Hikes: March 2016
March 6. Appalachian Trail south from Daleville to “Hey” Rock and back. 5.6 miles.
The fact that this is an easy default hike on a busy weekend in no way lessens its attraction: You’re on the AT, you cross Tinker Creek, you climb Tinker Mountain, you sit out on a rock outcropping for lunch and look down on pretty-and-full Carvins Cove.
March 12. Breckinridge Elementary to Grand Home Outlet and back. 6 miles.
The fact that this was an entirely practical walk between grandson Tyler’s end-of-season basketball tournament in a Roanoke City elementary school and Day Hiker Gail’s need to walk up and down aisles and aisles and aisles of chests of drawers in a giant warehouse in no way adds to its semi-attraction as a neighborhood urban walk.
March 20. From Home to Fork in the Alley Restaurant and back. 7 miles.
At least this walk involved good food at its middle point, and was undertaken in part on the Roanoke River Greenway, to give it a little less of an urban context.
March 30. John Rock-Cat Gap Loop Trail, in Pisgah National Forest near Asheville.
As a part of a trip to Raleigh to visit with new granddaughter Mabel Jean (number 10 in an apparently never-ending supply and—big surprise—a genuine cutie!), we drove over the Asheville for a few days’ stay, and took this hike on the recommendation of the ranger-looking guy in the visitor center in Asheville. “We need a five- to eight-mile loop not too far out,” I said. “Well,” he said immediately, “John Rock is a good one, depending on your definition of not too far out—45 minutes OK?” Rarely do you get not only such an immediate idea, but also, turned out, a really good one, as the hike included nice trails, some water and even a few viewpoints.
