Stone Mountain State Park

There has been recent talk of us visiting other state parks in our area.  Typically we hike the trails of Lake Norman State Park, but we wanted to see what wonders the other parks held.  In particular we wanted to begin visiting parks with waterfalls.  Most other state parks and waterfalls are a good 1.5-2 hours away, which means all day away from home.  This would be fine but we are a pair of worrisome cat parents and were concerned the Sweet Boy and Chubby Lady would constantly fight, eat all the food, and proceed to starve.  The decision, then, was to start as locally as possible.

Using Kevin Adams' "North Carolina Waterfalls: A Hiking and Photography Guide", we decided upon Stone Mountain State Park.  Located nearing Roaring Gap, it is only a little over an hour's drive away and has three waterfalls to visit in addition to its impressive mountain face.  Packing a light lunch and all our typical gear, we hopped into the Wrangler and off we went.

After a little bit of debate on where to park, we eventually made our way onto a trail but was stopped immediately by the sight of bull thistle.

If the appearance of bull thistle - a flower we never thought we'd see - was any indication, this park would be full of surprises.  And it was.

We saw all sorts of species of wildflowers and fungi, some we had seen before but others were new.  Our next surprise was meadow beauty.

Just like its name, there were many meadow beauties in the meadow/field like areas dotting the trails.  What delights me the most about meadow beauty is its vase-like seed.

As you walk the trails of Stone Mountain, there are various views of the mountain itself.  The summit, naturally, has the best view but the side views are spectacular as well.

Just before we reached the summit, another surprise: nodding lady's tresses!

Beautiful flowers but incredibly difficult to photograph.  After some research we realized that they had just started their blooming season.  They typically grow in colonies but we only saw three flowers.  As their blooming season progresses, we hope to see more.

From the summit, you can see the beginning of the Appalachian mountains.  Stone Mountain sits close to the Blue Ridge Parkway and thus the mountains can be easily seen.  The weather was a bit overcast but the low clouds just adds to the scenery.

To get down from the summit, you can either backtrack or continue down the other side.  Since our main objective was to see waterfalls and we hadn't seen any yet we continued down the other side.  Unbeknownst to us, the side of the mountain we were heading down had numerous wooden stairs surrounded by mountain laurel trees.  Its quite a climb going down.  Two days later my calves still ache from the climb; I can't imagine what state we would find our bodies in if we climbed those stairs going up.  If you ever decide to walk the entire Stone Mountain loop, bring some trekking poles.

Once we did make it down the stairs and on level path again, we realized we had gone in the complete opposite direction that Kevin Adams had indicated.  Rather than starting at the Lower Parking Lot, we began at the Upper Parking Lot and got our directions mixed.  In short: we took the long way around.  But we got some great views and a good workout.

Unfortunately not long after I took the above photo it started to rain.  And rain.  And continued to rain all the way to the waterfalls.  Having no protection for my camera I didn't get any shots of the actually falls.  But we plan another trip soon (with trekking poles, more gear protection, and correct hiking directions) so expect them soon.

And the cats didn't starve either.