Trip up Grandfather Mountain

My wife and I visited Boone North Carolina and this was a very nice day trip. She knew there was a gift shop up by the swinging bridge and that was sufficent bait to gain her interest. We walked up to the souvenir store and bridge the latter being fun seeing lots of galax,cool appalachian herbaceous plants, on the path. We then hiked out on the path which is rather steeply up and down. I think our targets were McRea peaks and Raven Rocks-These look challenging from a standpoint on the Viaduct. The forest between the peaks is comprised of Balsam fir and Red Spruce giving it a Canadian flavor. There were quite a few cliff bands fitted with hanging wooden ladders- and sometimes one had to switch ladders in the middle of a cliff. At the top of the mountain is a gigantic boulder which is also laddered. It is rather airy at this summit nearly 6000' feet up.