April 16th, 2022: My First Ever Solo Hike
Surprisingly, the Jones Run-Doyles River Loop trail was my first ever solo hike. It’s so crazy to me that I have never been on a solo hike before seeing as how I grew up my hiking with my family on our annual (sometimes bi-annual) vacations to the mountains and going to college in the mountains of North Carolina. I guess I always liked the company of someone being with me.
Hiking alone was a bit intimidating at first. I bought pepper spray for the first time just for this occasion. But thankfully, all was good, and I felt very safe the entire time. The trail was not very busy, so I didn’t run into too many people. It seemed like I had most of the trail to myself. But the few people I did meet on the trail were super nice.
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It was a nice, quiet hike in nature. The waterfalls were very pretty. The weather was a bit on the cooler side at the time I went, so I couldn’t swim in any of the many swimming holes I passed. But overall, I had the best time hiking this loop trail all alone! I felt like I needed the “me time”.
My Rating of Jones Run-Doyles River Loop
I’ll give this trail a nice little 7/10!
What I liked: three beautiful waterfalls; plenty of swimming holes (too bad it was too cold!); not crowded; easy to navigate; my first solo hike and it was great!
What I didn’t like: the waterfalls and hike were overall really nice but nothing too exciting. Like I wouldn’t go out of my way to hike this trail again BUT I would love to return in the summer and hop in one of those swimming holes!
