As most of the country is being pummeled by excessive amounts of snow, we’re on the hunt for it. Constantly checking the weather in the mountains in hopes of finding some white stuff to go play in. On Monday, our best hiking buddies saw a post online of one of our favorite hiking destinations. They had gotten some snow! Not a lot, but considering we never get any, we were super excited about it! We planned to meet early the next morning and make the 3 hour drive to check it out for ourselves. It would be an epic first hike of the year!
As we got close, we started seeing small patches of snow, getting more and more prevalent as we ascended into the mountains. We arrived at the Carver’s Gap parking area where we’d start our hike to a beautiful sight! It wasn’t deep and puffy. It wasn’t enough to build a snowman, but these Southern transplants were elated at the sight just the same. And so were ALL of our pups! The zoomies kicked in as soon as everyone was unloaded from the cars and it brought a smile to all of our faces.
We crossed the road and picked up the Appalachian trail to hike up towards the balds. There are three of them on this section of the trail, each more stunning than the next. A bald, or grassy bald, if you aren’t familiar with the term, is basically a mountain summit covered in lush grasses or vegetation, as opposed to trees. There are a lot of them in the Southern Appalachians and we LOVE hiking up them, mostly because of the 360 degree views. Like these…
The three balds that we traversed on this hike are Round Bald, Jane Bald, and Grassy Ridge Bald. Each bald is higher in elevation than the last, giving you progressively more amazing views of the surrounding Blue Ridge mountains. These balds are part of the Roan Highlands, the longest stretch of balds in the Appalachians. The Roan Highlands sprawl out over almost 1000 acres of gorgeous, seemingly untouched grassy mountaintops.
We started our trek to the top of the first bald (and couldn’t help but exclaim “wow, it’s so beautiful!” over and over again. To make it even better, our little hiking crew grew by one awesome rescue mutt (Ernie) and his equally awesome owner Chelsea. They are new to hiking and seeing Ernie running around clearly enjoying their new hobby was such a treat. As was seeing Chelsea’s big smile as we walked around the beautiful balds with their seemingly endless views.
Ernie also brought out Boomer’s playful puppy side! They chased each other through the snow and ice like wild banshees and wrestled to their hearts’ content. It was so freaking cute.
My friend Lauren (@palmettomoonpointers) captured this awesome shot of them racing through the snow. I just love it!
It was obviously really cold (about 12 F I think), but we were all bundled up and actually pretty toasty, especially because we were moving most of the time. The dogs pretty much never stopped running. Boomer had her nose to the ground most of the time, tracking some small critter’s path that had run all over the balds I’m sure.
Whatever it was, she was having the time of her life and didn’t seem to mind that it was cold one bit. I’m sure her Hurtta Extreme warmer helped a whole lot too. Love this coat. Full review will be up on the blog in the next week sometime.
We ascended each of the three peaks, stopping to take in the view and watch the dogs explore.. and take a few pictures, of course!
One of the many sweet moments with my girl on the trail.
With the cold temperatures, and it being a Tuesday, we only ran in to a few other people the whole time we were out. One of the people we met taught us a really fun bit of trivia. The ice that so gloriously coated all of the grasses and vegetation on the balds is called rime ice. I looked up the term when I got home to learn more about it. Rime ice actually forms when it’s so cold that the water molecules in fog freeze. They blow in the wind and accumulate on the windward side of plants and vegetation. And it looks SUPER cool…
It made the entire area look amazing, especially where there was a lot of it.
We eventually meandered our way to the top of the third and tallest bald, Grassy Ridge Bald. The final trek is the most strenuous section, rising about 400 feet from the gap after Jane Bald to the Summit of Grassy Ridge. This third and final summit is 6,189 feet tall, landing it on our SB6K Challenge list. This is our 5th peak on the list so far, after Black Balsam, Tennent Mountain, Watterrock Knob and Yellow Face.
The SB6K Crew (minus Roxie, it would have been a bit too cold and windy for her little self on this hike)
Even on top of a mountain, they seek out the best vantage points!
We hung out at the top for a while after completing our climb. We gave the pups some water, chatted with a fellow hiker, and took in the sights. He was even nice enough to get some group pictures of our little crew.
We were having so much fun exploring the balds and watching the dogs running around, so obviously in their element, that we didn’t even realize how long we were up there. We were hiking back down the trail on our way back to the cars when we realized we had been hanging out in the cold for over 4 hours.
But I mean, can you blame us with views like these?
After standing still for a bit too long, we started to feel the cold and decided to make the trek back down. The dogs were still full of energy and ran and played most of the way down. Except when I asked Boomer to (grudgingly) stop for this picture… lol.
Can I get back to running now? Jeez…
Trekking back down the trail through the rhododendron bushes
Only the second day of 2018 and we had already been on one heck of an adventure. What a great way to start the new year. Hope everyone else’s year started off half as awesome as ours did!
Keep an eye out for more adventure recaps to come. We just got back from another one last night!
Thanks for reading,
Debbie & THE MUTTS
You might also like
28 Comments
What stunning photographs and it looked like so much fun. I would love to do a hike like that but am not sure Layla would be happy or able to handle it as she is a small dog plus LOL she does not like getting her paws wet.
Roxie is only 15 lbs and while I was unsure at first, she proves to me time and again that little dogs can do BIG things! It’s funny because my dogs are NOT a fan of getting their paws wet either when we’re at home, but for an adventure? They’ll totally deal and not care in the slightest. Pretty sure they’d even hike in the rain, and at home they won’t even go out to pee. I guess it’s different when they know they’re going to have a whole lot of fun! lol. You can always try smaller hikes first with Layla and bring a backpack just in case she gets tired. That’s what I did with Roxie when she was a pup, as well as after her leg surgery!
INCREDIBLE journey! The pictures of the dogs playing in the snow are absolutely awesome, there is nothing better than truly happy dogs. Love everything about this post!
Thank you so much Jill! I couldn’t agree with you more!!! Seeing them running and playing brings so much joy to them and to me, seeing them so happy! It was an awesome adventure, as always. Even better because of the snow and ice and beauty all around us. Thanks for reading
This is the best life for a dog, or person! I would love to hike the Appalachian trails!! Gorgeous photos thank you so much for sharing! I do wish my little Lyla were able to traverse more.
Aww thank you Joely! You just made my day. My dogs and I LOVE to go on adventures, explore new places, smell new smells (maybe that’s them more than me! LOL). You should try to do some small, easy trails with Lyla at first and see how she does. You can always build up from there. I will say that our littlest pup Roxie blows me away all that time with her stamina and determination. And the easy thing about small dogs, is you can always pop them in a backpack if they get tired!
The photos are epic! I bet you had a hard time taking breaks to take pictures when you were having so much fun.
It was a constant struggle between wanting to watch the dogs have SUCH a blast, trying to mentally process all of the beautiful scenery, and trying to capture just a fraction of that beauty in pictures. They never seem to do it justice! So glad you enjoyed reading about our adventure 🙂
This was an amazing day trip, and your photos are amazing as well. Your dogs are so lucky they get to have such a wonderful, fun life.
Aww thank you! I feel so lucky to have dogs who love adventure as much as I do. Though I’d argue that most dogs would love it, given the opportunity! We always have the best time exploring together. This was one of those days we will remember for a long time
Wonderful photos and many happy memories. Thanks for sharing that special trip!
So glad you liked the pictures! It was definitely an amazing day for all of us. Boomer and her friends slept like babies the whole way home.
The scenery is absolutely beautiful, and the photos turned out wonderful. Our pups love nothing more than a good hike: we can’t wait to get back out on the trails. Sounds like a wonderful adventure!
Thanks Katie! So much fun was had by all. The scenery was just gorgeous, not that the dogs cared one bit. LOL They were just so happy to have wide open, snow covered spaces to run and play. Hope you and your pups get back on the trail soon!
Your photos are just gorgeous, especially those expansive views from the balds. Lauren’s action shot is impressive! I’m not a photographer, but the dogs look tack sharp to me. Looking forward to 35 more photo-filled posts:)
The views up here seem to just go on for days in every direction. The pictures don’t even do it justice. This is one of those places that I want everyone to see at some point in their lives. It’s that amazing! Thanks for following our SB6K journey! Excited to share the rest of it with you all
Incredible photos! I can see why they’re called the Blue Ridge mountains! My favorite pic was the one of the pups playing in the snow. Love it! Looks like an amazing day!
Yes, CRAZY blue! The blues seem even more vibrant in the winter with all the leaves off the trees. These mountains are a magical place year round, but they’re a little more magical in the winter covered in snow. The dogs love it up here too. Thanks for reading!
I am loving your adventures. The photo of the Rhododendrons was so unique! It’s great that you are all bonding with each other and your dogs on these adventures…
The rime ice covering all of the vegetation was magical! I cannot WAIT to go back in May when the Rhododendrons are in bloom! Bright purple flowers speckling the landscape. Ahh… We always have so much fun on our hiking excursions, especially with friends (furry and human)! Thanks for following our advenutures
I love the photo of the dogs running through the snow. Do you ever put doggy boots on them when they are in snow?
They had so much fun running and playing in the snow. It gives them immediate zoomies! lol. I don’t really use boots on my dogs. I have some, but they aren’t huge fans and honestly, unless they were in it for hours a day every day, their feet are just fine without them. I do, however, use Musher’s Secret paw wax, which is what they use on sled dogs. It protects their paws from the elements without the extra bulk and restrictiveness of boots.
What a beautiful hike! Love the pictures of those happy dogs able to run until their hearts content. I look forward to reading about the coat next week. It looks very warm and comfy – perfect for such cold weather.
They love nothing more than these big open expanses with room to run and so many things to sniff! Balds like these are our favorite kind of hikes! The openness for the dogs and the views for us humans are pretty hard to beat. The Extreme Warmer makes it SO much more comfortable for Boomer to adventure. Review is in the works!
Mr. N is super jealous! He’s on exercise restriction right now so it will be a little while before he romps off-leash again. I really like the look of those extreme warmers. Do you find that your dogs get snowballs at all? Does it help?
My dogs are all pretty short haired, and have therefore never really gotten snowballs. I do love these Extreme Warmers, but for dogs who get snowballs, something that covers their legs is beneficial. Many of my friends with longer haired dogs layer either the body warmer underneath or go with the slush combat suit (both also from Hurtta, both provide excellent leg coverage).
Is this not a small world. I was searching for Pictures of Roan to show a coworker. When I came across your pictures. I remember the dogs!! We were up there that same day, I was the person that shared the Rime Ice with you. I remembered you because it is not very often you see a vizsla, and the Blue tick was adorable. I also remember the third dog however she was not as sociable. So glad to see those BEAUTIFUL pictures. You have a great eye for photography.
Looks like yall and the dogs had a wonderful time.
Maybe we will see ya again up there. Roan Mountain is one of the most beautiful places in the United States.
Have a blessed day!
Ahh, yes I remember you too. Thanks for the info on the rime ice. It was such a gorgeous day on the mountain. I definitely agree that Roan is one of the most beautiful places ever. So glad you like the pics. I had a blast taking them. The dogs had so much fun on that hike. We try to go as many times as we can each year. Maybe we’ll run into you there again sometime.