Saturday, July 1, 2023
While staying at Bald Knob Lookout over the 4th of July weekend we did several day hikes. The first one was Hanging Rock.
We started at the trailhead on Road 140:
The wilderness sign is gone, but the trail immediately enters the Wild Rogue Wilderness:
We saw some coralroot:
And some iris:
The trail was pleasant and well-traveled and in good shape:
Cool nurse stump:
We reached the junction with Panther Ridge Trail #1253. The junction is pretty easy to miss:
We turned left on the Panther Ridge Trail. There are some big trees here:
We reached another junction. To the left the trail goes to a trailhead on Road 230. We headed right towards Hanging Rock:
The area around Hanging Rock is open and rocky:
We saw some nice wildflowers including paintbrush:
And broadleaf stonecrop:
Yarrow:
From this side Hanging Rock looks like any other rock outcrop:
I’m not sure what geologic process created these round rocks:
But from this angle you can get a good sense for how Hanging Rock got its name:
I’m standing on Hanging Rock and Greg is on a different nearby rock outcrop:
Me on Hanging Rock:
It was a beautiful clear day and we had great views. That’s Mt. Bolivar in the distance, dead center in the photo:
Zoomed-in, Mt. Bolivar in the background left of center, with Saddle Peaks in the foreground :
Here’s how the panorama to the north looked in 1936, with Saddle Peaks at far right:
Looking east/southeast:
The southeast panorama:
Looking back into the forest from Hanging Rock:
The southwest panorama in 1936 encompassing the views from the top two photos:
We hung out here for awhile, but had to leave with a large noisy group showed up. Great little hike!
Gaia stats: 2 miles, 330′ elevation gain
