I'm heading up to Grandfather Mountain Friday afternoon to backpack. Anyone have any suggestions on how to approach Grandfather for a backpack trip. My plan is to leave around noon, hopefully be on the mountain 4ish. I need to head back Sunday morning and would like to cover as much of the mountain as possible. Will entertain suggestions for both establishing a base camp and doing day hikes, or doing the entire mountain with a 40-pound pack. Also: I've never hiked here before.
Thoughts?
The top of Grandfather Mountain, where it's supposed to be warmer this weekend. (Photo by Hugh Morton.)
Comments
Grandfather Mountain hiking
Thu, 04/09/2009 - 18:09 — edelmpGrandfather Mountain is one of my favorite hiking areas in NC. I especially love the rock oucroppings, the cliffs and the views. I did alot of day hikes there in the 1990's with the last around 2003, doing the Profile Trail. At that time I used the campground at Price Lake for a base camp. The one backpack I did, in the early nineties, was when you could bushwack down from the end of the Black Rock Trail to the Tanawa Trail for a loop to the Senerity Farm trailhead on 221. Now that area is closed to hiking. Several of the campsites that are listed on the map I know from experience are rocky or muddy (little vegetation). The nicest is the one at Hi Balsam shelter on the upper end of the Daniel Boone Trail; no water though. If I were to do an overnight there today I would try and make use of a car shuttle and/or a taxi.