How We Found It: One of Beth’s old professors who lives in Boone, NC, posted on Facebook about climbing ladders up to the top of this trail, and that sounded like fun.
Date and Distance Hiked: 8/26/12, 7.4 miles
Find the Trailhead: Park at the Boone Fork parking area at MP 300 on the BRP (milepost 300 on the Blue Ridge Parkway). Hike in a few tenths of a mile to a registration station and sign your party in. Registration is FREE.
Map: Free maps at the registration station.
Bathroom Situation: Woods. Stop at Julian Price Park, just north on the Parkway at MP 297 , if you really want a bathroom. It’s kind of gross, though.
Fees (How Much/Where): Free.
Our Route: Hike in 0.7 pretty flat miles on the Tanawha Trail and take a right on the Daniel Boone Scout Trail (DBST). You’ll now be ascending around 2,000′ in 3 miles to Calloway Peak, which is an elevation of 5,946′. We did an in-and-back trip.
What Nobody Told Us: Much of Grandfather Mountain has been state park since 2008, which means hikers no longer have to stop at the general store outside Blowing Rock to pay $6 per hiker. This is the same for Profile Trail.
We took 4 1/2 hours with a leisurely descent–lots of time for pictures and pit stops. It’s nice to have extra time to explore the trail (though we somehow missed the 1978 plane crash site by the first ladder on the way up). Give yourself a bare minimum of 4 hours.
Wear good, grippy shoes. There are some steep rock climbs that are tricky even with good, sticky hiking soles. However, a ranger on the trail did mention that there are plans to reroute around the most treacherous stretch, a steep, smooth boulder with no handholds.
Still, the challenge is kind of fun.
Another part of the challenge is that this trail ascends 2,000′ in 3 miles. That sounds like a lot, and it is, but the trail layout makes the trip very manageable. Plenty of switchbacks, markers at every 1/2 mile to help you track your pace. Stumps to cop a squat on.
The peak is unmarked. Clues that you’re at the top include a spectacular view and the fact that the trail suddenly descends into the woods again, now with a turquoise blaze (that’s the Grandfather Trail).
The trail map shows something called “Flat Rock View” that we thought we’d stop by on the way back if we had enough time. It looked like this would be a ways down Cragway Trail, but if you’re looking at the signs marking the intersection of Cragway Trail and DBST, you’re actually facing the rocks you need to duck behind to emerge onto Flat Rock View. It’s a very flat rock with a good view. Well worth a 15-second detour.
Hike Highlights:
• Ascending 2,000′ in 3 miles, and to the highest point we’ve hiked yet.
• Ladders and cables to help with steep grades.
• 360° views at the top. This is the highest peak in the Blue Ridge Mountain Range, by the way!
• Tunes drifting up to the trail from the Music on the Moutaintop festival in Foscoe. Sam Bush, according to the festival website.
• Very beautiful terrain, cool weather even in August.
• Tiny baby salamander in the creek on Tanawha Trail, under an inch long.
Blue Ridge Dayhiking 