"Biles Mountain", never heard of it. In fact, if you google search it, all you will find is a newspaper piece from the Stanly News and Press written by Crystal Cockman, Associate Director of the Three Rivers Land Trust.
I had heard from a Carolina Climbing Coalition member that they were applying to the state to open up a climbing area in Morrow Mountain State Park. Having been around that park for years, I couldn't think of an area that could be used for climbing or bouldering. Using Alltrails, I looked for the dark green shade that indicates an area is rocky. A suspicious area was spotted and it coincided with the area Crystal mentioned in the news piece.
Rather than start from inside the park, I drove to the Falls reservoir boat launch. From there I followed an old road into the park heading toward the Large Loop Bridle trail. Just after passing through a floodplain I noticed some rock outcrops and figured this was the place. Heading up, the rocks got bigger until at the very high point were the largest rocks.
Biles Mountain forms a long ridge with at least a half mile covered in boulders. It was located right along the park boundary. A line of deer stands delineated the property line. For the most part, the ridgetop was grassy with a mix of Chestnut Oaks and Shagbark Hickories. Sparkleberry bushes with there bright red leaves were easy to spot.
You are right on the property line of the state park. The deer stands detracted from the experience and will be an issue if this is the area that will be open to bouldering. I saw one with a staircase and two handrails. And I did see a fair number of deer on the ridge.
As everyone know, Morrow Mountain (the mountain itself) is the main source of rhyolite used by Native Americans in making tools at the nearby Hardaway site. Sugarloaf and Hattaway Mountains also have quarries on them. It does not appear any such quarrying existed on Biles Mountain. The same goes for nearby Stony Mountain. I'd guess that the quality of the rock was not suitable for tool making. The rock on Morrow, Sugarloaf and Hattaway fractures in nice sharp edges. These probably don't. Next visit I plan to loo more closely for signs of quarrying.
This looks like prime Timber Rattlesnake territory. The snakes will congregate in a den for the colder months. Ideally, the den will have a south facing rock that the snakes can lounge on while soaking up heat from the sun on warm sunny days.
I was amazed at the size of this outcrop area. It seemed to go on and on. As I made my way slightly downward toward the park entrance, there is a depression. It appeared dry but judging from the different grasses and caked mud, it was an ephemeral pool.
After the rocks diminished to smaller and smaller in size, I was almost at the park entrance road. It was along here, a few large cedars attracted my attention.
The trees could have been an old homesite. Although, I didn't see any foundation rocks or chimney fall, I did see this rock lined well.
Above is the service road which connected the Large Loop Bridle Trail to Falls Road (the road to the boat launch).
On the opposite side of Falls Road, I thought it would be fun to hike around before returning to my car. That is where I encountered this quartz field. They appear to have been dug. This area become steep and punctuated with deep gullies which were difficult to get through. After a couple slips and slides in the gullies, I was ready to leave.
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