Bluff Mountain
Trail: Bluff Mountain Trail
Length: 8.4 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Distance from Charlotte NC: about 2 hours
Features: wildflowers, a cow pasture, a bald, and views from the Blue Ridge Parkway
Trail Tip: about half of this trail is completely exposed so wear sunscreen and be careful hiking it in very hot conditions. The trail is also overgrown in some places so I would suggest wearing pants, I wore shorts and the tall grass made my legs itchy. Finally, I would not hike this trail unless you have downloaded some sort of offline map (I pay for Alltrails and downloaded the map that way), it goes through parking lots with no trail markers and it would be easy to get lost.
I was looking up trails near Stone Mountain and happened upon this one. I was drawn to it because of photos I saw of the wildflowers. This trail is very different than anything we have hiked before. Most of the trails we hike have a very obvious end point by way of a summit or water feature. This one is part of a longer series of trails. We turned back where our app suggested but we could have kept going if we wanted to.
The entire trail is so interesting and beautiful. You pass through wooded areas, fields of wildflowers, a cow pasture, and a bald area with 360 degree mountain views. We saw even saw some wild berries! The trail runs along the Blue Ridge Parkway and requires you to cross it a couple times, so you can hear cars throughout the hike. We were not bothered by this but I know some people dislike feeling like they are not completely immersed in nature. There are also at least four parking areas at different points of the trail where you could park and hike smaller sections if you wanted to. We loved how the trail is not heavily trafficked, we only passed three groups of people the entire time, so we felt very safe. The more popular trails have been a little overwhelming with COVID and mask concerns.
Bluff Mountain is located in Doughton Park (which I had never heard of before). I grabbed a photo of a map we passed laying out some of the other trails so we can go back and check them out. We also passed some really cool camp sites! We are trying to get into camping when the weather cools down a little and these sites are not far from parking areas so they would be good for beginner campers like me. If you decide to check out any of the trails in this park I would love to hear about your experience! Keep exploring friends!
