As they are listed in the little book (see Amazon link below), I have four of my Easy Day Hikes left to review. I completed all 26 of those hikes early this year, but have stayed busy on other topics and haven’t posted the last four hikes – starting today, I’ll remedy this during December, since we are having the kitchen remodeled and I will be off of my morning post routine for a few weeks. This process may mean I post less during the next few weeks than I normally would, so bear with me on that! And thanks again for reading. 
I combined the short Story of the Forest Trail (#23) with the one for Lewis Spring Falls (#24 - these are my chronological numbers, not the book's), which is also in the vicinity of the Big Meadows Lodge, but I will review the trails separately. I did not complete the Story trail’s entire loop, which the Easy Day Hikes book says is 1.8 miles. It’s definitely an easy one, and parts of the trail are paved, with an elevation change of nearly 300 feet.
On the late spring day that I went, there were families with small children out on the trail, and the kids were finding plenty to explore – one of them reported to me that he had found quite a few fungi – but as an adult with plenty of miles on the blue blazes under my belt, I didn’t find this trail very memorable.
Although Heatwole says there are markers that facilitate interpreting the experience, I don’t remember them. In fact, as I also had felt about the Traces trail, which I’ll review in the next few days, if this is a hike meant for families with small children to enjoy, it could use more interpretive displays.
As I continued walking, I noticed tents and campsites, and I grew concerned about the proximity of this trail to the camping areas at Big Meadows, so I walked quickly through there hoping not to disturb anyone. Finally I cut off of the trail on a path that led to the road, keeping an eye on my NPS provided map, and navigated to Black Rock (not the rock scramble I’ve posted about many times – this is the other one, that is practically on the grounds of the lodge). After I enjoyed the view for a few minutes, I continued down the AT to the Lewis Spring Falls trail – more about that adventure in my next post.
Heatwole includes a paragraph about the little Black Rock summit trail, which is less than a half mile round trip from the lodge, and shorter from the nearby parking area. There are some steep sections in the little trail but the climb is only 60 feet or so; the path is gravel in places but not completely.
I’ve encountered large family groups on this one a few times – and in fact, some of the people I have met talk about this little climb being a family tradition for them, whenever they manage to get together for a stay at the Lodge. There are great views of the Valley from the summit, and the barns of Wisteria and Jordan Hollow Inn are visible from here.
Here is an Amazon link to the Easy Day Hikes book I frequently reference in these posts:
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