Hiking at Montreat

View all photos of Montreat

Montreat is the next town North of Black Mountain and is comprised solely of the Montreat Conference Center, Montreat College, and 4000 acres of wilderness, including 13 hiking trails.

Since my hike last week along the Blue Ridge Parkway was easy, I chose Big Piney Ridge Trail, one of the strenuous hikes up Graybeard Mountain to Rattlesnake Rock.

The trail ascended quickly and almost immediately I was climbing straight up the mountain. The trails were not too technical though, so I didn't have to worry about tripping  or sliding except in a few places where large slippery rocks or batches of wet leaves impeded the trail.

View from trail within minutes of climbing

 The trail is short (only about 1.5 miles) but it took about 1.5 hours to climb. It was a cool morning, around 40 degrees, and partly cloudy, which created beautiful shadows on the surrounding mountains. The few mornings that it's been partly sunny while running I've seen these same shadows on the same mountains and wished I had my camera. It was fun to see these mountains closer now.

In a minute the light changes and the same view looks completely different.

Near the top is Rattlesnake Rock, which offers a view of Black Mountain.

View of Black Mountain from Rattlesnake Rock (about 3900 ft)

 The trail officially ends at the junction with West Ridge Trail, but I didn't know that so I continued on since the trail kept going. After a while, however, the orange blazes marking the trail discontinued. At first I thought I had just missed them but then I got nervous and turned around. I was at the top of the mountain; the only way was down, so I wasn't missing anything anyway.

Snow!

When I reached the junction with West Ridge Trail again, I chose to follow that trail back down the mountain instead of the one I had come up, obviously to see something different. This trail was unmarked as far as I can tell because I never saw another blaze for it, but I figured I was on the right trail because it looked like I was crossing the West ridge of the mountain.

View from West Ridge Trail

 Once the West Ridge Trail started descending it became a continuous battle to stay upright while sliding down the mountain. My ankles angled permanently at 45 degrees to help break the pace and at times I had to sit and slide. This part really was not fun. Hikers need an anti-ski lift to take them down the mountain so they can have more time for climbing.

At some point I started seeing yellow blazes, which I knew from the trail map was for Stomping Knob Trail, another strenuous trail, which looks like it would have been a fun trail to climb except for the fact that it never leaves the woods. Woods are pretty, but they get monotonous pretty quickly.

Descending down Stomping Knob Trail

The view from Stomping Knob Trail never changes

Finally I reached the bottom, but still had to walk about a 1/2 hour to my car. In total the hike took 3.5 hours.

Katie was patiently waiting for me in my truck and now I was looking forward to finally getting her out onto a trail so she can dig around in the leaves. I knew there was a trail at the rear of the Montreat Campground, which I had passed before, so we headed back there. The campground was closed, but we were able to walk around the gate so we continued up the path to the Rocky Head Trail. This was a strenuous trail as well, and not far into it I realized it wasn't such a good idea. When I was full of energy, I wouldn't have the agility to climb such a root- and rock-strewn trail with a leash in one hand throwing off my balance, so I certainly wasn't capable of it now after I had already been hiking 3.5 hours.

Rocky terrain of the Rocky Head Trail

 So we turned around and instead sat by a stream for a granola bar picnic.

After lunch we returned to the entrance of Montreat where lies the trail head for the Rainbow Trail and Gate Trail. The Gate Trail is a walking path that runs along the main street through Montreat and provides access to all of the venues within. This was a perfect trail for my energy level and would also allow us to see some of the building and parks I had passed earlier but didn't stop for.

Katie gets wet! She would never go in the water at the beach.

Montreat was originally founded as a spiritual retreat in the early 1900s and remains a center for religious conferences today. Montreat College is a Christian liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. The town is composed of these two organizations and their various buildings -- nothing else. There is no commercial development or even a street light, though it is an incorporated town with its own police force.

Montreat has its own man-made lake with dam

I knew what Montreat was before I went and was expecting to see suited drones pacing the streets like the Scientologists of Clearwater, but instead I saw children playing kickball in the baseball park and dads pushing swings in the large, modern playground.

This area is dotted with Christian retreats that maintain large acreage of buildings and parks and lakes where a couple times a year they host a conference for their members. It seems excessive but when not in use the housing facilities are rented cheaply as apartments or hotel rooms to anyone, and the parks are enjoyed freely by town residents.

With the abundance of mega churches and their costly architecture it's easy to dismiss these retreats as an extension of the same breed; yet I think they are rooted in the patronal virtues we associate with traditional religion.

This was a perfect day, the reason for my journey. It will be hard to leave this area.