I heard tell of North Carolina being a pretty cool state but it was hard for me to really believe those rumors. That southern heat? No gnarly rocks? No snow? How cool could that place be?
…pretty friggin’ cool apparently.
Out of need to explore the world a little bit beyond the Northeast, I decided to drive down to Asheville, NC for my spring break. School friend and NC native, Kayla, was awesome enough to join me for the journey. We would shoot down to the western part of the state for a few days and then mosey on over to Raleigh/Durham area to see her family before making the long drive home.
Highlights include driving down in the BOMB, seeing Sarah in the wild, & seeing Sarah in the city.
Nothing like a large and scary wind/rain/snow/sleet storm to start spring break off! We hit the road before 10am on Friday and were windswept in traffic for a long day. There were downed trees across Connecticut, rain puddles flooding roads in New Jersey, and white out snow across highways in Pennsylvania. A+ driving weather for a champion behind the wheel, like me (sarcasm turned up to 10 there). After making our way through MA, CT, NY, NJ, PA, MD, WV, VA, TN, and part of NC during 2 days (one night in a Travelodge), Kayla, Sky girl and I arrive safely in Asheville.
We spent our time split pretty well between the mountains/trails and eating/drinking our way through downtown. We also dedicated one full afternoon to seeing the Biltmore estate. On our way out of western NC, we headed north to hike Grandfather Mountain, a mountain Kayla swears she hiked as a child but her parents deny that claim. Either way, now she’s hiked it. Then we headed through the foggiest goddamn valley I’ve ever encountered, stopped at a delightful establishment called Cook Out, and arrived by evening in Raleigh.
After a few days in the triangle portion of the state, bummin’ around the Tobacco District and checking out a few more breweries and meeting some family members and eating some enchiladas, we CRUSHED the 1 day drive home on a Friday with the potential for traffic. We listened to many podcasts, some at the recommendation of friends and family (Thanks Ashley for the strange tale of zombie killing and Dirty John, and thanks Sean for throwing us into the fantasy fiction of Monster of the Week DnD style character arcs of The Adventure Zone.)
This trip was pretty freeing. I think I will have a hard time refocusing my day-to-day back to work, not that I was heavily focused before the trip or anything.
Mountains/Trails
We went for 3 hikes in the Asheville portion of the trip and I went on 1 hike in Raleigh. 2 were a little more strenuous than the others, which were really more of a ‘dog tiring’ walk.
First, we hiked up Mt. Mitchell via the Old Mt. Mitchell trails. It’s ~12 miles round trip with over 3500 ft elevation gain. Mt. Mitchell (6683 ft) is the tallest mountain on the east coast, topping out a bit higher than my beloved Mt. Washington (6288 ft).
Mt. Mitchell is located in the Black Mountain range. It sits among other pretty tall mountains, several above 5000ft. It’s weather is nothing near as volatile or uninviting as the northeast, unsurprisingly. In fact, on the day we hiked it was warm with no wind at the summit. Many people who had driven up were in shorts. There is a large paved pavilion and viewing area, and the views are very much worth the trip. The hike was rather unexciting all told, no scrambles. The climbing was so gentle, I was surprised to see later how much elevation gain we actually collected.
The second hike we did was mostly for Sky. We had planned to see the Biltmore estate all day, so I needed to get Sky girl out for some exercise. In the morning, at the suggestion of MANY people, we checked out the Shut-In Trail just outside the city along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Shut-In trail was awesome singletrack that climbed and dipped over the range along the French Broad River. The trail was established by George Vanderbilt to connect the Biltmore estate to his hunting lodge at the base of Mt. Pisgah. While we only walked for an hour, the trail was tantalizingly runnable with rolling climbs. I would love to get back on it!
Our third hike was on the way out of the Asheville area. We shot north on the Blue Ridge Parkway and tackled the Daniel Boone Trail and Cragway up Grandfather Mountain’s Calloway peak (5964 ft). Grandfather is the tallest mountain on the eastern range in the Blue Ridge Mountains. This hike was pretty sweet, the weather was foggy and rainy and we were completely alone on the trails. Grandfather mountain has a number of ladders during the final ascent part of the chimney up, I was wondering how my 70lb dog would handle them. She was a complete champ, throttling herself up 2 of them and finding her own way around the 3rd. She was equally as dexterous on the way down, the sign of an experienced trail dog.
The fourth hike was in the Raleigh area. At Sarah’s recommendation, I took Sky for a hike at Umstead State Park, home to the Umstead 100 and a lot of really pretty, hilly trails. We took the Company Mill Trail around for 6ish miles. This park is so close to Raleigh and Durham and really accessible trails for being in such a suburban area.
Breweries
Man, thank god my ‘no alcohol February’ ended right before this trip. I drank a lot of really delicious beer (and some less tasty pours). My favorite stops were Burial, Wicked Weed, and Ponysaurus. I give a shout out to Bhramari for being weird, Catawba for having cool PB&J beers, Clouds for having another brewery on draft called Assclown, and Green Man for not closing on us. I’m happy to talk more about the breweries if you have any questions!
Sky Girl enjoying Ponysaurus in Durham, NC
Biltmore
I was skeptical. Kayla was really pushing for a visit to the Biltmore and I didn’t really understand why, it was just a big house. Why budget an entire day to tour a rich person’s summer home? I ended up enjoying the Biltmore WAY more than I could’ve ever predicted. The grounds are way more than just the houses, there are also gardens, and vineyard, and a farm. There are miles of trails as well as garden paths. The house tour was fascinating, and it was currently hosting an exhibit of the costumes used in the movie Titanic. If you don’t know, I have a strange obsession with all things related to the Titanic (and yes this includes the movie). The costumes were displayed throughout the house along with information about cruise liners and the upper class living from the period during the building of the Biltmore (late 1800s/early 1900s).
The entrance to the Biltmore
Some costumes from the Titanic
Richard Morris Hunt, sculptor of the Great Hall in the Met in NYC, and the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty among other treasures designed the house. Frederick Law Olmstead was the brains behind the landscape of the grounds at the Biltmore, while his other claims to landscape fame include Central Park in NYC, Golden Gate Park in SF, and (to a much lesser degree) the Emerald Necklace in Boston. Olmstead also championed for the first public parks and walkways in the country. To those readers in the Boston Area— the Frederick Law Olmstead National Historic Site is in Brookline, so if anyone wants to join me on a visit, let me know!
Some of the grounds at the Biltmore
One of the best things I learned at the Biltmore was about the establishment of the scientific study of Forestry. George Vanderbilt was integral in the formation of the National Forestry Foundation and over 85,000 acres of the estate were turned into Pisgah National Forest. In 1892, Vanderbilt hired Gifford Pinchot (future 1st ever Chief of U.S. Forest Service) along with a German forester named Carl Schenck. Together they founded the Biltmore Cradle of Forestry, the first ever school of forestry in the U.S., a site that you can still visit within Pisgah National Forest.
The grounds at the Biltmore were well worth the visit. We spent a few hours in the house, a few in the gardens, and then we drove over to taste the wine, eat some ice cream, and see the farm! I highly recommend a visit to the Biltmore. Kayla was right.
National Forests
I want to write a book, or a blog, or create a podcast about the culture of each of the national forests on the east coast. I don’t mean a guidebook or a trail guide or a book of recreation. I want to write about the history, the current climate, the ecology, and the people that live in the surrounding small towns. I want to interview real people, people who live in the towns or study the history and geology. I want to write about the current uses of the land (since National Forests, unlike National Parks, are still used for utility).
I’m thinking a book that is in the spirit of John McPhee’s The Pine Barrons. I would love to bum around, live out of my car, camp a lot, maybe stay with some families who are interested in helping, and write about these amazing forests and parks that are the unsung heroes of ecology and experimental forests. And now that I know that Sky girl is a goddamn champ, and as one hiker claimed the “chillest dog on the mountain”, she will be an excellent companion for this endeavor.
I don’t know if this is something I could actually do, but I am semiseriously thinking about it. Maybe after I suck it up and finish my Ph. D…..
The beast of the east
48 peaks 