Crowded Mountain

It only takes me about twenty to twenty-five minutes to drive from the house to Crowders Mountain State Park. Over the decades that I have lived here it is the park where I most often end up when I feel like hiking on steep terrain but don't have the time to head for the real mountains.

So it was today when I took my second trip there in two weeks.

Today I hiked to the top of King's Pinnacle. It's the highest mountain in the park at just a tad under 1800 feet above sea level. Yeah, I know. Pretty pathetic even when compared to a park like South Mountains. But the summit does stand over 900 feet above the surrounding terrain and there are cliffs all around the top, so it's an impressive little mountain.

One thing about Crowders Mountain State Park is that I never really see any wildlife. The only creature I can expect to see are Turkey buzzards. Other than those, the only wild animal I have ever seen in the park was an otter. This was really strange because there is almost no water there...just a couple of small streams and a very small man-made pond. What this otter was doing in this dry, rocky terrain is a mystery. It crossed the Pinnacle Trail in front of me, paused very briefly, and hurried along. I suppose it was headed for a decent creek or river somewhere and was just passing through.

I think the reason I never see any wildlife there is because of why the park is affectionately known as "Crowded Mountain". Since it's so close to Charlotte and Gastonia, a lot of people go there to hike. On a busy day you will encounter hundreds of people. This was a mid-week hike for me and I still met up with well over twenty other hikers. So don't go there expecting anything like solitude. You won't find it, unless you decide to leave the trails and go bushwhacking through the woods.

All in all I had a good time today. Climbing up there was a decent little workout. The wind was brisk and the skies were thinly overcast and the temperatures were very mild. It was a fine day to be out in the forests climbing mountains.

There are a butt-load of rocks in that park.

They're not kidding. It seems hardly a year passes by without someone falling and getting killed on the cliffs on King's Pinnacle and Crowders Mountain.

This is the most popular overlook on King's Pinnacle. Not quite the summit, but it does offer a view of the high mountains far to the west on a clear day. You can even spot the Black Mountains from there when the conditions are right.

King's Pinnacle. Good for an infusion of hiking upward.

King's Pinnacle View

Kings Pinnacle inside Crowders Mountain State Park is the closest mountain to my house. I go there as a retreat of last resort when I can't run off to the real high country farther west. The park is one of North Carolina's largest state parks, and the highest point on the mountain was outside the borders of the park for many years. Finally, though, the state worked a deal with the family who owned a vast tract of land that included the long ridge that runs from Crowders Mountain all the way to the South Carolina border. Rangers in the park have told me for years that there is a trail planned to lead from the top of Crowders Mountain all the way to Kings Mountain State Park in South Carolina. But I've never heard that the trail has been completed or officially dedicated.

Click to embiggen.

The mountain is a classic monadnock. Composed of quartzite capstone, it has resisted erosion while the soil around it has been carried off to the Piedmont and coast farther east. Sadly, you can't really enjoy anything like a wilderness experience in the park due to the fact that there is so much development around it. You can pretty much always hear motor vehicles roaring along on I-85 to the west. And you can see all sorts of construction from the summit ridges. But, as I said, it'll do if you're desperate to just be in the forest and to take a walk up a steep slope to an impressive overlook.

And, of course, every time I go to the rocky viewing site near the very top of the mountain, I always take the time to make a goofy photograph that I stitch together to scare my friends and family.

Three of me! Yow!

In a Pinch

I've written about Crowder Mountain State Park here a number of times. It's where you go when you have a jones to go to the mountains but don't have the time. So you hop in the car and drive 30 miles south of Charlotte and there you are, at a park centered around a couple of quartzite monadnocks. They're pretty good little mountains with two major peaks. One is called Crowder Mountain and is the bulkier of the two. The second one, which is my favorite, is called King's Pinnacle. It's about 100 feet taller than Crowder but not quite so impressive a mass when viewed from a distance. It does stand about 900 feet above the surrounding Piedmont, and that's not bad for this neck of the woods.

Over the years I've spent a lot of time hiking that park, and I've covered every trail there more than once. Eventually, though, I got tired of the place and these days I only head over there when I'm feeling really desperate to get away for a little while and don't have the time to go anywhere else. The bad thing about the park is that you can't really get away from the sound of automobiles. I-85 lies just to the west of the park so when you get up on the ridges you hear that constant roar of tires on pavement and the growl of motors. Even in the forest you can often hear the internal combustion engines firing along, the whir of rubber against pavement.

But in a pinch the park's A-OK.


I took this one just below the summit of King's Pinnacle. The air was really clear that day. If you click on the photo and enlarge it, you'll even be able to see the Blue Ridge Mountains far to the west.

As near as I can tell, this is actually the highest point on the mountain. A tad over 1600 feet above sea level.

The nearby Crowder Mountain from the top of King's Pinnacle. That should be the visitor's center down there between the two mountains.

I was having twice as much hiking fun that day.

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