Spring has sprung, the Blue Ridge Parkway is fully open, and we are back to hiking with the Herd.

Of the many trails in this area, one of our favorite to explore is the Mountain to Sea Trail, an 1150 mile planned trail stretching from the far Western to the far Eastern end of North Carolina. Because the trail is accessible in so many points, it is easy to carve out a hike as short or as long as you want by selecting sections of the trail.

We started our hike at the Beaver Dam Gap Overlook, at roughly mile marker 401.7 of the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP). This is a very well maintained section of the trail with some good inclines and declines, but nothing crazy – a great early season stretch to get into shape.

The seniors enjoying the scenery.

We crossed the BRP at Stony Bald, had a quick chat with some people enjoying the scenery and continued on the trail.

As we reached the next crossover of the BRP, about 3 miles into our hike, we decided that was a good time to turn around and head back. Soon enough, we were back at Stony Bald and took a longer water break.

Q and the Queen enjoying some refreshing water.

We headed back to our Jeep and enjoyed the scenery along the way. The photo below is stitched together from eight separate photographs. As with all of our photos, you can click on the picture below to enjoy it on your full computer screen.

The view are spectacular in the spring.

While the views are always enjoyable, Hu-dad says there is another great benefit to hiking.

A Tired Typhoon.