This week I woke up early and set out to hike the Green Knob Trail before the afternoon warmth came. From Boone I started out on the parkway going south.
A couple minutes into my trip a deer ran across the road in front of me. Thankfully, the speed limit was only 35mph at that portion of the parkway so I did not even have to slow down before the deer was safely to the other side of the parkway.
As I continued south for a while, I came to “Sims Pond Overlook”. By stopping to read the nice wooden map I noticed the Green Knob Trail began just beyond Sims Pond. Read more »
Price Park Campground and the Boone Fork Trail
On Monday I took a friend and set out to hike the Boone Fork Trail! This trail conveniently loops around Price Park Campground allowing campers to hike through many different environments during their stay.
More than half of the trail runs beside Bee Tree Creek, which includes many interesting sections of moderate to slow moving rapids.
It would be a good idea to wear appropriate hiking sandals so you can get your feet wet. Chacos or Tevas are among sandals that were made for the type of terrain Boone Fork Trail entails.
I dipped my feet in the cold mountain water at every creek crossing. It was very refreshing on this warm summer day. If you enjoy being alone, plan your hike for a weekday and you won’t be disappointed! Read more »
Pictured from left to right, Houck Medford, executive director of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation; Becky Smucker, president of the Carolina Mountain Club; Willa Mays, director of development for the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation; Jeff Brewer, president of the FMST; Don Walton, sectional trail chief for the Carolina Mountain Club; and Kate Dixon, executive director of FMST.
When I was growing up in Waynesville, it was easy to recognize and know the people that were doing things because that was all they talked about — and in this particular case it was a couple known by Doris (Dr. Doris) and Frank (Dr. Frank) Hammett. The perpetual topic was the Balsam Highlands Task Force without it’s other descriptors — more specifically the Balsam Highlands Task Force of the Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail. Whew! I guess you are getting the picture but I grew up in the Balsams and they certainly seemed fine to me. Why would they even need a task force? I am convinced at this point of my life that the task was to join Dr. Doris in “combating the park service” and whoever else that might need to be “forced” or coerced to bend to her will to put a trail that was to have stretched from Clingman’s Dome in the Smokies to Jockey’s Ridge at Manteo exactly where she wanted it. Much of this trail was to be along the Blue Ridge Parkway. And her primary partner in this venture is the founder, mentor to Dr. Frank and Dr. Doris, and still going strong at the age of 83 Allen DeHart.
This group has made mountainous strides with enough “tasks forces”to blanket the state and now for the first time in its history, a full-time and very capable executive director, Kate Dixon.
Want to volunteer by building a trail, spending time on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and being associated with a wonderful group of people? FMST would be a great place to start.
