Trip #01 - Asheville, NC

Well guys, the power is out at my office. I have already driven to the office and back (guess that is what I get for not checking my emails before heading into work) and spent time filing emails and cleaning up my computer. Perfect time for a second blog post! I doubt we will always go in the order of the trips we have taken, but it felt right to start with the first trip we ever took together (outside of visiting family).

I want to start by saying that Corey and I have absolutely fallen in love with Asheville. So much so, we are talking about building a second house there in the next year or two. It is also the only place we (together) have ever visited twice. The vibe is perfect for us. At a population of 92,000, it is small enough to have a small town feel, but big enough to have lots to do. The biggest draws for us are definitely the craft beer scene, mountain views, mild weather, and awesome hikes.

For those of you that don't know Asheville has awesome weather. Because Asheville is located in a valley, the weather in the city stays super mild. I'm talking 50s in February. It definitely gets snow, and is always colder up in the mountains, but it is a great place to visit from the Midwest to get a break from the winter weather without having to go too far. Both times we have visited it has been warm enough to wear t-shirts while hiking in February. And, at 6 hours from Cincinnati, it is perfect for a weekend trip.

The first time we visited Asheville was the first weekend of February, 2017. Neither of us had been before (except turns out I went to The Biltmore as a kid I just didn't remember). The trip was a Christmas present to Corey. I wrapped three presents for him and made him open them in order. The first one was a photo of Looking Glass Rock (one of the hikes I really wanted to do). Second, I wrapped a photo of the place where we would be staying. Third and finally, I wrapped a book of all the hiking spots along the Blue Ridge Highway.

We stayed at the cutest Bed and Breakfast, The Hill House. They had some awesome deals as well. We got a discount for booking for 3 nights as well as a discount for our average age being under 30. We stayed in the Pisgah Apartment which was a separate building from the rest of the house and had it's own kitchen, which we love so we can make our own meals.

Photo of Pisgah Apartment from Hill House B&B Website

I took a half day on Friday and Corey and I made the drive down to Asheville. We spent Friday night relaxing at the B&B, unpacking, and planning our weekend. Saturday, after the most delicious breakfast at Hill House we spent the day hiking Dupont State Forest and Pisgah National Forest.

There is a reason why this region is considered "The Land of the Waterfalls". They are everywhere! We started with Dupont State Forest. The park is 10,000 acres with 86 miles of trails, but there are three main waterfalls: Hooker Falls, Triple Falls and High Falls. The hikes are mostly easy, with a couple bigger hills. The park is kid and dog friendly and has many picnic spots throughout. All-in-all I would say we hiked around for about 3 miles while checking out the three main falls.

Hooker Fall, Dupont State Forest

We parked in the parking lot adjacent to Hooker Falls and started there. I am glad we started at this waterfall because it allowed us to work from smallest to largest waterfall. Hooker Falls is only a 12 foot drop and isn't all that spectacular, but it is easy to access and worth checking out if you're already at the park. It is also the flattest and easiest hike.

From there we hiked Triple Falls Trail. As the name suggests, Triple Falls is a series of three small waterfalls with a total drop of 120 feet. Depending on the time of year and weather you can hike out onto the rocks around the water falls. Fun fact: This waterfall can be seen in both The Hunger Games and Last of of the Mohicans.

Triple Falls, Dupont State Forest

Finally, we hiked part of the High Falls Trail. This waterfall was probably my favorite of the park. It is a gorgeous 150-ft drop of water cascading down rocks with a small bridge at the top. It is also possible to climb out on the rocks at the base of this waterfall when the water is low. We hiked from the base of the waterfall up to the top and walked the under the bridge. On the opposite side of the bridge there was a view from the top of the fall looking down. Not as impressive as the view from the bottom, but still cool.

Me at the bottom of High Falls.

There are plenty of spots throughout this section of the park with picnic tables and view points to relax and take a break. We picked a spot to eat lunch that overlooked high falls.

View of High Falls from our picnic spot.

The second part of the day we checked out Rainbow Falls. While doing research on which hikes we wanted to do, we knew we wanted to spend a full day checking out as many waterfalls as we could. Who doesn't love waterfalls?! (If you especially love waterfalls make sure to tune in when we post about Iceland. Talk about falls on falls!) Dupont State Forest was an easy choice because we were able to see multiple falls in one stop. Our research also showed that Rainbow Falls is considered, by many, to be one of the best waterfalls in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. It was also only a 3 mile round trip hike which meant we could fit easily fit it in the same day as Dupont State Forest.

Rainbow Falls is a gorgeous 150 waterfall that is even more impressive after a heavy rainfall (or so I've heard). The cool thing about this waterfall is the trail allows you to see the falls from the front, bottom, side and top. We didn't hike every single viewpoint because we were running out of steam but we still got some great views!

Rainbow Falls, Pisgah National Forest

This waterfall is located in Pisgah National Forest but the trailhead is accessed from Gorges State Park. We parked at Gorges State Park and started the trail. Not long into the trail we passed a sign letting us know we were entering the National Forest.

I'm going to be completely honest, this trail felt HARD. However, this was also back when I was just starting to get into hiking again and I feel like some of it was just me being out of shape. Plus we had already hiked at least three miles that day. It was still a fun hike and was relatively uncrowded. We still saw people, but not nearly to the extent as we did at Dupont State Park.

There are two other waterfalls that are easily accessible from this trail if we had wanted to extend this hike. Hidden Falls and Stairway Falls. Hidden Falls is more of a family-friendly swimming hole than it is a waterfall. Stairway Falls is a waterfall at the end of a strenuous 1/2 mile hike accessed from the top of Rainbow Falls. We were personally too exhausted by this point, and it was too late in the day, to check out either of these.

On Saturday night we decided to check out a local barbecue joint instead of making our own meal. There is nothing like southern barbecue! We stopped by a Luella's Bar-B-Que near The Biltmore. Though it was a chain it was delicious and definitely hit the spot after a long day of hiking!

I mentioned before that we love Asheville for the craft beer scene. Corey and I spent Saturday night checking out as many of the breweries as we could. Many of them are located within walking distance of each other. We grabbed an Uber downtown from our B&B and then just walked from brewery to brewery until we hopped an Uber back to the B&B. All the breweries close at different times so at the first brewery we planned a path that would allow us to hit all the breweries we wanted before they closed. Most of the breweries offered flights which allowed us an opportunity to try many beers together. The breweries (and the order we followed) were:

The Funkatorium

Burial Beer Co

Green Man Brewery

Catawba Brewing Co

Twin Leaf Brewing

To this day, the main hike we did on Sunday, Look Glass Rock, is one of my favorite hikes. I'm not sure if it is because it was the first big hike Corey and I had ever done together, or if it was really that cool. Some day I'll have to go hike it again and find out. Regardless, it is still an awesome hike and I would highly recommend.

Looking Glass Rock is a big bald that can be seen from several other popular Blue Ridge Mountain hikes in the area. It sits at 3,970 feet tall. From the views you get from the Blue Ridge Parkway, the bald looks impossible to climb. On the opposite side of the bald there is a trailhead that takes you to the top.

The total hike is somewhere between 6.5 and 7 miles. There are switchbacks along the first 1-1.5 miles to help make the climb feel not quite as steep. However, there are few 'flat' areas. Mostly the hike is a continuous incline with some areas quite steep and others less so.

Funny story, about two miles into the hike there is a flat rock. Apparently it is used as a helicopter landing pad for search and rescue. Corey and I got to this location and were convinced we had hiked 3+ miles already. We assumed we were at the top. There is a view at this rock. While it isn't a bad view, I was still disappointed. It wasn't a GREAT view. I wanted a great view. We almost turned around. I guess if we had actually turned around then I wouldn't know what I was missing out on, but man would I have been mad if I ever found out.

Summit of Looking Glass Rock Trail

The main trail continues from the landing pad up to the summit. You can also take a secondary trail that peals off the main trail, to the left after the helipad, that leads to Lower Looking Glass Cliff. We continued up the mountain to the summit. The summit doesn't actually have much of a view. Continue past the summit and after a short decent you'll hit Upper Looking Glass Cliff. This is where the best views are! Just be careful not to get to close to the edge! People have fallen off the edge before.

View from Upper Looking Glass Cliff

Corey and I packed our backpack full of lunch and snacks and took a nice long break at the this spot. Very cool to eat lunch feeling like you are sitting on top of the world. The hike back down was a nice change of pace from climbing up for 2+ hours straight.

Our lunch spot on top of Looking Glass Rock

After getting to the bottom Corey and I didn't have much steam left. We spent the rest of the day checking out two waterfalls that were more drive up than hike up. We stopped by Sliding Rock Falls, which you can ride/swim down when the weather is nice, and Looking Glass Falls.

Looking Glass Falls

After a brief stop at our B&B to make dinner, Corey and I headed back downtown to check out the Super Bowl at one of the breweries. We settled on Catawba Brewing Co because it was one of our favorites and it had a huge beer selection. We knew we wouldn't get bored with the beers during the 4 hour game! Unfortunately the Patriots came back from down a bunch and won. After the game was over we headed over to Wicked Weed to have one more beer before heading home.

Monday was our final day in North Carolina, and also the nicest weather-wise. I think it got up into the mid-60s that day. We had decided to save The Biltmore for our last day because we could check out the estate and lands before hopping on the road and making the trek back. The house is absolutely gorgeous! It is crazy to imagine people living in such a museum-like home! After doing the self-guided audio tour we walked around the grounds for awhile. We picked a spot next to the lake to eat a packed lunch.

The Biltmore!

Our final stop was the Antler Hill Winery for a free tasting. After the tasting we stocked up on wine and hit the road home. This trip will always hold a special place in my heart because it started our tradition of traveling and hiking together!

One final funny story! Our room at the B&B came with a Jacuzzi tub! It had been so long since I had used one and I was so excited to relax after a long day hiking! I guess I had never heard that you only need a TINY amount of bubble bath. The B&B had supplied the room with travel size shower gel. I decided to put that in the bath. Only I put the ENTIRE thing in. Needless to say as soon as I turned the jets on the entire bathroom filled up with bubbles. It took us forever to clean it up! At least we left the bathroom cleaner than when we arrived!!

Check out below for some more photos of our trip!

<3 Emily