On Monday I drove the thirty miles from home up to Hanging Rock State Park, near Danbury, NC. Since it was chilly and raining, I had to hold off until the rain let up around noon. The winding mountain roads the last few miles before reaching the trailhead were pretty fun, a nice change from the city burbs.

Instead of visiting the popular trails, I opted to hike two connecting trails on the west end of the park: Tory's Den and Falls and Sauratown Loop Trail. (Sauratown refers to the name of the ancient, small mountain chain of which Hanging Rock is a part. They are named after an native tribe that existed in the area before Europeans showed up.)


The trailhead for both trails is at a small parking area, which was empty when I arrived and empty when I left. I assume my truck was the only visitor it saw all day. On the west side of the parking lot the Sauratown Loop Trail begins. It is 3.8 miles long. I chose the shorter Tory's Falls and Den trail, which begins on the east side of the lot, to do first. It is only two-tenths of a mile, one way. I wanted to go ahead and get some photos of the waterfall and cave, for which the trail is named, before the rain came back or clouds thickened to block the already weak sun.


The Tacoma was lonely all day. No other visitors in site.


Despite the absence of vehicles and people, there was some evidence that someone had visited recently. The smell. As you can tell by the hoof print in the photo, Sauratown Trail is not only for hikers, but for horses and their riders, too. You get used to the smell after a couple minutes, but when first opening your vehicle door at the parking lot, you'll notice the manure odor. Watch where you step. Those horses might have good luck charms on their hooves, but you'll have something much less lucky on yours if you don't watch out.


Just as the parking lot becomes lost behind the trees, you'll come to a little creek, which I believe is the upstream part of Vade Mecum Creek. (Yeah, it's Latin. No Latin-speakers anywhere around there, though.)


After crossing over the creek on a small wooden footbridge, you'll head back uphill a bit, follow the winding path down the ridge, and meet a few stairs to help on the steeper parts of the trail. It's a very easy and peaceful walk.


That small little creek I crossed earlier took a nose-dive right over a quartzite ridge, making a small waterfall. The full length of the falls is pretty nice, but since it's not straight down and has so little water, it's not quite as impressive or picturesque as what one might consider a real 'waterfall'. Instead of falling down the face of a sheer cliff, the creek bounces down a rugged and rock-strewn crevice. The photo only shows the first few feet of the falls. The view gets lost behind rock and shrub further down.


There is a nice north-facing view of the countryside from the top of the falls. In this photo, my legs are dangling off the cliff face, and the creek is spilling over top of it just a couple of feet to my right.


On the east side of the falls is a small cave cut into the cliff face. It was supposedly used as a hideout for Torys (colonist loyal to Britain) during the Revolution, though I'm not sure how true that is. It's only about twenty feet deep and ten feet wide, and the ceiling quickly drops towards the back of it. I'm sure it could protect from rain, but it surely couldn't hide anybody.


The view from inside Tory's Den. It'd make a nice little bedroom.


At the back of the cave I found this tropical centipede. He's got 42 legs, not 100.


Macro shots are always fun. This type of moss is common around here. It's probably common all over the place. It's so green and velvet-like. It reminds me of when I was 15 and I would hike to the abandoned rock quarry near the creek at my mom's old house where I would go and play and jerk off and take naps on the big fluffy beds of thick green moss. I don't think it's the same kind of moss.


If you happen to decide to get off of the path, watch out for these evil little things. I'm not sure what purpose briars serve except to piss me off.


Karsten alone in the forest plus camera = naked
It's a simple equation.
The photo was taken just outside of the small cave. If you've never done it before, there is no better way to commune with nature than to get naked in it.

All of the above photos, with the exception of the hoof print, were taken on the Tory's Den and Falls Trail. Unfortunately, the clouds and drizzle came back right after I started on the Sauratown Trail and so I wasn't able to get any photos.

Despite the weather, it was nice having a mountain to myself.