Summer Hiking 2020

For the God on the mountain Is still God in the valley.  
From the Song God on the Mountain by Bill andGloria Gaither.

One thing we found to enjoy during this unusual summer besides the lake was hiking.  Jesse joined us for quite a few on her several trips down to NC just to get outside of her small apartment.  First up was Pilot Mountain.  We looked at several of the trails but decided on the ones further from the pinnacle but along the river to try out first.  We tried to go back and hike the pinnacle but it just didn’t work out for us, yet!  We hiked Bean Shoals and made a little of our own way in places.  This is an easy hike along the river and very scenic.  We certainly enjoyed getting our feet wet and back into some serious hiking.
We also hiked our favorite which is Stone Mountain.  I must say it kicked my butt this time.  We always start from the lower parking lot and climb the mountain first.  It is a hard climb and everyone had to stop so I could breath!  We loved our hike here which is usually a Thanksgiving hike in our family.
We made plans to take the motorhome to the Asheville area and do some more hiking.  We began just by visiting Cataloochee Valley and seeing the Elk.  We didn’t really hike much here just checked out the sites and enjoyed the Elk one evening.  While in Asheville one must always partake of a good beer from one of the many breweries.  We tried a new one this time. Hillman Brewery.  Next we ventured up to another favorite hike which is Black Balsom Knob.  It was a little wet and yes we got wet but by the end we were dry again.  Stunning hike!  This time we stopped and climbed up to the Devil’s Courthouse.  Another stunning view.  We did another hike around Cullowhee and grabbed a beer at an old favorite in Sylva, Innovation Brewing.
After our trip with Jesse, Dee and I hiked some more and one of our new hikes was in Elkin which is part of the Mountain to Sea Trail.  We hiked to Carter Falls.  We tried to hike to Grassy Creek Vineyards, but my new hiking shoes sent us back to the car.  So we will try again in 2021.  We are probably not done exploring the trails around Elkin, NC.