Grassy Rich Bold via AT + Cloudland Trail

This was my last weekend at the Airbnb I was living in for the past month. I wanted to find a good semi-local hike worthy of my time. I zoomed out on Alltrails to see what's out there and found Grassy Ridge Bald via Appalachian Trail about an hour and a half from my current place. Just from the number of reviews and the pictures I knew this was going to be something spectacular. I didn't mind driving further to get to that view. I planned to hike this 6 mile trail and if I had a bit more motivation after completing it, I would also hike Cloudland Trail, which was really close by.

I arrived at the parking lot early in the morning after a nice drive. There were quite a few people there, but the parking lot was large. I found a spot and started my hike with a brief stop at the first bush that looked private enough for a bathroom break (coffee + 1.5 hours in the car = need to pee).

At first the hike was very cloudy. The first section of the trail briefly went into pine forest which with the addition of fog seemed rather Harry Potterish.

Foggy beginning of the hike

I was a bit concerned that I would not be able to see any views at all, but pretty quickly the fog was starting to break apart showing what I was dying to see in reality from pictures.

The trail reminded me many hikes in California as vegetation and the landscape were very similar. I saw many overnight hikers (or possibly thru-hikers since it was part of the AT?) coming in the opposite direction from where I was going to.

The views became even more spectacular as the fog was literally evaporating. 

The view from just one of the spots along the trail

Everywhere I looked I saw landscape that looked like something from National Geographic and definitely from Bob Ross's paintings. Even people annoyingly taking up the whole trail were not as irritating as usually.

The elevation gain was slow and gentle

Soon I was getting close to the turnaround point where views were just as fantastic as along the rest of the trail.

This was the view from the turnaround spot

I reached the turnaround spot where two females with their loud children were camping. As one of the kids was spitting water over himself, the peaceful landscape was telling me not to pay attention. But why, why on earth would you allow your child to behave like that??? And why, why would you camp right ON the spot where everyone was trying to get to? I had no answer to that. After a few minutes, I was ready to go back.

I returned to the parking lot and noticed that the gate towards the parking lot where Cloudland Trail started from was open. The night before one of the Alltrails reviewers mentioned that it was closed, so he had to hike 1.7 miles on top of the mileage of the trail. I was lucky to drive up there, and after paying my $3 through the honorary system right before entering the parking lot, I started the hike.

It was nice and cool on top of the mountain. For a day that was supposed to be in the hot high 80s, the elevation made it pleasant high 60s.

The first fork in the road was towards a view. And the view was spectacular.

I continued moving through the woods. It was such a pleasant walk on soft ground covered with pine needles.

Pine needles covering the ground

I quickly got to the view point, and it did not disappoint. It was one of the most incredible views I've seen, although pictured just don't do it justice. The partial cloud cover also made them somewhat dark.

Not sure if the video might better reflect how incredible the view is, but here it is.

I was back at the parking lot in no time since the trail was just 2.5 miles round trip. What an amazing day! Three hours of driving were completely worth the views. This was a perfect ending to another Airbnb stay.