The Swannanoa Valley Museum, Buncombe County’s primary museum of local history, will host interest meetings about its popular annual hiking programs in Black Mountain and Asheville in early January.
The meetings provide an introduction to the hiking programs, details about the individual hikes, advice for hikers, and registration information. The meetings are free to attend. The first meeting will take place on Thursday, January 7th at Black Mountain Center for the Arts at 225 West State Street in Black Mountain at 6:30 pm. The museum will hold another meeting at Black Dome Mountain Sports located at 140 Tunnel Road in Asheville on Tuesday, January 12th at 7:00 pm. The final meeting will take place at REI at 31 Schenck Parkway at Biltmore Park on Wednesday, January 13th at 7:00 pm.
The museum offers two year-round hiking programs that provide an experiential way to learn about the social, cultural, and natural history of eastern Buncombe County — the Swannanoa Valley Rim Series and the Valley History Explorer Series. The Rim Series explores the highest and most historic skyline in Eastern America through a sequence of 3 to 7 mile-long challenging hikes held monthly from January to November. Each hike costs $30 for museum members and $50 for non-members. The series costs $280 for members and $500 for non-members. The Valley History Explorer Series consists of moderate 3 mile-long hikes through seven small communities across Swannanoa Valley. The hikes take place on Saturdays from February through September. The cost of each hike is $20 for members and $30 for non-members. Hikers can purchase the entire series for $140 for members and $210 for nonmembers. Proceeds from the hikes benefit the nonprofit museum.
Detailed information about each series and descriptions of the individual hikes are available on the museum’s website, http://www.swannanoavalleymuseum.org. Register for hikes online or contact the museum at (828) 669-9566 or [email protected].