Giant Ledge Primitive Camp

I love hiking and camping. However the descriptions of this place in reviews here and elsewhere provided very little info and once I got out to the trail realized how different it was to what I expected. It is a near vertical hike the first mile with 90% or more being over rock gardens. Not some rocks littering the trail. I think the trail used to be a stream or creek. It doesn't wind it's way up the mountain, someone picked a side and said "we go up from here, straight up". There are campsites but the first campsite was over a mile in. We watched the top of a tree fall through the forest, cool to see but worth being on the lookout as it seemed quite a few trees had tops that were dead or dying. We had a great time once we were through the crucible that is the first mile. I just want to let anyone know what to expect. I carried 30lbs in my pack, it was exhausting; I haven't climbed something like this in a few years so I wasn't ready for what this trail had. If you're like me just expect it to suck for a while. If your experienced in mountainous hiking you should have no problem.

From the parking area of Giant Ledge/Panther Mountain this was a fairly decent and semi challenging hike. We took our dog too. Bring a bear bell and bear mace can to be safe. We did not see any but definite signs of them. Get tracking poles if you don't already have some. Very helpful here.

This was one of my favorite weekend backpacking trips. Getting a campsite up at the Giant Ledge area is hit or miss, as I only know of two. Both were empty when we arrived however. We opted for the one before the first ledge. You will see a yellow little circle sign on a tree with a tent on it, a short distance down that side trail there is the site. It has rock benches and a fire pit. Primitive. Bring biodegradabe toilet paper and a shovel; as there are not toilets up here.

Unfortunately, I only had my phone along for photos here and did not get any of the actual camp area since the battery died while taking pictures of the ledges/views which are breathtaking. Not too far down the main trail after this camp area, is the first ledge. Lots of day hikers just turn around here, but there is much more to see if you keep going! We hiked all the way to where it starts going vertical up Panther Mountain, and turned back to our campsite as it was getting dark by then.

I want to go back and go all the way up Panther. Looks like a great hike. Not that I'm complaining, Giant Ledge has several awesome lookouts as you can see in my photos, spectacular views at every single one! Go in fall for leaf views but be advised, its REALLY busy at that time. You might not be able to camp up there. If that's the case, there is a normal campsite called Woodlands nearby that has a ton of sites and RV sites.