Sunday’s Hike–a Study in Contrasts

The day before Valentine’s Day was a beautiful, warm (60s), sunny day here in the mountains of Western North Carolina.  This week’s hike was on the North Slope Trail.  It is one of the easiest loops in Pisgah Forest and only about 3.5 miles long.  The name “North Slope” should have given me a clue (but it didn’t), that the trail does not see much sunshine, so there was still some ice and snow along the way.  The contrast between  hiking  in shirt sleeves while dodging ice patches was really pretty cool (no pun intended)!  I took the loop clockwise, and near the end is an old family cemetery, with graves from the late 1800s and early 1900s.  There is also an old stone road marker with “B.V. 6″ and “P.B. 6 1/2″, with B.V. being Brevard and P.B. being Pink Beds, an old settlement area near the Cradle of Forestry.