Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Stone Mountain State Park
Wilkes / Alleghany County, NC
Friday, September 30th, 2011

Amy and I both took Friday off from work for a little weekend getaway to Virginia this past weekend.  On the way, we stopped off at Stone Mountain State park.

First up was the short stroll to Widow's Creek Falls.  This one is short enough that you can't even call it a hike.  It is a nice little waterfall, but it is probably one that is much more impressive after a good bit of rain.


Jack and Amy at Widow's Creek Falls


Widow's Creek Falls

After that, we hiked over to the Hutchinson Homestead. 


The Hutchinson Homestead at the base of Stone Mountain


Tractor at the Hutchinson Homestead


I decided to continue on and do the entire 4.5 mile Stone Mountain Loop Trail.  Amy elected to sit back and relax with her book.

The trail takes you right past Stone Mountain Falls, which again is one that would be more impressive after a good rain.


Stone Mountain Falls

The trail climbs steeply alongside the waterfall before leveling out a bit past the brink of the falls.  It then starts to climb again to the summit of Stone Mountain. 

The Stone Mountain Summit

Several nice viewpoints along the way make for good stopping points, and a series of switchbacks make the climb fairly easy.
View from Stone Mountain


View from Stone Mountain

Past the summit the trail descends very steeply back down to the parking area.

There are several other trails inside the park which I will save for another time!

From there we took a short stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway, stopping at a couple of overlooks back to I-77 into Virginia.
Amy at one of the Blue Ridge Parkway Overlooks

The complete set of photos from Stone Mountain State Park is posted here:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/581257596obXrtV

1 comment:

James Robert Smith said...

There are still two major falls in the park that you need to see.

Nice photos! You guys picked a great day to hike the mountain.

Meet Zoey

 Meet Zoey! Amy and I just adopted this beautiful girl!