Driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway South of Asheville you can see a huge monolith protruding from the valley below. It's highly visible and catches your eye each time, and is a staple in Asheville photography. This is Looking Glass Rock. It's sheer granite face is popular among rock climbers, but you can also hike nearly halfway up the backside of the rock to the 4000ft summit for panoramic views of surrounding mountains.
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| Top-o-the-rock, looking at surrounding mountains |
The trail head is located in Brevard, about 30 minutes South of Asheville in the Pisgah Forest. In fact the entire trail runs through the forest, steadily climbing 1649 feet for 2.7 miles. Near the top you see a large flat slab and some not-so-flat boulders (one of which I would attempt to climb), a portent of the nearing climax. The flat slab is actually a helipad and the start of a spur trail that leads to one face of the mountain.
At the end of the trail the forest stops and you walk out onto the rock, which is somewhat flat near the forest edge but quickly drops off into cliffs. I wouldn't want to be here after or during a rainfall or you could have a nice 4000ft slide.
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| As Steven Tyler would say ... Going dowwwwnnnn?? |
On the way back I took the spur trail through the helipad to the side of the rock for continuous views of the surrounding mountains.
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| From the spur trail |
I also decided I couldn't pass this boulder without getting my hands on it. I'm not typically adventurous but what the hell.
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| I must climb! |
I crawled up the side, where the forest meets the rock to that I would have some footing. Then I was able to reach some moss-covered portions that enabled me to get about halfway up. From there I could stand up and walk across a portion of it but I couldn't (or didn't want to) go any further so I slid back down on my butt and continued down the rest of the trail.
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| Side of the rock with some footing along the forest |
Despite my late start this morning I made it through most of the trail before the Memorial Day mob rolled out of bed and got their act together. It only took about 2.5 hours though and I had no other trails planned for the day (one website advised leaving a 4-5 hour block of time open for this trail; they must have had a very long picnic at the top). The area was strewn with trails though so I drove around a little and found a short Katie-friendly waterfall trail.
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| Moore Cove Falls |
But short family-friendly trails are becoming a source of extreme aggravation and I think this will be my last. After I had been working from home for awhile, my stress level had decreased so much that the standard intricacies of office communication created a level of stress I could no longer deal with. Such was the case now with the weaving children and the cooing adults and butt-sniffing dogs. I needed to exit this trail soon or I might jump into the stream to escape.
The end did not come soon enough but when it did I pulled Katie to the truck and drove up the mountain where earlier I had seen a sign for the Blue Ridge Parkway. I knew there I could find a quiet trail where I could be alone with the trees and hike in peace.
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