Morrow Mountain Hike

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Morrow Mountain State Park
49104 Morrow Mountain Rd, Albemarle, NC 28001

1.5 – 2 mi hike, lasting 1.5 – 2 hours. Ken Knight will lead this hike and talk about the history of Morrow Mtn. State Park, wildlife in the park, visit a vernal pool or two, look for wildflowers and other plants and maybe explore an old homesite. This hike will go off-trail, stepping over logs and crossing small creeks, but we will be moving at a slow pace. Dress for the weather, wear sturdy footwear and bring water.

We’ll hike to see upland depression swamps which are very interesting to see in the spring. There are also lots of interesting old homesites (abandoned for 90+ years). The homesites can be identified by their unusual assemblage of flower, shrub and tree species. Some have the remains of rock chimneys, rock walls and wells. All this is probably best seen in the springtime. There’s an old quarry on the park where the CCC crew quarried stone for building most of the structures in the park. If there is anyone with a geology background among the group, we could certainly discuss the argillite rock (“blue slate”) and the rhyolite quarried by Native Americans at the top of Morrow Mountain.

We’ll also talk about wildlife in the park, particularly deer, which were re-stocked in the area in the 1940s. In the mid 20-teens, the NC Wildlife Resources Commission trapped and relocated about 140 deer from Morrow Mountain to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Qualla Boundary in western NC.

Ken Knight is a native North Carolinian and retired wildlife biologist who worked for the NC Wildlife Resources Commission for 36 years. He has a BS from NCSU and MS from West Virginia University, both in wildlife biology. Ken’s interested in native plants, NC and local history and in particular the history and natural history of Morrow Mountain State Park.