“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 Summer Quarter 2026 Schedule

July 1 Trace Ridge, North Mills River to Hendersonville Reservoir
8 mi, 600’cl, R7, $4.00 or $3.00 from Ingles
Meet at Walmart and Mills River Ingles
From the Trace Ridge parking area, we take the Wash Creek trail down to the North Mills River trail and follow that out to the Hendersonville Reservoir and Big Creek, for awhile. We will be crossing the river many times so bring hiking shoes that you don’t mind getting wet. Then we will retrace our path back until we get to a user trail that takes us back up to Trace Ridge parking.

July 8 Horsepasture River Waterfalls
5 mi, 1100’cl, R6, $6.00
Meet at Catheys Creek
We will hike from the trailhead in Gorges State Park and visit Drift Falls, Turtleback Falls, Rainbow Falls and Stairstep Falls before returning to our cars.

July 15 Shining Creek
6 mi, 1300’cl, R7, $4.00
Meet at the Pisgah Forest Ranger Station
From the Shining Creek trailhead on US276 we hike to Shining Creek Falls for lunch at our newer lunch spot, since Fred, and back.

July 22 Graveyard Fields Ramble
7 mi, 1350’cl, R9, $5.00
Meet at the Pisgah Forest Ranger Station
The hike starts across the BRP from Graveyard Fields parking. We head up the Pisgah Ridge trail crossing the BRP to the MST. We hike the MST and take the last exit back to Graveyard Fields.

July 29 Slate Rock from Wolf Ford
7 mi, 1,300’cl, R9, $3.00
Meet at the Pisgah Forest Ranger Station
Starting at the Wolf Ford Horse Camp on Yellow Gap Road we hike to the Pilot Rock Trail then take the connector to the Slate Rock Creek trail to the Pilot Cove Loop trail to Slate Rock. After lunch we hike the remainder of the Pilot Cove trail to Slate Rock Creek Trail and back to the connector to Pilot Rock and Yellow Gap Road – to our cars.

August 5 Panthertown-Tuckasegee River Waterfalls
5 mi, 700’cl’, R5, $5.00
Meet at Catheys Creek
From the Cold Mountain trailhead in Panthertown we hike along the Tuckasegee River to Elbow Falls, Riding Ford Falls and Jawbone Falls. We’ll make a obligatory stop at Schoolhouse Falls on the way back before returning to our cars.

August 12 Pisgah Ridge – Skinny Dip Falls
5 mi, 500’cl, R4, $5.00
Meet at the Pisgah Forest Ranger Station
Starting at the junction of FS816 and the Parkway, we hike the Pisgah Ridge trail to Graveyard Fields. We hike past Second Falls to the MST and Skinny Dip Falls enjoying the twayblade orchids along the way. We return to our shuttle at the Looking Glass Rock overlook on the Parkway.

August 19 Wintergreen and Grassy Falls Ramble
6 mi, 800’cl, R6, $2.00
Meet at Cedar Mountain
From the Dupont Guion Farm parking lot we follow a number of trails eventually stopping by Wintergreen Falls and Upper Grassy Falls along the way.

August 26 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.

September 2 MST – Wolf Bald
6 mi, 700’cl, R5, $6.00
Meet at Catheys Creek
From the Rough Butt Bald overlook on the BRP we hike the MST/Buckeye Gap trail to the user trail to Wolf Bald. We locate the MST and follow it to the Bubbling Springs waterfall for lunch. We return to our shuttle on NC215.

September 9 Big East Fork
4.5 mi, 800’cl, R4, $4.00
Meet at the Pisgah Forest Ranger Station
From the Looking Glass Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway we hike the MST and Bridges Camp trail down to the Big East Fork trail. We continue on the Big East Fork trail down to the lunch rock. We then retrace our steps back to our cars on the Parkway.

September 16 Mt. Pisgah Loop
6 mi, 1000’cl R7, $4.00
Meet at the Pisgah Forest Ranger Station
From the Pisgah Inn we hike to the top of Mt. Pisgah via the Buck Spring and Mt. Pisgah trails and return via the Campground trail. We’ll eat lunch near (but not in) the Pisgah Inn.

September 23 Stone Mountain Dupont
7 mi, 1250’cl, R8, $2.00
Meet at Cedar Mountain
Starting at Guion Farm parking we take the Shoal Creek trail to the Rocky Ridge trail, then to the Stone Mountain Trail to reach the top of Stone Mountain. We then come down to catch the Switchback trail to Sky Valley Road and back to our cars.

September 30 Pilot Rock/Laurel Mountain
5.5 mi, 1300’cl, R7, $4.00
Meet at the Pisgah Forest Ranger Station
From the Pisgah Inn we hike the Buck Spring, Pilot Rock, Laurel Mountain Connector and Laurel Mountain trails to lunch at the Buck Spring Lodge site. We then continue on to the Pisgah Mtn trail head and return via the Pisgah Mtn trail to the Pisgah Inn.