Linville Falls: Hike to Daffodil Flats

Linville Gorge: Hike to Daffodil Flats – 3/7/22 – 6 Miles

Research and navigation skills are essential when exploring Linville Gorge. This post is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to hiking to Daffodil Flats. Hike at your own risk!

Daffodil Flats, heard about it but had never been. Linville Gorge has kicked my butt enough times that I will only go with knowledgeable and trusted leaders. Fortunately, my hiking buddy Cathy volunteers with someone who knows it intimately as a trail and campsite maintainer.

The story goes that there’s an old homesite at the bottom of Linville Gorge (where the Linville River flows). Someone planted daffodils there and they have spread in joyful abundance. In early spring this patch of the Gorge is carpeted in yellow blooms.

On a promising spring morning, I rode with Cathy and her friend Julie along Kistler Memorial Highway on the western side of the Gorge. From the back seat, I can’t say how we got there, but we ended up at a connector trail to the Mountains-To-Sea Trail.

About a half-mile westbound, where the MST takes a sharp left, another trail continued straight – no signage, but experienced Linville Gorge hikers know it as the Lead Mine Trail. Well, on this day it was marked with pink flagging tape, extensively rehabbed within the last few weeks, a wondrous thing to behold.

Shortoff Mountain across the Gorge

Amazing skilled trail building

We rolled along this new Lead Mine Trail as it undulated in and out of coves on a fairly flat bench with moderate downhills – no more crazy up-and-down drainages. Its one steep section took us down to river level by an old home site, now an extensive camping area. At this point, Lead Mine Trail blends into Linville River Trail.

Although it doesn’t have the extensive steep ups and downs, Linville River Trail is not tame. The path is extremely rugged with roots and large rocks that will trip a hiker who takes her eyes off her feet. 

A mile upstream we reached the unmarked left turn to Daffodil Flats, its flashes of yellow visible through the tree trunks. The juxtaposition of simple domesticity in the rugged, raw Gorge is breathtaking.

Remains of a stacked stone fireplace, I think

I am not stepping on any daffodils in this photo

Only four other hikers were at the Flats when we arrived. We walked around quietly as if in a museum, talking softly and pointing and taking photos. Then…groups of people began streaming in so took our leave.

We walked a little further up Linville River Trail to check on some fire rings that Cathy and Julie had cleaned out and/or dismantled in the past couple of weeks.

On our return hike, those moderate downhills had turned into uphills, manageable at the right pace. Overall, our hike was just under 6 miles. A safe hike in great company and back home by 3pm.

“The earth laughs in flowers.”

 ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Portugal: Cabo da Roca Hike in Sintra-Cascais Natural Park

Adventures in Portugal: Cabo da Roca Hike in Sintra-Cascais Natural Park
 3 miles – 2/24/22

If this were a full-blown travel blog, I’d have a lot to share about the epic nine days that Jim and I and our daughter Megan spent in Portugal. Since this is a hiking blog, I’ll just tell you about one day of wandering along the coast in Sintra-Cascais Natural Park. [Sure do wish I had seen this website prior to our trip.] 

Cabo da Roca is a rugged, unspoiled headland known as the westernmost point of mainland Europe. It was first designated as a protected area in 1981 as part of what became Sintra-Cascais Natural Park in 1994.

A lighthouse was first built here in 1772 and the building standing today dates from 1842. The lighthouse is not open to the public and there is lots of fencing to prohibit visitors from walking on the edges of the crumbling granite and limestone cliffs. We can attest to the relentless winds that can blow you off your feet!

In my opinion, rather than closeups, the most dramatic views are of the lighthouse
 from a distance

Our “hike” was actually a ramble with no end point. Time made us turn around and head back to our car. Photos? Yes, please!

Caminho Atlantico, one of several long distance trails that pass through Sintra-Cascais
 Natural Park and continue along the coast

Paths intertwine across the headlands and it’s easy to follow the markers, but the side trails to viewpoints and the beaches were irresistible. Because of the openness of the land, it was easy to navigate just by sight.

One of my favorite photos of Jim

What is this fascinating foliage blanketing the ground with colorful, fleshy leaves that feel like aloe? This is the Hottentot plant, native of South Africa, invasive here on the Portuguese coast. Other names are sour fig and ice plant. Read all about Carpobrotus edulis here.

Hottentot bloom

Hottentot bloom

Praia da Aroeira (praia means “beach”)

Megan looking down at Praia da Aroeira - the path down to the sand was steep with small rocks
 (scree) so we skipped the slippery descent and enjoyed the view from the cliffs

The trail beckons

Praia da Ursa, another breathtaking wild beach, but again we stuck to the clifftops

After Praia da Ursa, we turned around and meandered back by a slightly different route. We passed a grove of small trees where some hardy folks had pitched tents in the merciless wind.

Nearing the lighthouse and civilization again, more and more people swarmed onto the cliff paths. As I often feel on trails near where I live, it’s good to see many people enjoying nature, but I was glad we were ahead of the crowd.

We spotted a guided hiking group across the way, ascending the trail like a row of ants

Our Airbnb home-away-from-home for the next two nights was in the small cliffside village of Azenhas do Mar. I’d stumbled upon it with no idea of its significant location – I just knew we would have a little ocean view with our wine and cheese (gifts from our hosts).

Our place is in the center of the photo, three black windows (OMG!)
We made a vow to return every year

Amazing Photo by Megan McCarthy

[Because you’re wondering “What else did they do in Portugal?” we flew into Lisbon, visited Evora, Coimbra, Nazare, Obidos, Azenhas do Mar, Sintra, ending with 2 nights in Lisbon. Mind blown!]

I feel sure I will pass this way again

“Wherever we want to go, we’ll go.”
 ~Captain Jack Sparrow

Pisgah 400: Winter Ice On the Blue Ridge Parkway - Case Camp Ridge & Seniard Ridge Trail Loop

Pisgah 400: Case Camp Ridge/BRP/Seniard Ridge Loop Hike – 2/9/22 – 7.5 Miles

When the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed to vehicular traffic, we bipedal thrill-seekers take advantage. Cyclists enjoy the road when it’s dry and clear and cross-country skiers rule when the white stuff accumulates. Hikers do both!

I don’t hike alone in very cold temperatures (safety in numbers when hypothermia is possible) and I missed a couple of opportunities to do this winter hike with a group. I went out on a limb and asked my friend Nancy if she’d like to meet me for a mid-week hike. She asked if she could invite another friend – and that’s how I got to meet Anita.

I left home in the dark (about 6:15 a.m.) for the unavoidable long drive to Pisgah National Forest. The mountains are where they are! We all showed up at the trailhead at 9:00 a.m., introduced ourselves, checked the current temperature (24 degrees) and took a “start photo.”

If you’re going in wintertime, check with the Pisgah Forest Ranger District to see if the gate to FR 475B is open. If they say it’s not, be prepared to add a couple of miles to your hike… or be pleasantly surprised like I was to find it open anyway.

Case Camp Ridge Trail is 1.5 miles of heart-thumping uphill, about 1,000 feet elevation gain. I suspect my friends hiked in a slightly lower gear to give me some grace and I pulled it off with only a couple of 30-second stops. Maybe I should have eaten the Clif bar that was in my pocket before I started the hike?

On my last gasp, we reached the Blue Ridge Parkway and saw that the recent snow had melted from the pavement. We enjoyed walking the “yellow blaze” for 1.5 miles southbound. There were a couple of big blowdowns that had been cleared down to one lane, presumably to allow for park employees and rescue vehicles. 

The real reason for hiking on the BRP in the winter - icicles! Most of the rock walls along this stretch are east-facing, exposed to the morning sun. Maybe that helped with the freeze-thaw cycle that created these impressive ice formations that can only be glimpsed as you whiz by in a car. Yet here we were, standing as in an art gallery, admiring nature’s sculptures – until pieces began falling off – yikes!

At Looking Glass Rock Overlook, the morning sun casts a blueish haze
Can you see the glistening ice on the rock face?

Too busy talking, I almost missed the turn off the Parkway onto Seniard Ridge Trail. Nancy spotted it behind a guard rail (Umm, do we need to turn here?)

As steeply as Case Camp Ridge Trail lifted us up to the BRP, Seniard Ridge Trail switchbacked us back down before leveling out to a reasonable grade. Glad there was no snow or ice on the trail because my spikes were, of course, left behind at home. With plenty of breathing room, we kept up a steady conversation to match our hiking pace, comparing notes and stories of places we’ve hiked. Today was a social event, not an introspective, reverence-for-the-woods type of hike. Okay with me as I soaked up information and inspiration.

Winter scene: Looking Glass Rock’s distinctive silhouette through bare branches

Seniard Ridge Trail crosses a couple of old forest roads, and my GAIA topo maps and NatGeo maps are dated and did not agree.  Fortunately, my obsession with research turned up a hike report with screenshots to help me determine the proper route so I could keep my eyes open for a couple of waterfalls. [Is that nerdy enough for you?] 

The trail settled on FR 5043 and we crossed Big Bearpen Branch, then an unnamed branch where Logging Road Falls was right by the road. This waterfall is part of the Carolina Mountain Club’s Waterfalls 100 Challenge. In summer its multiple cascades are obscured by overgrowth.

A very sturdy bridge on the old roadbed
This was a logging road, built to accommodate heavy equipment

Log Hollow Branch Falls’ flow was more impressive, just a hundred feet from the trail

We tried to find Upper Log Hollow Branch Falls, following what we thought was a faint trail from the road up the right side of the creek. In the spring we would not have considered this at all, but with no undergrowth we convinced ourselves because we knew that’s where the falls had to be. Talk about calf stretching! Whew! I thought all the uphill was out of the way. We did get to a point where we could glimpse the cascade through the rhododendron, but that’s as far as we tried. [If you’re going: I read later that we should have gone up the left side of the creek. You’re welcome.]

The rest of Seniard Ridge Trail meandered on and off forest roads and GAIA was reliable for staying on course, shorter but steeper climbing to go up and over what the forest roads went around on gentler grades.

We finished the hike by 1:20 pm – who would have thunk it? Certainly not me. Except to take some photos, we had not stopped for any kind of break, no lunch, just eating an energy bar while we walked. In cold weather it’s okay to keep moving, but in warmer weather we would have made a couple of stops. Mission accomplished and a great workout!

I enjoyed meeting Anita and am looking forward to hiking with her and Nancy again. Now that I have more midweek flexibility, I am expanding my hiking network. Happy retirement!

In preparation for this hike I checked out this blog post by dwhike.com. I find his hike reports to be thorough and easy to follow with great photos.

“If you truly love nature, 
you will find beauty everywhere.”
 ~Vincent van Gogh