Rendezvous Mountain State Park — Attraction in Wilkesboro

6-24-22

Unique park in that there is an educational aspect to it all dealing with trees and logging. Restricted hours of 9-5 and signage everywhere for this. We were the only folks in the park as we were the only vehicle there besides the ranger.

The road to the gate is about 1.4 miles of gravel and uphill. Turns to paved eventually. There is an overlook or two. We did the following trails:

Logging History Trail (.2 miles): This is exactly what it sounds. There are informational placards regarding trees, paper, and all things logging/mill related. It is an easy trail with small hills. I didn't find this interesting but someone might.

Amadehy Trail (4.25 miles): Starts at the Forestry Center. Starts out wide and very steep downhill for the first mile or so. And I mean steep. After that descent, it becomes narrow, parts are overgrown and not well maintained (but blazed well). You get to a small, mostly obstructed waterfall. This is where the climb back up begins. There are maybe ten stream crossings on the climb and Strava figured our ascent at about 1100 feet from there. Several down trees across the trail. Did I mention overgrowth? Needs a ton of work. Would recommend pants and even sleeves unless you like things touching you constantly. Lots of bugs with the overgrowth. Eventually becomes gravel again and then turns into a paved road to return to the beginning. You will pass the fire tower and main office. Again, the hills are very steep and I would rate this trail moderate to strenuous for the average hiker. It can be tough for some. Excellent workout!

Talking Tree Trail: (.7 miles): Similar in design as the Amadehy Trail with the hills but better maintained. There are seven "talking trees" on the trail. The "talking" speakers were not working today and that was a tad disappointing. Could be better blazed. One boardwalk and a pump station are on the trail. This is a moderate loop.

I found this park to need a lot of work. Potential is there but the restrictive hours, the overgrowth, and the talking stuff not working puts this...

Nice park with not alot of traffic where you can get away from the crowd. Ranger was super nice and gave great recommendations. We did the amadehy trail clockwise and it was great. This trail is really this parks biggest draw, other than that, it's really just an hour stop for a picnic or something if you're in the area. As far as the trail... I would rate it moderate for myself whom is in great shape but probably moderate to strenuous for most trail standards. It took me and 2 teens an hour and 40 minutes to do it and my watch logged 3.75 miles. It's a pretty steep decline for 1.8 mile down a mountain then you follow a creek (with several waterfalls) semiflat to incline for a ways before ascending the mountain about halfway backup to a maintenance road then you'll follow the road another .8-1 mile up hill to the parking area. It's a great hike for exercise but not really for the scenery as much. I'd definitely do it...

Could have possibly been a good time if there were postings about our trail being closed more than half way through our hike on the Talking Trees Trail. We had no choice but to turn around; which was disappointing because it was steep & the kids were upset because they were enjoying the Talking Trees. There was no one at the information station, even though, it was clearly marked that they were suppose to be open. There were several information signs just laying around. It hasn't been that long ago since we had a horrible storm & tornado come through so I'm hoping that is why it seems to be in such disarray. It was a bummer & I felt like we wasted our time. Might give it another chance but...