I found a fun set at Crowders Mountain/Kings Pinnacle state park. We also found a beautiful weather window and quickly pulled together an outing before the next band of rain.
The FKT I picked starts at the visitor center and hits both of the peaks in the park, following trails out-and-back to each. John was up for the first climb, so he began walking while I set up my watch and InReach and took starting photos:
I took off after him, eventually caught up, and we climbed toward Kings Pinnacle together. Having a "pacer" put this FKT in the Supported category, which made sense for me for this particular day and effort. John is getting back to running and we're training for a rogaine this summer so we're planning for more exploring together (yay!).
They are serious about safety around here:
Fun little stairs going up to The Pinnacle:
The trail led up to a wonderful overlook, and then along a ridge over to a post at the very top. Great views! I briefly looked around (John pointed out a solar farm in the background of this picture), then turned and headed back down.
John says this is the "solar farm inspection pose"
Back down and starting on the Crowders Trail to the north. I really enjoyed running on these trails. They are well-maintained and marked, not too technical (just a few rocks in places), and quite nice.
The road crossing over to Crowders Mountain:
I was RIGHT here:
I'm curious as to why this FKT was designed to follow the Crowders Trail along the side of the mountain, around to the back, and then to the top. There's a more direct trail called Rocktop. I suppose the name "Rocktop" indicates that it's not nearly as runnable... someday we'll come back and find out.
I started noticing lots of these "report this location" posts, with numbers based on the trail and the location along it. This park definitely gets points for safety.
An occasional GPS location marker, with trail mileage:
It was great to see all the people out there! The park has free entry, very nice. And it's certainly popular on a sunny Sunday.
But not overly crowded either, as I'm realizing that most of my pictures show empty trails... Here's the one starting up the Backside Trail toward the top of the mountain:
Oh right! There was some mention of stairs. I was pushing the pace more and more as I went along, and this climb took some effort:
At the top, admiring the large antenna towers:
Yay for summit #2:
More beautiful views from here (into the sun so the photo's not great), taking just a brief amount of time to admire them, then I've gotta go.
Back down the 300+ stairs:
I ran harder on the trail going back, as it made a bunch of little dips and climbs. One last little ascent and then I was back at the visitor center. What a fun almost-10 miles!
https://fastestknowntime.com/fkt/marcy-beard-crowders-mtn-nc-2020-01-12
We had noticed a permanent orienteering marker along the Pinnacle Trail, so when John came back down he asked about it. Yep, there an O-course, and here's a free map - cool! He went for another trek and bagged a few checkpoints while awaiting my return from Crowders.
Super fun morning! Oh, and we saw a giant peach water tower...
So I'd call that an all-around success.
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