Hikers can make a New Year’s resolution for adventure when the Swannanoa Valley Museum’s annual hiking series resumes in 2018. The museum offers two hiking programs, the challenging Swannanoa Rim Hike Series and the more moderate Valley History Explorer Series.

The Rim Hike Series explores the peaks of the Swannanoa Valley, while the Valley History Explorer Series revisits the past of local communities across the valley. Prospective hikers can learn about the programs at three free informational meetings.

The first will be at the museum on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018 at 6:30 p.m. The second will be at REI Asheville on Wednesday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. The third will be held at Black Dome Mountain Sports in Asheville on Thursday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m.

Now in its ninth year, the popular Rim Hike series consists of 11 hikes that reveal the history and geography of the Swannanoa Valley. The hikes explore a different section of the 31-mile-long Swannanoa Rim, terrain that spans from Jesse’s High Tip, across Lakey Gap, over Ridgecrest and Montreat, up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and down to Cedar Cliff above Camp Rockmont.

The hikes take place every third Saturday from January to November. Participants register in advance and meet at the museum (223 W. State St., Black Mountain, NC) to depart at 8 a.m. The hikes are led by veteran hikers who share their knowledge about the history, topography and ownership of the land. Each hike ranges from three to eight miles over elevations ranging from 2,316 to 6,462 feet.

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Trickling between Old Fort and Ridgecrest, Swannanoa Creek is a natural passageway into the Swannanoa Valley. Over the centuries, the storied tributary has led many travelers into Western North Carolina.

The Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center will lead a moderate-to-difficult, mostly downhill, four-mile hike down this path on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017, shedding light on the natural, social, and cultural history of this once major artery into the Blue Ridge and crossroads for tourism, commerce – and calamity.

During Stoneman’s Raid at the close of the Civil War, the thoroughfare played a critical role in the defense of the region. Using an ingenious and surprisingly simple diversion, Confederate troops were able to prevent the Union Army from using the route to make its way to Asheville. Participants will hear the full tale as they walk the same route used by the troops more than 150 years earlier.

Near the road lies a mysterious gravestone related to the skirmish. The grave’s occupant is unknown, and Confederate veterans told two conflicting versions of the story, which museum historians will share when hikers reach the site. The gravestone, marked soberly “U.S. Soldier,” is visible alongside the creek, sometimes marked with Confederate flags and Old Glory.

Despite the solemnity and mystery enveloping the creekside, during much of the 18th century the Swannanoa Creek formed the backbone of the burgeoning Western Turnpike, the main pathway in WNC. Starting in 1820, a stagecoach line ran along the road from Morganton to Old Fort, and then up the mountain to Black Mountain along the stream.

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The Swannanoa Valley Museum will hold a series of interest meetings in the coming weeks to discuss the upcoming 2016 Swannanoa Rim Hike Series and Valley History Explorer Series.

The first meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 7 beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts. Subsequent meetings will be held Tuesday, Jan. 12 at Black Dome Mountain Sports beginning at 7 p.m. and Wednesday, Jan. 13 at REI Asheville at 7 p.m.

According to a press release from the museum, the meetings will “provide an introduction to our program offerings, details about individual hikes, advice for hikers, and information about our scholarships.” Each meeting is free to attend for the public.

The Swannanoa Rim Hike Series, now in its seventh year, features eleven different monthly hikes over the course of the year that take participants across the mountains that hem in the Swannanoa Valley, navigating 31 miles in total. The Valley Explorer Series, meanwhile, invites participants to explore the history of the communities of the Swannanoa Valley through seven moderately difficult three-mile hikes.

The first hike of 2016 Rim Hike Series is scheduled for January 23, beginning at 8 a.m. and will hikers on a strenuous six mile trek to explore the history and geography of the Y.M.C.A. Blue Ridge Assembly near Black Mountain, following the path surveyor, educator and author Willis Duke Weatherford took in 1906. The price is $30 for members of the Swannanoa Valley Museum and $50 for non-members.

Valley Explorer Series hikes begin in February and are $20 for members of the museum and $30 for nonmembers.

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Beginning in March, the Swannanoa Valley Museum will launch the sixth year of its Rim Hike Series, which features 11 hikes across the ridges and peaks surrounding the Swannanoa River valley in North Carolina.

The series sprang from museum founder Harriet Styles‘ popular wildflower hikes along many of these same paths. After Styles passed away, the museum decided to continue the tradition and expand it to include various portions of the rim surrounding Swannanoa, Black Mountain, Ridgecrest and Montreat.

“It was a way to remember and commemorate her,” says Museum Director Christina Ruiz. “The Rim Series hikes are our way of bringing history to life outside the museum.”

The series will begin on Saturday, March 7, with a hike starting at Camp Rockmont for Boys, ascending to Cedar Cliff and “The Garden of Eden” — famous for its abundance of sunbathing serpents in the warmer months — before returning to the camp. Subsequent hikes will be held on the third Saturday of each month.

Proceeds from the price of admission to the hikes will go to funding the Swannanoa Valley Museum, which seeks to “preserve and interpret the social, cultural and natural history of the Swannanoa Valley.” Admission rates, a schedule of the hikes and other relevant hiker info can be found at the Rim Hike webpage.

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