Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain State Park

Traphill, NC (Stone Mountain)

June 16, 2008
We left the hilly country of the Waxhaw region (Andrew Jackson’s birthplace) in South Carolina (Sow Cur Linuha). About 2 hours later we started entering the Blue Ridge Mountain region in North Carolina. By 12 noon we were at our new campsite (Stone Mountain State Park) near Traphill, NC. We met John and Sue “A”, our neighbors from home. We went for a walk with them after dinner on one of the nature trails. We saw several deer. This is a very nice park, it is paved, has gravel sites and clean bathroom facility. (very will kept park) The only downside is, there is not much shade and no phone or internet reception. We plan to walk to the top of the mountain tomorrow.

June 17
It really cooled off during the night. We woke to an exhilarating 53 degrees! After breakfast we packed Buddy’s camelpack with water and snacks. At approximately, 8 AM we began our trek, of which, John assured us it wouldn’t be long (only about 4 miles). After 5 ½ grueling hours of climbing rock faces and stepping down hundreds, if not thousands of steps we made it back to our camps. The trek was worth the suffering as you can see from the photos. John and Sue said the trails had been improved since their last visit two years earlier. While walking the trails we met one of the descendents of the Hutchinson’s family, who settled this area back in the 1700’s. She told us a little bit about her great, great, great grandparent’s homestead (pictured in photos). She told us that there were about 32 families that lived in this area before it was a park. The families got together and decided to sell their properties to the NC Parks rather than develop it. Later in the day we drove to Elkins, NC for a birthday dinner with the “A’s”. Happy Birthday John! Note: See the B-B-Q sauce on John’s shirt.