Hawksbill Mountain + Linville Gorge Wilderness | North Carolina

 

Hawksbill Mountain is an absolute gem of a hike. I had a day all to myself as my business partner caught up on editing, so I decided to check out some hikes I had seen online. I was actually on my way from Boone to the Table Rock hike when I drove right past the parking area for Hawksbill Mountain. Having showed up right in my path I figured I might as well hop out of the car and have a look.

Migo my trusty companion had joined me for the day. It was an easy enough hike for the both of us. About 1.5 miles round trip. The way up is short but constant incline, while the way down is a piece of cake. The reward at the top are some of the most breathtaking views I have come across in a long while. Three hundred and sixty degrees of blue ridge mountains. You could even see right down into the Linville Gorge. The next mountain over was table rock. Just seriously breathtaking! Of course, when I am trying out easy hikes like this, I am actually location scouting for future sessions. You can call me obsessed, its ok. I think this would make the most perfect spot for a very intimate elopement ceremony or engagement session.

Migo and I took a while feeling the breeze and taking in the views before heading back to the truck. I had taken more time up on top of Hawksbill Mountain than I thought, so we had just enough time to catch the sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains. I decided to swing over to another spot on my “possible engagement location” list and drove over to Wiseman’s View. Wiseman’s View is also located in the Linville Gorge Wilderness. Its even easier to get to than Hawksbill Mountain, and offers great views over the surrounding mountains and forest. There are a couple lovely little lookout spots on Wiseman’s View, and it looks like someone might have even held a wedding ceremony up here earlier. The whole lookout was covered in beautiful cut rhododendrons.

The sunset was gorgeous- full of pastel pinks and so many shades of blue. Those blue ridge sunsets are breathtaking. Its such a luxury to be able to spend so much time photographing and living out this way.

Thank you so much for reading! ~ Shelley Hartman, Boone, North Carolina Wedding + Elopement Photographer

More pics of Linville Wilderness can be found on our Linville Falls post.