Two-Heel Drive, a Hiking Blog

You know how in the movies where the heroes are slogging through the jungle, then the camera shows subtle changes in scenery implying something big is about to happen, then they round a bend and see this vast civilization splayed out as far as the eye can see?

EveryTrail Guide for this hike

Something like that happens on the Stone Mountain Loop — cinematic in scale except the view is way bigger than a movie screen. You have to park at the Upper Trailhead and take the first left turn where the signs point toward the waterfalls. Once you’re past the falls, the trail flattens, passes a great big rock on the right, and the view ahead starts to brighten, like maybe there’s a big meadow up there.

I alluded to this after my first trip to Stone Mountain last year. Pretty soon an immense gray shadow forms on the right, and you realize it’s really, really big, because it fills the background in your field of vision.

Within moments there’s a break in the forest and the full, vertical-striped glory of Stone Mountain’s granite dome fills your mental frame. Even if you’ve seen it before, the effect is surprising. There must be a thousand more examples of scenic splendor in the Carolinas that I haven’t seen, yet I have a hard time believing many of them surpass the sheer visual impact of Stone Mountain. But only if you go the way I outlined. (more…)

Tip o’ the hat to Smokies Hiker, who suggested a stroll along Wolf Rock Trail at Stone Mountain State Park. There are no wolves, of course, but there is plenty of rock. My eight-mile loop was a considerable improvement on the standard 4.5-mile Stone Mountain Loop hike most folks do.

As you may recall from my first trip to Stone Mountain (once more for emphasis: this not the one in Georgia), the dominant feature of this park is an immense granite dome sloping high above treetops. A smaller granite dome across the valley door contains Wolf Rock and Cedar Rock, which have wide expanses of pock-marked stone overlooking the nearby hills. Admittedly it’s not quite as wonderful as Stone Mountain, but you have to share the signature summit with everybody else; there’s a great chance you’ll have Wolf and Cedar to yourself.

A bonus on Sunday’s hike: the 1.5-mile Black Jack Ridge Trail, a leisurely stroll through a thick forest showing the first convincing evidence of autumn’s approach. I saw nary a soul on either Wolf Rock or Black Jack Ridge (mainly, I suspect, because most folks were in church praying for theirs).

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Got this one right the first time (for once): There’s a parking lot at either end of the 4.5-mile Stone Mountain Loop. I started at the Upper Lot Trailhead and did what’s become instinctive: followed the arrows to the waterfalls. Stone Mountain State Park has a series that kept me busy for a good two hours before I started moving in the general direction of the Mountain.

So I’m wandering down the tree-tunnel trail after my waterfall gazing’s done and I’m noting the woods seem to be thinning, as if there might be a clearing around the next bend. Then I look up to my right and see a mass of granite blotting out the sky beyond the treetops.

“Holy shit, look at that,” I heard myself saying aloud before I took a second to make sure there might be a troop of Cub Scouts nearby (not that it would’ve affected the outcome; my potty mouth has a mind of its own). I had seen pictures and studied up on this massive granite dome, but a couple hours in the woods put my brain on vacation, leaving me unprepared for the dome’s visual impact. Felt like God just left it there for our general amazement.

There’s another much easier way to reach this point: park at the Lower Lot Trailhead and stroll in from about a half-mile away. All flat, nothing to it. Maybe it’s just as astounding that way, but I doubt it.

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Still waiting for the weather to clear so I can head up to Stone Mountain State Park, which is at the foot of the closest thing North Carolina has to a front range of the Great Smokies. Stone Mountain is a giant granite dome well liked by rock climbers. There’s a path to the top for hikers and a strenuous 4-mile loop that includes a few waterfalls.

It rained like mad yesterday so I’m going to give the park a couple days to dry out and head up on Tuesday. Here’s a Flickr slide show to get you in the mood: