Part 4 of an 8 part series
Hiking near Charlotte @ Morrow Mountain
One hour and fifteen minutes from Charlotte is Morrow Mountain State Park, offering over fifteen miles of hiking trails reaching from the summit to Lake Tillery. If you’re not into hiking you can rent a rowboat or canoe to go fishing or campout at over 106 camping sights!
Why Hiking?
Our family trip this summer takes us to Montana. We’re headed to Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, and everything in between. Unlike most of our family trips, this one is going to involve a lot of exercise. To really experience these beautiful parks, it sounds like you have to do some hiking! In addition to some of the gear we need to buy, we also need to get into some serious hiking shape. Lucky for us, we live in Charlotte where there are a ton of hiking options all within 2 hours. During the next 8 weeks my husband and I will be taking on a different hiking adventure each weekend. For our first week we took on one of the most popular trail locations- Crowders Mountain.
Which trail should we hike?
This week we chose a 4.1 mile trail called Fall Mountain Trail. Starting at the parking lot at Lake Tillery, we travelled counter clockwise on what was a long loop. The hike was mostly through a mature forest leading up to one of the park’s four peaks, topping out at just 1000 feet. The trail was marked well with a couple of bridges and boulders thrown in to keep you on your toes.
Hiking Fall Mountain Trail
This trail would be considered moderate with a quick zigzagging ascent to the top and then a fairly wide path to make your way back down to the lake. Coming off of last week’s hike, the summit was a little disappointing. The leaves really block the view, but I bet in the fall it’s amazing. Where we could catch glimpses you could see Lake Tillery and the surrounding countryside. The entire hike, I was fascinated by how many trees were down. At times it almost felt like a war zone. After returning to the car and googling it, I learned that a storm with high winds came through in March knocking down hundreds of trees and actually closing the park due to all the damage.
Along the Trail
The hike is not always about the summit but also about what you discover along the trail. The best part about doing a different hike every week, is you never know what to expect. This time we saw deer and an amazing turtle. Although the trail was mostly quiet we did come across a couple of other hikers. They are always friendly and I especially love it if they have a dog. This time we came across a guy who was walking his own version of a “dog”. He was on his way down from the summit with a remote control truck making it’s way over the rocky trail. I guess to each his own.
additional stops
After we hiked the trail we checked out a couple of other stops while we were at Morrow Mountain. One was the Kron House, the home of the first physician to serve the southern Piedmont of North Carolina. The other was the scenic overlook that you can actually drive to. My guess is that when the leaves are off the trees this is probably the view you see from the summit. It was well worth the short drive out of the way.
Time to hydrate
As much as I try to find a brewery close to the hike, sometimes that’s just not a possibility. When that happens, I try to find a brewery back in Charlotte that we’ve never been to. This week we discovered Vaulted Oak Brewing. Located on Monroe Road, this was a former BB&T bank! My favorite part is that in the middle of their outdoor patio they still have the tubes used in the banking drive-thru! Normally they have food trucks available to order from, but this week it wasn’t coming until later. Not a problem… we could order from Sal’s Pizza Factory across the street and they brought it right to our table!
Top Pick Beer: Pitter Patter Pilsner
Top pizza pick: Sal's Special
The Vibe
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