Flat Top Tower Trail - Moses Cone Memorial Park
Blowing Rock, North Carolina
July, 2020
My favorite part of visiting this area each summer is the opportunity to walk the carriage roads at Moses Cone Memorial Park. Moses Cone was a textile entrepreneur, conservationist and philanthropist who built a summer home in the mountains outside Blowing Rock for his wife, Bertha, in 1901. The 20 room mansion currently houses The Southern Highland Craft Guild featuring local crafts and a branch of the National Park Service (neither of which are open to the public right now). To accommodate afternoon carriage rides over their property, Cone also built 25 miles of carriage roads which remain open to the public for walking and horseback riding. They are wide gravel roads that are gently graded and winding through dense forests and along beautiful wide open spaces. My goal each summer is to walk all 25 miles of the carriage roads at least once while I am here. They are perfect for unusual summers like this one as they are at least ten feet wide and social distancing is easy. One can take a short walk around the lake of less than a mile or combine several of the trails for a hike of most any length.
My favorite round-trip walk is the trek to Flat Top Tower which is a six-mile round trip leading to an old fire tower that is still accessible and provides a 360 degree view of the surrounding area including downtown Boone. I walk 3-4 miles most days of the week and this morning's trek took me 1 1/2 miles up the Flat Top Tower trail. Moses and Bertha Cone are buried in a beautiful spot overlooking the mountains just off the carriage road. That was my turnaround point today although I will make the complete trip to the fire tower at least once while I'm here. This is such a beautiful area and I am so grateful to be able to spend time here each summer.
Yesterday (Day 2) was a solid low-carb day which, again, wasn't extremely difficult although I can tell my carb intake has been cut significantly. I wouldn't call it "carb flu" which really is a thing, but my body is telling me something is different. I've been down this road before and will adjust in a few days. The hunger pangs will go away and so will the cravings.
Day 2 Report:
Total Carbs: 50
Total Steps: 11836
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I wasn't expecting an interesting story with each update!
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