Til the Last Hemlock Dies: Asheville and a Waterfall

After my hike up to Pilot Rock I returned to the campground and took a quick shower. Carole had arranged for us to meet up with one of her co-workers in Asheville who also happened to be spending the weekend there. We were afraid that it would take some time and co-ordination to hook up with Angel but as we pulled into a parking spot in downtown Asheville, there she was! Synchronicity in action!

We got our vehicles parked and then Carole, Andy, and Angel did some shopping while I just sat on the street and watched the crowds. Asheville is a very cool city and is packed with hippies and New Age types, so it's never boring to just watch the people go by. There's also lots of street performers working--actors, musicians, artists. We saw a guy doing wood-burning with a magnifying glass!

Our first order of the day was to head straight to our favorite pizza parlor in Asheville: The Mellow Mushroom. We really like their pies. Carole and I ordered one to share and Angel and Andy ordered one. We did not leave with a doggy bag, consuming every slice. We all highly recommend the Mellow Mushroom.

After that we walked around downtown a little more and hit up another favorite shop of ours, The Mast General Store. Then we headed back to the parking lot and retrieved our vehicles. We stashed Angel's car near the campground and then we drove over to see Looking Glass Falls on Highway 276. Angel had never seen it, and it's a great waterfall that is one of the most accessible large waterfalls in North Carolina.

We then drove up a couple of miles to Sliding Rock and took a look at that. We tried to go to the Fish Hatchery around the bend, but it was closed for the day and that meant that we were left with no other choice but to drive up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I figured that since Angel had stood at the base of Looking Glass Rock looking up at the summit towering a thousand feet above, it would be cool to take her to an overlook one thousand feet over the summit and looking down at Looking Glass Rock. She got a kick out of that.

With that, the daylight was beginning to fade so it was time to head back to the campground. At the parking area Angel got back into her car and went back to her hotel in Asheville and we returned to our campsite.