Saturday, a group of 7 hikers, ventured up Black Mountain. The cool weather & sunshine made it a perfect day to hike. We started at the bottom of the mountain; the trailhead on Rt 68, & hiked to Windlass cave. Peering into the entrance, we didn’t see any bats & obeyed the signage to not enter the cave. Up many switchbacks & through The Gateway, which is a wooden staircase between two house sized boulders, we arrived at the southern overlook. Spectacular view, lunch on the rocks, we could almost see to the Smokies but was a little too hazy in the distance. Rousing ourselves from the post-lunch lethargy, we continued on the summit loop trail. At the old springhouse, we decided to head back down the trail that goes just below the bluff & saw more ruins of a house of long ago. We traversed back to the trailhead, a little more than 8 miles for the total hike with about 1575 feet of elevation gain.
If you would like to see some very nice pictures taken during this hike, click here.