We learned that the Beech Mountain Fire Tower was going to have an “open house”. It is usually closed, but a ranger would be there to answer questions and the tower would be open to look at.
Going up, the trail was easy in spots, but more difficult over rocks in places. It was never super hard, though someone who struggles with walking would not be able to get to the tower. It was a pretty walk and the kids all had fun running ahead.
The view from the top was pretty. We enjoyed the scenery and talking with the ranger so much, I forgot to get a picture of the tower.
The ranger was very helpful and explained that there is not as strong a fire hazard there as in the west because they get so much rain and snow. Because of this, the tower was only manned during the day until the mid 1970’s, There were three fire towers that used triangulation to pinpoint where fires were. Now the tower is on the National Registry of Historic Fire Towers and is not used.
We took a different way to get to our car. The way was a lot easier, but we took longer since I stopped to admire the scenery so often.
