Three Chicks, a GPS, and a lot of Blueberries

Well, if that title doesn’t get you goin’, I don’t know what will!

Today, I had the pleasure of accompanying Jen Pharr-Davis, founder of the Blue Ridge Hiking Co., and friend Melissa on a couple hikes for her up-and-coming guide-book she is writing.

We started out at the parking lot of the Pisgah Inn, and headed out in search of the old George Vanderbilt ruins. This is where his mountain top hunting cabin/get-away use to lie. About half a mile, or so, along the way, you could see some of the foundation still ever-present today.

The trail head for climbing Mount Pisgah starts about one mile from the parking lot of the Inn.

The top of Mount Pisgah has a lovely tower on it…

But luckily, along our way, the cloud cover came through and shielded the tower so I could get a nice shot without the obstruction…

The hike up is very pretty. About a mile from the end, it starts to get very steep, but is worth the view once at the top…

After a swig of water and some breath-taking views, we headed back. All in all, this hike was 5 miles.

Once reaching the parking lot, we decided to head up the Blue Ridge Parkway a bit and find some waterfalls at Graveyard Fields.

This is a nice-n-easy 3 mile loop with a small 1 mile extension to the upper falls.

But the lower falls were much more inviting…

I have to tell you though, the ultimate prize out here is the fact that this area is chock- full-o-blueberries!! Mountain blueberry bushes as far as the eye can see! See that scrub all around in the pictures? Blueberries. There are also tons of blackberries as well. People will come from all over and pick gallons upon gallons for a month straight all through this mountain range. It is quite amazing and rewarding. The berries this year are extremely sweet, a nice treat when you are hiking.