Exploring Pilot Mountain

In addition to being the home of Mayberry, this area of North Carolina also has lots of natural beauty – including mountains, rivers, farmland, and vineyards.

We wanted to get a little hiking in before it got too hot on the weekend, so on Friday morning we packed a lunch and set out for Pilot Mountain State Park, just a few miles south of us.

Another campground that we had considered staying at was at the same exit as the state park, so we took a drive through to take a look.  It’s a small park, just 10 sites, but very beautiful overlooking the mountain.

It looks like a nice park, we would stay there.  It was raining a little then, so we were trying to kill a little time before heading into the state park.  I saw a road on my google map called “Scenic Drive”, so we thought we’d check it out and see where it went.

We drove through the woods and past a few little cabins, and saw just one guy running a blower around the cabins before the “road” ended at this house.

They had a pretty front yard.

We turned around and drove back through the woods.  The guy with the blower was up by the road when we got back to the cabins, so we stopped to talk.  It turned out that the house was his,and the cabins are part of a Bed & Breakfast that he and his wife run – they have a main lodge, and several small cabins that they rent out.  We talked to him for quite a while – he’s young guy, really nice, and is running a pretty nice operation there.  He told us to take a look around before we left, so we drove past a few of the cabins.

Pretty cute!

It looked like the rain was stopping the, so we headed into the state park.

The park has a small campground – very wooded, best for tents and small campers, and there is a Visitor Center under construction, but the main attraction is the mountain.  There are several hiking trails, including one that goes from the visitor center location to the overlook picnic area – it’s 3 miles, all uphill, so we would NOT being doing that one.  We drove the Jeep up to the parking area, where we could then take a hike around the base of the pinnacle.

It rained a little more while we were at the overlook, and there was a big of fog blocking some of our view, but it was still beautiful up there.

After enjoying the view of the surrounding farmland for a few minutes, we walked toward the trails, first taking the one up to the Pinnacle Overlook.

The trail up there was pretty rocky, but there was a fence along the cliffside to keep everybody safe.

The rain was still coming down pretty good, so we didn’t hang around too long.  Just a quick photo stop!

Tom helped somebody else out by taking their picture – Doesn’t their dog look like Casey!?!

We continued on and found the Jomeokee Trail,

which traverses down a little through the bowl, then back up to the base of the pinnacle, and around.  The sign said it was only 0.8 miles, but it felt a little longer than that.  We were kindof glad it was a little cool and foggy.

We started down the first set of stone steps,

(no more railings!), around lots of rocks,

and then through the woods to the pinnacle.

Oh no!  The Big Pinnacle was closed to rock climbing – bummer!! LOL

We started the climb up to the loop trail.

There we lots of ups and downs, and most of the trail was natural rock formed into steps,

with the occasional fallen tree,

and some areas of rocky trail that would have been pretty hazardous if it was still raining!

Overall, it was a pretty nice trail!

Lots of flowering shrubs along the trail!

Lots of rocky overhangs, too! 

The pinnacle really looked big when you were right up there next to it!

Better watch out for falling rocks!

With that rocky surface and lack of railings, we were certainly glad that the rain had stopped . . . although as we moved around to the sunny side of the pinnacle, it got a little warmer!

We could see the little RV Park that we had stopped at on the way,

and also nearby Hanging Mountain, another State Park.

Some of my pictures look a little foggy because the humidity kept getting between my camera lens and the UV filter over the top of it!

It was a really nice hike – very beautiful!

Back at the Jeep, we ate the lunch that we had packed, and then drove back down the mountain. 

We stopped in the nearby town of Pilot Mountain, and looked in a couple shops.  It was a cute little town.  There were some beautiful houses right on the main street.

On our way back to the campground, we stopped at a couple of vineyards.  The first one was just down the road from Pilot Mountain, and was vet beautifully landscaped.

They weren’t very friendly, though, and only had dry wines, so we didn’t do a tasting there.  We continued on and stopped at another Vineyard that a shopowner in Mount Airy had recommended – Herrarra Vineyard.

They had a full selection of sweeter wines,and the guy in the tasting room was very friendly and funny.  We did a full tasting (and several re-tastes), and ended up taking two bottles of wine home with us!

Just up the road from there, we had also heard about the Depot Restaurant at Cody Creek – we were told it was worth walking around the grounds even if you didn’t eat there.  We weren’t eating, but stopped to take a look around.  You have to drive over a covered bridge to get there.

There’s also a chapel built over the creek.

We couldn’t get too close because there was a wedding going on that afternoon, and they were doing their pictures outside the chapel.

Another covered bridge to the reception hall – off limits unless you were part of the wedding.

In addition to the restaurant, there’s also a little country store – really cute.

This whole area of North Carolina is really cute and friendly, and there are a lot of things to do . . . we could definitely come back here again!