On Saturday afternoon (10-5-19) Karen and I picked up my brother Jon and his wife Brenda at the Charlotte airport and drove to Lake Lure, NC to spend two nights in a dear friend’s cabin. It was the beginning of a delightful week of family visiting and adventure.
On the way to the Blue Ridge Mountains we stopped in one of the oldest towns in NC. Chartered in 1787, Rutherfordton was celebrating its annual Fall Festival.
We got up early Sunday morning to beat the crowds and hike above the clouds at Chimney Rock. The record-setting streak of hot weather passed and we enjoyed cool days and chilly nights.
Jon and Brenda climbed the 500 steps to the base of the 305-foot, chimney monolith while Karen and I road the elevator. We all clomped up more steps to take in the view at Exclamation Point on the top of the escarpment. Along the way, Jon and Brenda posed at Devil’s Head balancing rock. I told Brenda, “Look devilish.” She scared the heck out of us.
Lower on the mountain, we hiked the 1.5-mile Hickory Nut Falls trail through the woods to the base of one of the tallest waterfalls east of the Mississippi River. The recent run of dry weather greatly reduced the water flow down the 404-foot drop. It was still quite beautiful.
The hungry hikers piled into my pickup and we drove to nearby Hendersonville for smoked chicken sandwiches at Moe’s Original Bar B Que with creamy Alabama-style, white BBQ sauce. North Carolina is 7th in the nation for apple production and we visited the family-run Lyda Farms stand for dessert. They handed us a free apple each to snack on while we shopped. The sales pitch worked. We bought apples, fried apple pies, fresh baked apple bread and Honey Crisp Apple Butter.
Linus would have proclaimed the pumpkin patch we stopped at next to be, “Most sincere.” We learned that, “All pumpkins are squashes, but all squashes are not pumpkins.”
Our last stop before crashing at the cabin was the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge. The town turned the old bridge into a beautiful garden when a new span was built next to it.
Monday we cruised to Saluda, NC built in 1881. The tiny town of less than 800 souls sits next to the steepest standard gauge railroad grade in the U.S. It was constructed by convicts for the Norfolk Southern Railway in 1878. Thompson’s Store on Main Street by the tracks was built in 1890 and is the oldest in North Carolina. It’s well worth a wonder around inside.
A short jaunt through dense woods from Saluda is Pearson’s Falls and Glen. This botanical preserve is owned by the Tryron Garden Club and named for Charles W. Pearson, who scouted the mountains for the railroad. It’s a Blue Ridge National Heritage Area and can be found in the Smithsonian Institutions’s Archives of American Gardens.
Tuesday, Karen had to go to work. I took Jon and Brenda to the Reed Gold Mine for a Jeff-guided tour. In 1799, twelve-year-old Conrad Reed skipped church and found a 17-pound gold nugget here while fishing. The family used it as a doorstop until his dad sold it for $3.50 to a jeweler, which was a week’s wages at the time. He had no idea the nugget was worth $3,600. It was the first discovery of gold in the United States and set off the North Carolina Gold Rush. After walking the mine shafts, I stopped at Rocky River Vineyards and introduced Jon and Brenda to North Carolina’s native grape used to make muscadine wines.
Wednesday we enjoyed a beautiful day boating on Lake Wylie. It was so relaxing we have no pictures to show for it.
Thursday, we tackled the 4-mile roundtrip to the King’s Pinnacle peak at Crowders Mountain State Park. The trail map listed this hike as “strenuous.” At 1,705 feet, it’s the highest point in Gaston County.
The jagged rocks atop King’s Pinnacle inspired Brenda to do some Yoga. We paused at the lofty perch to eat lunch and marvel at the panorama.
Jon and Brenda flew back to Texas on Friday. We enjoyed their visit and had a lot of fun. They are good guests and we look forward to their return.