Landed in NC, Drove to VA

Blue Ridge Trip '24 #3
Roanoke, VA - Sat, 31 Aug 2024. 11pm

The flying part of our trip today ended when we landed at Charlotte (CLT) in North Carolina. Things went reasonably smoothly at the airport and the car rental depot. We were on the road to Roanoke by 5:15pm.

It was about 200 miles from CLT to our hotel Roanoke, a drive of just under 3 hours— though an accident ahead of us in a construction zone on one of the highways cost us an additional 35 minutes. It was close to 9pm by the time we checked in to our hotel.

"Why fly to CLT then drive to Roanoke?" you might ask. "Roanake has an airport, too."

Yes, we could have flown here. Indeed, the hotel we're at tonight is right next to Roanoke's airport! But there's a method to the seeming madness. When I travel, there is always a plan to my route; a plan I've made after carefully considering many alternatives. We flew via CLT and drove to Roanoke because Roanoke is not the only place we're visiting. After a few days in Virginia we'll loop back around, by car, to the area near Asheville, NC. Yes, Asheville has an airport, too! But, like Roanoke's, it's a small, regional one. Flying via a major airport and renting a car, once, to drive around to less populous areas is the most convenient way to do this.

Hiking Cascade Falls

Blue Ridge Trip '24 #4
Pembroke, VA - Sun, 1 Sep 2024. 4pm

You know how sometimes you see a picture of a place and say, "I've got to go there!"? I do that a lot, actually. It's not really that surprising. We humans are visual creatures, and here in 2024 it's easy to find high resolution, full color pictures when researching places to go... or even when not particularly looking, but a friend shows you their pictures— like I do in this blog. Our hike today was inspired by a poster I saw at a highway rest stop, of all places.

On our trip to West Virginia last year we stopped at the Welcome Center in Virginia— we were just passing through that state— and saw a big picture of a waterfall on the wall. "I want to go there!" I said aloud to Hawk. It was Cascade Falls. We looked it up... and it wasn't near enough to where we were already going to fold into our plans. Ah, but when we say "No" to things such as that, "No" is not short for "Not ever"; it's just short for "Not this time." We came back out to the Blue Ridge Mountains again this year, 11½ months later, and Cascade Falls was absolutely on our list. It even wound up being the first hike we did this trip!

We got going a bit late this morning from our hotel room in Roanoke. I slept in 'til 8:30 this morning after a late night last night and let Hawk sleep in 'til 9:30. We were rolling by 10:30. We stopped in Blacksburg, VA for lunch, eating just off the campus of Virginia Tech, and got to the trailhead near Pembroke, VA just before 12:30pm.



Cascade Falls is a hike of about 4 miles roundtrip with 700' of elevation gain. The trail follows the creek all the way up, so the ascend is mostly gradual over the 2 miles in. At the end of the lower part of the canyon we reached a 66' tall waterfall.

Soaked on the Way Back

The weather was not great today. It was cloudy and humid. At least it wasn't hot. It was around 80° F. ...But it was also near 100% humidity, so hiking was tough. Sweat was pouring down my face. Then just after we got to the falls it started to rain. At first it was a mild drizzle but then the sky opened up. We decided that was a good reason to start back.

It rained pretty hard on us for 15 minutes. We took refuge under the canopy of some trees, but even those didn't hold the rain off for more than a few minutes. Hawk put her rain jacket on while I decided I'd just get soaked. It was still warm enough that being drenched didn't totally suck. I knew if nothing else I had a dry change of clothes in the car at the trailhead.

The rain let up once we were far enough down the trail to not want to go back up and see the falls again. 😅 We continued back down to the trailhead, mostly focusing on putting one foot in front of the other to make it quick in case the rain returned. It didn't, and in fact by the time we got to the parking lot the weather was warming up. Steam was rising off the blacktop as water evaporated. None evaporated from my shirt, though. The dang thing was plastered to my torso when I peeled it off at the car.

Now we're down the hill in town, enjoying snacks at a convenience store. Hawk bought a bag of cheese puffs while I bought an ice cream cone. Pembroke's not even a one-stoplight town. Thankfully, though, it's got 2 or 3 gas stations with big mini-marts. In a few minutes we'll hit the road again... but not to home. We're off to another hike, this one at the hopefully not aptly named Dismal Creek Falls!