Grandfather Mountain State Park

NUWATI-CRAGWAY LOOP HIKE

Grandfather Mountain State Park has been on the FBWG radar all summer.  The Calloway Peak is on our bucket list....and today we made it half way there.  We selected the trail marked "easy", the Nuwati Trail.  Nuwati is Cherokee for "medicine" and this trail was good medicine for us.

You catch the Nuwati Trail from the Boone Fork Parking lot on the Blue Ridge Parkway, milepost 300.  You will know when you get there because it will most likely be full.  The Tanawa Trail runs parallel to the Blue Ridge Parkway from Julian Price Park to Grandfather Mountain.  From the parking lot,  we took a short spur trail to the Tanawa and soon crossed a wonderful bridge over Boone Fork. 

Signing our permit to hike at a trail kiosk...the purpose of which no longer makes any sense....we took off on a 1.5 mile trek to Story Telling Rock and a place called The Refuge. Reminder to my hiking companion...this is another trail what will be lovely when the rhododendrons are in bloom.

The Nuwati trail generally follows the Boone Fork Creek along an old logging road.  The creek divides two ridges on the eastern side of Grandfather State Park.  Along the way are numerous campsites and we met a few campers coming down from the mountain....looking no worse for the night in the woods.

The trail side rock formations are always interesting.  This one looked like someone cut the rock in two like a loaf of bread.  This one marked the intersection of Nuwati and Cragway trails. (more on that later) There are many mountain streams flowing down to Boone Fork Creek.  In a time of wet weather many of the stream crossing might require you to get your feet wet.

One thing very apparent about Blue Ridge Mountain campsites.  They are usually feeding attractions to Black Bears.  There were signs everywhere warning campers to protect their food....this was an apparatus for this purpose...a cable winch of sorts.

It did not take long to make it to Storytellers Rock....a place aptly named for a lawyer who writes Jack Tales....the FBWG gladly posed on top of the rock....then proceeded to scamper out to a rock overlook accessed from the top of Storytellers Rock. From this rock cliff we got a glimpse of the Boone Fork basin to the east.

Looking to the west we got a nice view of Calloway Peak and surrounding ridges. Across the way are the crags of Cragway Trial. (more on that later)

Looking to the south were some fir adorned ridges.

Leaving the Storytellers Rock we proceeded to the end of the trail and found The Refuge.  The Refuge is a large camping area.  Near the back of the campsite is a rock cliff from which a nice view of the eastern mountains is seen.

The mountain was full of large silver birch trees.

Thinking we were only going to do the Nuwati Trail I hiked right by the intersection with the Cragway Trail....and my Hiking Companion said: "I thought we were going to make this a loop hike, it is only a mile."  Yeah right...but did she know the trail was rated "strenuous".  Well I was not going to tell her!

By taking the Cragway Trail we would climb up the northern ridge which we observed from the rock cliff at Storytellers Rock.  

In truth it was a series of craggy rock cliffs from which many nice views of the Boone Fork Basin, Calloway Peak, the Storyteller Rock cliff and surrounding ridges.

I must admit the Nuwati Trail still has me confused as it took us up a pretty steep ridge above the Boone Fork Creek but it was such a well constructed trail that it did not seem steep at all.

You could even see the rock cliff at the Refuge from the Cragway Crags.

As we weaved from craggy cliff to craggy cliff, we observed some interesting rock formations. One clearly evidenced the effect of water seeping into a crack in a rock for centuries, causing the rock to split as if it was blown a part. 

The best views from the craggy cliffs were to the east.   They were the same but different; different but the same.  Coming to the Top Crag we got the best views of the day.

The flora of the high elevation was interesting.  I even found some blackberries ripening in the sun.

The sign says that what you are looking at is "Allegheny Sand Myrtle"  (Leiophyllum baxifollium)

Leaving the Top Crag we encountered a steep rocky trail which was really not very interesting and proved to be somewhat strenuous.  Eventually we made it to the Daniel Boone Scout Trail and mused about being but 1.7 miles from the summit of Calloway Peak.  But alas, our dogs were tired and we decided to take the Daniel Boone Scout Trail back to the Tanawa Trail and head home.

Rating this trail is a bit difficult.  The Nuwati Trail is a wonderful trail and the Cragway Trail up to the Top Crag is also a great trail.  So half the hike is a solid 8.....but from Top Crag to the Tanawa is one sorry hike....mainly because it is so boring and the rocky, root ridden trail makes your feet hurt!  So that part of the trail is a 6....

So access is a 9.... effort to view ratio is nothing to brag about...Nuwati is easy but not the best views....Cragway is harder with better views....trails are well marked but rocky 7..... scenery is an 8.....overall I will give this trail an 8 but if I had to do it again I would have backtracked from the Top Crag to the Nuwati and skipped the loop hike via Daniel Boone Scout trail,

Grandfather Mountain State Park is a great addition to the North Carolina State Park system.  I told my buddy Mike Robinson who is running for State Supreme Court Justice that I would give him a plug the next time I hiked....so here it is: "I LIKE MIKE" t-shirt at the Boone Fork Parking Lot  trail head sign.  Please vote for Mike!  

Also, my Hiking Companion wants to give a shout out to our favorite Boone Restaurant....the one who puts up with us visiting after hiking and not once has even winced at our smell.....by the way we usually eat outside!