“It’s not who you were, but who you are. It’s not what you did, but what you do.” Jay Hinze

The Wednesday Striders hikes are in range from 5 to 8 miles in length with a pace of about 2 to 2.5 mi/hr.  Please contact one of the hike leaders before hiking with this group. 

COVID 19 Policy: All Wednesday Striders will be required to be fully vaccinated including their booster shots. 

Start time:   Winter, Spring Fall; 9:00 AM.  Summer;  8:30 AM.  Please arrive 10 minutes early for a prompt departure.

Assembly Areas:  We have three different assembly areas depending upon the location of the hike.  These are Catheys Creek, Pisgah Ranger Station/Visitor Center and the Cedar Mountain Community Center.    

Updates:  Updates will be issued every Tuesday morning before the Wednesday hike.  To receive updates by email, enter your email address in the “+Follow” link at the bottom right corner of any webpage.

Note: Please do not reply to the Update emails.  Instead contact the hike leader at their email address posted below.

Wednesday Striders Hike Leaders:
Vince Castello–vincecas32@gmail.com
Vic Zona–victor.zona@sbcglobal.net

Wednesday Striders Spring Quarter 2026 Schedule

April 1 Connestee Falls Ramble
6.5 mi, 1700’cl, R8, $0.00
Meet at Connestee Falls Park parking area next to Looking Glass Reality at Connestee Falls
Marianne Hutchison will be leading this lollipop hike through various parts of Connestee Falls. This will be a shuttle hike. We will hike through the woods, then upstream along Carson Creek to Connestee Falls searching out various wild flowers. We’ll continue along a creek setting where we will have lunch and then view Batson Falls before reaching our shuttle location. There will be a limit of 10 hikers for this hike.

April 8 John Rock
6 mi, 1280’cl, R7, $2.00
Meet at the Pisgah Forest Ranger Station
Starting at the Fish Hatchery, we hike counterclockwise on the Cat Gap Loop, the Bypass and the John Rock trails. After lunch at the overlook we return to our cars via the Cat Gap Loop trail where we hope to see some new wild flowers starting to blossom.

April 15 Reasonover Creek to Poplar trail for the Yellow Lady Slippers
7.5 mi, 900’cl, R7, $0.0
Meet at the Fawn Lake Rd Access parking
We follow Reasonover Creek trail to the Turkey Knob trail and then to the Poplar trail where we will look for the patch of Yellow Lady Slippers. We will continue around Poplar trail back to Turkey Knob and Reasonover Creek trail back to our cars.

April 22 Jones Gap – Rainbow Falls
5 mi, 1300’cl, R5, $5.00
Meet at Cedar Mountain
From its trailhead at Jones Gap State Park we hike the Jones Gap trail to the Rainbow Falls trail to Rainbow Falls for lunch. We return by the reverse route enjoying stops along Cox Camp Creek and the Saluda River along the way.

April 29 Tanasee Bald – Herrin Knob – Mt. Hardy
7 mi, 1500’cl, R9, $6.00
Meet at Catheys Creek
From the gate at NC215 and the BRP we walk the Parkway to the Mt. Hardy trailhead. We hike the Mt. Hardy and Green Mountain trails to the Wolf Bald overlook for lunch. We finish by hiking the MST to the Rough Butt Bald overlook where we hike the BRP back to our cars.

May 6 Pilot Mountain
5 mi, 1900’cl, R10, $3.00
Meet at the Pisgah Forest Ranger Station
We hike the Art Loeb trail from Gloucester Gap to the summit of Pilot Mountain. We continue North on the Art Loeb trail and walk FS229 back to our cars. Hopefully the Pink Shell Azaleas will be in bloom along the way.

May 13 Summey Cove Courthouse Falls
8 mi, 1000’cl, R9, $4.00
Meet at Catheys Creek Road
After dropping a shuttle at the Summey Cove trailhead on NC215 we hike the Summey Cove trail to Courthouse Falls. After stopping to admire the falls, we continue up FR140 to the Upper Falls on Courthouse Creek. Then we hike FR140 to our shuttle on NC215.

May 20 Panthertown Waterfalls
7 mi, 1500’, R8, $6.00
Meet at Catheys Creek Road
From the Salt Rock trailhead in Panthertown we hike Panthertown valley to Warden Falls, Schoolhouse Falls, Little Green Mountain, Granny Burrell Falls, Frolichtown Falls and Wilderness Falls before we return to our cars. Hopefully the stand of Lady Slippers will still be in full bloom.

May 27 23 Feature Hike—East Loop, more or less
~6 mi, 1000’cl, R7, $4.00
Meet at the Pisgah Forest Ranger Station
From the MST crossing on 215, we walk the MST to the Little Sam trail. We then hike Little Sam to the Flat Laurel Creek trail back to 215 and then up 215 to our cars.

June 3 Buck Spring – Down
6.5 mi, mostly down, R5, $3.00
Meet at the Pisgah Forest Ranger Station
We will be taking the Buck Spring Trail from Pisgah Inn down to our shuttle on US route 276.

June 10 Fly Poison Hike along BRP
5 mi, 800’cl, R5, $6.00
Meet at Catheys Creek Road
From Bear Pen Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway we hike the Mountain- to-Sea trail to the Rough Butt Bald overlook where our shuttle awaits. We will enjoy the fly poison blooms along the way.

June 17 Roan Mountain at Carver’s Gap – Overnight (for PH members only)
6 mi, 1100’ cl, R7
Early Start: Plan to be at Carver’s Gap by 10 am
The Catawba Rhododendron may be in full bloom for an out-and-back ridge hike from Carver’s Gap along the AT. Bring your cameras. We eat lunch on the Grassy Ridge Bald overlook. We will overnight in Spruce Pine and perhaps go to Linville Falls the next morning.

June 24 Pink Beds to Upper Black Mtn and Club Gap
7 mi, 1100’cl, R8, $3.00
Meet at the Pisgah Forest Ranger Station
From the Pink Beds parking area we take the Pink Beds southern loop to Barnett Branch to Soapstone Ridge and then to Upper Black Mountain trail. Then we start back down to Club Gap and eventually back to the Pink Beds.