My husband Paul is a homebrewer and an award winning homebrewer to boot. For the second time in a three years, we took a weekend trip up to Asheville, North Carolina so Paul could help judge the Blue Ridge Brew Off. This is a great competition put on by the local homebrew club and held at the wonderful Highlands Brewing Company brewery.
Asheville is one of our favorite weekend trip destinations. It has world class beer and food, gorgeous mountain vistas, a great arts scene, and it’s only about a 4 hour drive from Raleigh.
We got into town on Thursday afternoon and checked into the hotel before heading downtown. Our only goal for the evening was to spend some time at the Wicked Weed Brewing Pub which opened in 2012. In just three years, Wicked Weed has managed to become arguably the best brewery in a city (and state!) already famous for craft beer.
We settled into a window seat and read over the expansive chalkboard of beers and menu of locally sourced food. Wicked Weed specializes in hoppy ales, Belgian ales, and sour beers. I ordered a Black Angel Cherry Sour and Paul ordered a PAPI.P.A.
We hung out at Wicked Weed through dinner, a sudden downpour, and several more beers. It was a cozy spot to people watch and chat. We also planned out how we wanted to spend Friday.
Ultimately, the next day we decided to hit up our favorite Antique Tobacco Barn, Woolworth Walk Art Gallery, and grab lunch at the White Duck Taco Shop in the River Arts District. After a long day, we went back to the hotel to rest until dinner. Dinner had us end up at one of my favorite places, the Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co. Paul and I destroyed a Mom’s Garden pizza and enjoyed a couple beers (of course!). After dinner, we took a quick walk to check out another newer brewery: Hi-Wire Brewing. This brewery took over the space of the now defunct Craggy Brewing and it is a drastic improvement. It’s refreshing to see a brewery specializing in lagers rather than hoppy ales and Paul and I enjoyed their beer very much.
The homebrew competition rolled around early Saturday morning. Since Paul spends the entire day judging beer, we split up and I find someplace to hike. This year, I planned a trip to DuPont State Forest to checkout some waterfalls. I dropped Paul off at Highland Brewing in the morning and hit the road with my backpack, hiking boots, and some water.
My goal for the day was to visit 5 of the 6 waterfalls in the park by following the DuPont Waterfalls Tour Hike. I parked in the Hooker Falls parking lot, strapped on my boots and pack, and took off into the woods. The first waterfall on the list was Hooker Falls, located only a short half mile or so from the parking lot. It was a peaceful sight and a fisherman was hoping to land a catch at the base of the small falls.
I traced my steps back to the parking lot and crossed over the bridge to follow the Triple Falls trail. To get down to the falls, I followed a long wooden staircase to the rocks below. Here, I joined about a dozen other hikers and photographers enjoying Triple Falls.
After enjoying Triple Falls, I hiked my butt back up that staircase and continued on my way. I passed by High Falls and enjoyed the view from a distance. I ended up taking a detour on my way back to check out this waterfall up close, and it was definitely worth it.
After the fly-by of High Falls, the hike changed from rugged gravel paths to wider, smoother trails and eventually into a small dirt road featuring a beautiful covered bridge.
After the covered bridge, I decided to skip Grassy Creek Falls because I was running a bit behind on schedule and was already starting to get hungry. So I made a right on to Conservation Road instead of a left to Grassy Creek. Along this path I saw many mountain bikers, trail runners, and several horses enjoying the park. I crossed over the Lake Julia Spillway and past a private horse farm where a scout group was roasting hot dogs over a fire. The fire and hot dogs were very tempting, but I had a mission to get to Bridal Veil Falls.
Bridal Veil Falls is more like a water rock slide than a true waterfall. I was able to clamor up and down the slippery rocks and watch the water quickly flow over them. It was cool to see the mountain bikers take on the hill and kids were enjoying the natural playground.
The trip back to the parking lot essentially retraced my steps. However, I did drop down to checkout the view of High Falls from below, which was worth the extra time and effort. I scrambled over wet rocks to get myself situated at the base of the falls. Again, people were all over the place enjoying the waterfall and the good weather. By this point, it was about 2 in the afternoon, so the park was getting crowded.
I made it back to my car around 3 pm and still had an hour-long drive ahead of me back to Highland Brewing to pickup Paul. By this point, I was starving because I didn’t think to stop and pickup lunch before the hike. I only covered about 6 miles total, but I always underestimate these western North Carolina “easy” trails. I ended up pulling into a McDonalds and scarfed down some food as I pulled in to the brewery. Luckily, the homebrew competition wasn’t quite over yet, so I settled down on the patio with a beer and my GoPro to look through all the photos I took on my hike.
After the competition was over, Paul and I hit the road back to Raleigh. He didn’t win any awards this time, but we’re planning on coming back again next year. DuPont Forest was beautiful and definitely worth seeing, but it does get crowded in the afternoon. Ultimately, I think that’s a wonderful thing – it’s refreshing to see so many young families out hiking and enjoying nature. But for these solo trips, I do enjoy a bit more solitude. The good thing is that western North Carolina will never lack in adventuring opportunities.
Adventuring With Hillary 