Whiteside Mountain

The weather was perfect for camping.  Evenings cooled down to a brisk 34 degrees and the days in the low to mid 60's.  After looking over information we had on the area, we thought it'd be best to see what the locals say.

After a stop at the Visitor Center in Highlands, NC, we decided to hike Whiteside Mountain.  The boys and I had hiked it about 15 years ago with Jim, Nereida, and their boys when we had visited Aunt LaDon and Uncle Wally who lived in nearby Cashiers over the July 4th holiday.  We did swing by to see if we could see their home from the ski resort across the street.  Yep, it's still there!
And one of the few areas that had full fall foliage.

I will say the hike although similar has changed quite a bit.  I don't remember stairs being an option on the trail.  I told Clif I would rather start with the stairs and descend with the nice wide path that everyone else was walking up.  At least we warmed up!

The views were the same though.

The color change was hit and miss.  Some areas reminded us of Florida...goes from green to brown, and yet other areas were beautiful.  I guess it is because of the drought they are having.

Time to enjoy a snack while Clif takes pictures of the landscape.

I was reading a story about a local man who fell in this area in the early 1900's where fortunately his was entangled in some bushes or he would have fallen 500 feet to his death.  Those with him had to go through the above crevice to reach him, and then due to his injuries had to figure out how to lift him out of it and bring him to safety.  Quite a story, one I didn't remember reading before.

I do have a picture at this location from our previous trip with the boys.  I told Clif, being you weren't with us, let me get a picture of you!

I am glad we did the stairs first because the wide path on the descend was easy and delightful, not to mention it was quite a distance in comparison to the stairs we had to climb.  People passing us on their ascent were huffing and puffing and we were asked by each one, "how much further to the top?"

Sometimes it pays not to follow the crowd!