. I like! As soon as that was done, we rushed over to Crowders Mountain for a hike.

We didn't have a lot of time. We thought we had until sunset. But then we saw the entrance sign saying the park closes at 6pm (in February). One sign said they theoretically lock the gates shut, but I doubt it. We had a good climb up to the Pinnacle. I worked on hiking at a good steady speed going uphill. I'm worried about losing my fitness with these short hikes. The top has cool rocks and nice views of the very flat piedmont area. Going down my foot hurt (I forgot to take my pain meds this morning), so we went down at a more relaxed pace. Nice hike with quite a lot of people on the trails.