Ramsey Cascades

Date:  4/20/13
Distance:  8 mi (round trip)

Hiked the Ramsey Cascades trail with the Meetup group.  It was a very clear and slightly cool day.  Friday was very rainy, so expectations were high that the falls would be roaring.  The trailhead is located in the Greenbrier area of the park.  The trail is approximately 5 miles down Greenbrier road.  You must turn left at a bridge over the Little Pigeon River about 3 miles down the road.

The trail begins on a gravel jeep road.  It was in good shape, so you could easily walk side by side on this leg of the trail.  The jeep road covers the 1st 1.5 miles of the 4 mile (one way) hike.  At the end of the road is a loop and a more typical trail leaves from that point.

The majority of the trail hugs the bank of the Ramsey Prong of the Little Pigeon River.  The water was roaring for most of the hike.  There are a number of creek crossings on the trail. Three of them had foot bridges, while 4 or 5 smaller crossings had to be hop rocked.  All were easy to traverse even with the rain on the previous day.

The trail winds through an old growth forest with some huge trees along the way.  One very large Tulip Poplar was beside the trail about 2.5 miles in.

The hike isn't an "Easy" hike.  There is a rather large elevation gain (~2200) feet.  We moved at a decent pace on the way up, but by the end, I was hot and sweaty and getting tired and ready for lunch.  The falls was spectacular.  It was much bigger than I expected and there was a large amount of water flowing on this day.  Other hikers in the group thought it was the most they had seen compared to past hikes.  We stayed at the falls for about 1.5 hours.  I quickly cooled off and was wearing most of my gear by the time we finished lunch and started back down.

The hike down took about 1 hour and 45 minutes.  The trail is pretty rocky at the top, but we still came down at a quick pace.

The weather was great.  The falls was impressive.  The hike was very enjoyable, not too hard and not too easy.

Off Trail - Cat Stairs + Greenbriar Pinnacle

Distance: 10-12
Date:  4/6/2013

Today's hike was an "off trail" adventure in the Greenbrier area.  I went the the GSHAG meetup group.  We left several cars at the Ramsey's cascade trailhead, but actually started the hike farther down the road to Ramsey's.  The trail was unmarked, but it was a trail and was easy to follow for the 1st couple miles.  Eventually, we made a turn onto a much less well marked trail and started up the side of the mountain.  Along the way we passed a small cemetery where 3 young children from a family were buried.  At the cemetery, the trail got very feint.  While facing the cemetery, you do a 180 turn and head into the woods.  Shortly thereafter, an old home site sits next the the trail.  Part of the chimney was about all that remained.


The trail continued directly behind the chimney.  From that point, there was lots of climbing until you reach a cliff that you must climb up.  There are 3 sections in the climb.  It was a difficult climb, but I didn't feel in danger at any time.


On top of the mountain, the ruins of an old firetower made a beautiful place for lunch.  
Along the trail there were also 3 or 4 overlooks that gave impressive views of the valley below.

The walk down to Ramsey's spent a lot of time in a Rhododendron forest that made the hiking a little slow. I was constantly ducking and twisting to avoid the plants. There were also a number of trees across the trail that we had to crawl over. Eventually the trail opened up and the hiking was easy.


The trail came out on the Ramsey's Cascade gravel road.  The final mile or so was on this road.

Gorgeous  day and a challenging hike made for a very enjoyable day.

Start: 9:00
Lunch at the Firetower:  1:15
Finish:  4:15