Miles and I went to hike some of the Tanawha Trail yesterday along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is a 13.5 mile trail, but we only did the first few miles of it from Beacon Heights to Rough Ridge. I have had this trail on my hiking bucket list because so many of the trail descriptions I have read online describe it as “covering a wide array of geological features” which makes it totally perfect! I was absolutely impressed. We traveled through at least four different types of ecosystems along the first four miles that we hiked of this trail (with a goal to come back and finish it on later dates, but having to retrace our steps back to the car made it impractical to do the entire hike in one day). The quartz veins we saw at so many different spots along the trail were really exciting for Miles to see. Beacon Heights exists at one trailhead of the Tanawha Trail and offers amazing views of several mountain ranges from its exposed rock faces. Views of Grandfather Mountain are spectacular from the left portion of Beacon Heights. As we continued from Beacon Heights, we traveled through dense forests of rhododendrons and hemlock which had relatively easy trails which had only a few steep sections. Weathering is very evident in the first mile past Beacon Heights on all the felsic rocks which were present. Quartz was abundant in this area which is expected because of Bowen’s Reaction Series which I explained in my previous post. Additionally, the large waterfalls we saw in the boulder areas were definitely contributing to weathering and erosion. There were a lot of small bridges which allow for hikers to walk across the waterfalls for excellent views, and these bridges are often tall enough to see the waterfall almost in its entirety. Miles and I spent time looking at the different sizes of boulders, pebbles, and gravels in the bottom of these first order streams.
The left portion of Beacon Heights is much wider and flatter so that the erosional patterns are much easier to see in the rock.
The large boulder fields between Beacon Heights and Rough Ridge were incredibly impressive. We came across at least six areas with GIGANTIC boulders (which also had some beautiful waterfalls).
I have decided that Rough Ridge is definitely my favorite place in the entire world. It used to be Beacon Heights, but the views from Rough Ridge along the Tanawha Trail offer views which are unparalleled to any other trail I have ever hiked. This is a very fragile ecosystem which is protected from hikers by a boardwalk system, so it is crucial for hikers to stay on the designated trails. The lowlying, windswept plants which grow on the top of Rough Ridge are protected and monitored throughout the year. More quartz veins were present in this felsic igneous rock as well, and Miles was having fun with me as we pointed them out to each other. The best features of Rough Ridge are the boulders and rocks toward the summit. These offer views of Grandfather Mountain as well as Beacon Heights (which is easy to spot because of the unfortunate cell phone tower which makes Beacon Heights easier to recognize).
Amy's Exploration of NC Geology 