The drive down to Hanging Rock State Park was along winding rural Virginia and North Carolina roads mostly downward from the Blue Ridge Mountains. We passed through small, remote towns along the way, observing that folks in these towns shopped at general stores, not grocery stores. The last portion of our drive was back up in elevation as we climbed into the Sauratown Mountains from the nearby countryside. Most of what remains of these ancient mountains is erosion-resistant quartzite which supports Hanging Rock and other scenic ridges and knobs. Hanging Rock is approximately 2150 feet above sea level. Nothing majestic like the Tetons but a great view anyway.
.Between 250 and 500 million years ago, this land was pushed up as the continents moved towards each other, as the older, harder rocks were pushed up and over younger, softer rocks. Weather and erosion have given the ridge its distinctive shape.
We began our hiking with a short walk to the Rock Garden, which really shows the quartzite rocks as they have been preserved by nature. You can get an idea of just how big these rocks are if you look at how the rock towers over Paul, who is 6 ft. 1 inch tall.
After leaving the Rock Garden, we headed downward along a crushed rock trail to Upper Cascades Falls. There were several switchbacks along the trail until we came upon this view of the falls. Paul felt the water in the pool at the base of the falls, and it wasn't as cold as the snow melt we encountered in Wyoming.
The climb back up this trail gave us a cardio workout that we haven't experienced since hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire last summer.
The next trail we took was the Indian Creek Trail, leading us to two more waterfalls. The beginning of this trail was a slow downward walk - easy hiking. Then the trail got narrower and more downward in slope, with many stair drops created using timbers to hold the soil and crushed rock in place. Window Falls awaited us with this view.
It is easy to see why it is called Window Falls. Notice the young couple sitting in the "window" admiring the falls from this vantage point. These people are looking at the falls sideways and below them.
We continued our hike down to Hidden Falls. The last 1/8 of a mile of this trail was over steep stone steps leading down to the falls itself.
Is Paul admiring Hidden Falls or contemplating the steep upward hike back up the trail?
We passed this tree that appeared to be growing out of the side of this huge rock.
The hike back up tested our endurance as we climbed up the trail for over a mile to get to our car. The temperature had climbed into the 80's by the time we finished our hiking, not hot by Florida standards. However, we were not used to the warmer temperatures since we are living at 2,500 feet in the Virginia hills, where we have been experiencing high temperatures only in the 70's.
Why no flower pictures? We didn't see any flowers in bloom, which we attribute to all the shade along the hiking paths
The views of the three cascading waterfalls and the Piedmont Plateau brings back memories of some of the hikes we enjoyed in the Tetons several years ago and reinforced why we wanted to spend our summer in a more mountainous area of the country.
Looks like a great hike! I am guessing by your description that this would not be kid-friendly because of the steep up/downs?
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