Craggy Gardens hike (October 28, 2023)

The 360 degree views from Craggy Pinnacle were stunning! We don't get these fall colors in Austin. The trail is off the Blue Ridge Parkway, about an hour from Asheville. We're lucky we went when we did. A few days later, an 8-mile section of the Parkway near there was closed because drivers had stopped to feed and try to hold a bear cub next to the road. National Park Service rangers wanted to give the bear a chance to lose interest in the area before visitors or the bear were harmed. People! Sigh.

Piper, Mya, and me at the pinnacle.

Mya photographed the rest of us at the pinnacle.

Mya and Piper. The hike is an easy 1.2 miles round trip.

Ryder, Willoughby, and Brandy in front of one of the dramatic rock formations on the trail.

Piper, Papa Tom, and me. We saw a ton of rhododendrons along the trail but they won't be covered in pink blossoms until late May or early June.