Hiking Montreat, NC

It was a day for the dogs. We decided to bring Tybee and Tyki hiking somewhere they don't usually go, somewhere that's more than 20 minutes away (albeit we can get to some good hiking within 20 minutes from home). But to change things up, we went to the trails at Montreat.

The trail turned out to be a bit steeper and rougher than we wanted for Tybee. At 11 years old she's only able to do shorter hikes because of the arthritis in her hips and right elbow, in addition to potentially having degenerative myelopathy. But she loves to get outside and go hiking.

Andrew and I just kept an eye on he whenever the trail turned rocky, rooty and steep. Sometimes she needed a hand on her butt to stabilize or assist her. Other times as I reached out to help her, she'd nimbly jump over a log and gives you a look that said, "Man, that was a easy." But going up a steep rock face like this one called for more than a hand on her butt.

Then there's Tyki, who ran up and down the rock face a couple of times before I even started hiking up it.

Despite it being a cloudy morning, the town of Black Mountain was still visible from the rock outcropping at the top of the first climb.

Our hike start on Big Piney Ridge Trail (which is a steep uphill), T'ing into West Ridge Trail, onto Little Knob Trail (steep downhill), a short road walk, and Little Piney Trail (really well constructed trail) back to the car after merging back with Big Piney Ridge Trail for a short bit at the very end.

You can download the map for Montreat trails here or pick one up at the book store at Montreat Conference Center. Either way, it'll be the same map - a simple 8.5 x 11 printed out paper map.

The dogs found one of their favorite things on Little Knob Trail: icicles! They love to eat as much of it as possible, even if it means getting brain freeze!