It’s officially autumn and one of my favorite seasons to hike in the mountains! The leaves are changing, the air is crisp and the world is getting cozy. You can’t go wrong with North Carolina in October, so packed up the Subaru and headed north for a week of hiking adventures.
Day 1 ⫸ Graveyard Fields
3.5 miles ◈ 305ft elevation gain ◈ 2 waterfalls
After a 10 hour drive the day before, we wanted to start off our hiker’s week with an easy, scenic walk. Graveyard Fields was just the place! There was an easy boardwalk over the water in the first few minutes, then a fun muddy trail along the stream through fall-colored trees all the way to a beautiful waterfall. Once you get to the falls, keep walking up along the water’s edge until you reach the very top. We went early enough that we actually had the waterfall to ourselves and it was perfection. This is a very popular trail, so the earlier you go, the better!
Day 2 ⫸ Explore Historic Waynesville
coffee ◈ bookstore ◈ restaurants ◈ shopping
The next day we scheduled a rest/remote work day. Staying on top of the businesses while traveling is key! We always try to find a town with a good coffeeshop or co-working space where we can get some work done then go for a stroll to explore the town. Waynesville is one of our favorites! For this trip, our go-to place was was a cute family owned and operated coffeeshop called Orchard Coffee. And in case you didn’t think the world was small, we saw someone that we knew from our hometown, Lakeland. Then after that crazy encounter we overhear the family sitting next to us talking about Florida Southern and find out that they are from Lakeland too! What in the world ?
A Hiker’s Week in NC
