August 28, 2012
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REPORT FROM GROUP TWO TODAY! Today, We had two separate groups hiking. This group traveled to the Blueridge Parkway between Cherokee and Asheville, NC. This area is rich with hiking trails and we hiked on the Ivestor Gap Trail to Shining Rock. Also started the hike to Black Balsam Knob on the Art Loeb Trail but rain forced us to turn back. HIKERS – Karen Brown, Bob Magee, Dick Metzgar, Vic Robson and Pom Sinnock. TRAIL INFORMATION – The Ivestor Gap Trail to Shining Rock is a 10.1 mile out and back hike that follows an old road / rail bed to beautiful Shining Rock Mountain with massive white quartz boulders. One of the main attractions this time of year are thousands and thousands of blueberry bushes, but this season the berries were scarce. Today’s hiking distance – 10.1 mi. Directions: Travel to the Blueridge Parkway between Asheville, NC and Cherokee, NC. Balsam Knob and the Ivestor Gap Trailhead are near milepost 420. Another great day for a hike! Cloudy, cool with rain late in the hike. FLOWERS IN BLOOM: Golden Rod, White Woods Aster, St. John’s Wort, Bush Honeysuckle, White Snakeroot, Filmy Angelica, Joe Pye Weed, Indian Plantain, Ox-eye Daisy, Dodder, Closed Gentian, Wild Golden Glow Rudibeckia. Click Here for picasa photos from the hike! Click Here for flickr photos from the hike! |