A Weekend in Hot Springs, NC
Rikki and I decided very last minute to take an impromptu weekend trip to the mountains. I had been working from home due to COVID and we had both been social distancing from family and friends and needed to look at something other than the walls of our condo. We generally center our vacations around hiking/outdoor activities and Max Patch is one of our favorite places, so we settled on Hot Springs.
Friday when Rikki got off of work we packed up the car and the pup and started our three hour drive. We found an adorable inexpensive Airbnb located on a farm about twenty minutes from Max Patch. When we arrived it was even better than the photos and description we saw online. There were many thoughtful touches inside and the outdoor area was incredible. We enjoyed hanging out on the porch and Sugar (our 15 year old schnauzer) enjoyed exploring the fenced in portion of the yard.
That evening we decided to attempt a short hike called Lovers Leap located near downtown Hot Springs. You actually park the car in downtown Hot Springs and walk to the trailhead from there. The loop is 1.8 miles long and rated as moderate. We thought this meant we didn’t need to bring our hiking backpacks, but we were wrong. The hike was definitely on the strenuous side of moderate and we wished we had water with us. Now we know for next time! You begin the trail walking along the French Broad River, and when you get to the top you get a stunning panoramic view of it. Some parts of the hike made us nervous, the trail was pretty narrow and rocky, but it was absolutely worth it.
When we finished our hike we were starving so we stopped at Iron Horse Station for dinner. I was so hungry I forgot to take photos of our food but we both ordered their veggie burger. It was delicious and exactly what our bodies needed. After dinner we went to the grocery store to get items to make breakfast and lunch at the Airbnb and headed back to get some sleep.
Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to check out Mouse Creek Falls via Big Creek Trail. The hike is an easy five miles and felt like a breeze compared to the hike we did the day before. On the way to the falls, you pass a swimming hole called Midnight Hole. This looked like it was straight out of a movie. The water was actually blue, which you don’t see much of in the Carolinas, and there was not another person in sight. We continued on to the waterfall and we also had that completely to ourselves. It was nice getting to sit on the rocks, relax, and take in the scenery. We timed the trail perfectly, on the way back (around 9:30 am) we passed masses of folks heading in. I assume it is incredibly crowded by afternoon.
As a side note - this trail has a ton of bugs flying around since you are close to water the entire time. Rikki hates bugs near his face so he ended up hiking like this and it was cracking me up -
After our hike we grabbed some coffee and a veggie burger to go from Spring Creek Tavern. Hot Springs restaurants generally did not have a ton of vegetarian options so we ate a lot of veggie burgers. When we returned to the Airbnb we ate our lunch on the porch and read our books. We both drifted off for a moment and when I woke up I had sixty mosquito bites - no exaggeration. Wear bug spray y’all. When we were both awake we decided to check out another waterfall. Our host left us instructions for one that was located right down the street from where we were staying. It was funny to find it literally on the side of the road, it was much bigger and more impressive than we were expecting!
That evening we headed to our favorite place - Max Patch! Rikki wanted to take some landscape photography with his drone. When we arrived it was incredibly crowded. Large groups had set up camp sites for the night. We want to go camping here sometime but I was uncomfortable with how close everyone was to each other. We are hoping a different time of year might be better. We didn’t stay for long, but we got to watch the sunset over the mountains and it was beautiful.
Our trip to Hot Springs was the perfect little weekend escape from reality. The mountains are always a good idea! Keep exploring friends!
