October 25, 2009 – Stone Mountain NC. State Park

What a great campground!  Like many state park campgrounds, some sites have water and electric while others have neither.  But each site in this campground has a 20X30 level patio, with the standard picnic table and fire pit.   Consequently, the parking areas are fairly level and the sites are well spaced.  Some of the sites are wooded as well. 

With sunny weather on Thursday, we took a stroll to the top of Stone Mountain.  The trail guide stated the six mile hike could be strenuous.  Three tenths of a mile from the parking lot, we could go left to the Stone Mountain Falls or right to the summit.  We chose to the right path (must be that conservative bent).  The trail was basically a gravel path.  The grade wasn’t steep, but was steady.  Towards the summit, we encountered switchbacks and a little steeper trail, but nothing “strenuous”.  On the walk up, there were several bare slabs of limestone providing excellent overlooks.  The summit was a massive sheath of limestone rolling off to the valley below.  Forested behind and on the sides, the panoramic view was outstanding.  Carol was frustrated by the lighting.  The camera just would not capture the true beauty seen by the naked eye.  There was a thin cloud layer which seemed to flatten the light and rob some of the color.  But, she kept trying.  A hundred pictures later, we started down the other side and headed for the falls.  Just below the summit, we encounter steps.  It was a very nice wooded staircase followed by a short section of trail and then more steps.  And more steps, and steps and steps and more steps as we worked our way down the side of the mountain.  I estimate the vertical drop around 1000 feet, of which, 750 were steps.  Had we ascended this way, it would definitely been “strenuous”. 

Reaching the base of the mountain, we were several hundred feet below where we had begun our walk.  The trail was again, a steady rise along a trout stream.  After a half mile or so, we arrived at “the homestead”.  It is the original farmhouse of the family that worked this bottomland farm for three generations.  Some of the outbuildings are replicated in the style of the farmhouse.  There is a meadow above the homestead and across from Stone Mountain providing an excellent view of the limestone which makes up Stone Mountain.  We sat and watched rock climbers on the face of the limestone.  Over the eons, water flowing from the top of the mountain has eroded the limestone to create a ever steepening rock face.  Unlike other areas where the freeze and thaw break off large sections of rock creating cliffs, this, from the top, is an inviting down slope.  But be cautious; walk too far and it becomes nearly vertical.

Back on the trail, we reach a set of falls.  There is a branch trail to the lower and middle falls, but we elected to stay on the main trail to the upper falls.  This trail took us above the other falls, which didn’t seem that impressive.  Soon we could hear the upper falls as the water cascaded into its base pool.  Arriving at the falls, we took a stairway to the base of the falls where we sat to eat a bite of lunch.  From the base, we could see the stream roll across and drop down a 50 foot slab of limestone.  As it fell, it caught a ledge redirecting to the left where it bounced off another ledge and into the base pool.  With lunch over, it was time to begin our ascent of the stairs.  Expecting to see the crest of the falls 50 feet above, we were surprised to see the falls actually extending even higher.  Like the top of the mountain, these falls begin on a limestone outcropping 200 feet above the base pool.  The stream’s waters increasing in speed as the limestone slope increases its pitch until reaching vertical in the last 50 feet. 

After climbing over 200 feet of steps, it was back to the parking lot and the truck.  A great hike with lots of good views and a little history included.