The Build Up: Hanging Rock
Our conditioning as usual starts off in our favorite get-ready-for
the-big-stuff hiking place…Hanging Rock State Park. Hanging Rock, in Danbury
NC, is a surprisingly rugged little place, located about 30-40 miles south of
the Blue Ridge and not far from the cities of Greensboro and Winston Salem. Due
to its proximity to urban areas, it’s overrun with people on peak weekends, but
if you catch it at the right time it’s a fine park with miles of solid
trails. Not only is this a great place
to condition, it’s really a very good place in and off itself with fine views
of Greensboro, Winston Salem, Charlotte, Pilot Mountain and a wide swath of the
Blue Ridge.
We like Hanging Rock over any other NC state park east of
the Blue Ridge; the trails are aerobically challenging and have superior views.
Though not close (two plus hours drive) it is closer than the Blue Ridge or
Smokies, and while challenging, the trails and elevation gains are mostly
modest. Usually we stop off at Winston-Salem for a quick bite to eat on the
return trip.
We did the first of these hikes in March on my birthday,
when we hiked the hanging rock/wolf rock trail with a side trip along the
Indian Creek Trail to Window Falls and Hidden Falls (which, contrary to the
name, is not particularly well hidden.) None of these is an especially
difficult trail but together they make for a surprisingly good workout.
The second hike we did a couple weeks later, and this is the
other of the park’s major trails, the Moore’s Wall Loop…which hits the highest
point (and best view-point) in the park, 2,579 Moore’s Knob. This prominence is
also popular with rock climbers. There is an old stone tower here and the views
from it, and the surrounding rock slabs, are very nice on a good day (one can
see all the way the skyscrapers of Charlotte far to the south.) This was also
the very first trip filmed with the GoPro…the crude results more an experiment
than anything but still came out pretty well.
But while this was a fine start it was not enough. We needed
one more good shakeout though prior to Peru and this one needed to be a step up
in challenge. We were, after all, panning on doing some serious stuff. In
search of a trail, my eyes turn South and west, across the blue ridge to the
Smoky Mountains, to a trail that is almost a rite of passage among Southern
Appalachian hikers…and one I had been putting off for a long time.
NEXT UP: The Smokies
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