Hiking in Western North Carolina
Ramps grow in forests sprouting new spring laves, near the Appalachian Trail in Hot Springs.
The mountainous western part of North Carolina is a haven for outdoor recreation enthusiasts. Some of the highest peaks in the East, surrounded by vast areas of wilderness and miles and miles of trails, invite visitors from all over the world. But even locals looking for an easy day hike find the area irresistible. Why take an expensive vacation thousands of miles away when a world-renowned outdoor playground is right next door?
HikeWNC.info is your on-line hiking guide for the Mountain region of North Carolina, containing all of the information you need to make your next trip complete. We aim to provide guidebook quality information that you can use in your outdoor persuits. Have fun browsing and hiking!
On This Site
Trails
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The new Trails section is dedicated to the trails in Western North Carolina. Use this section to search for a trail if you know its name. Each trail has its own page with all the details, a map (where available), and a place to leave ratings and comments.
Featured Trails: Long Branch, Short Loop, Shut In, Upper Ridge...
Trailheads
HikeWNC's Trailheads are hubs or larger areas where several trails are clustered together or in a network. Each represents a place where you can spend a day or more exploring hiking trails without driving too far (or at all!).
Featured Trailheads: Pisgah National Forest, Nantahala National Forest, Blue Ridge Parkway, DuPont State Forest, Elk Knob State Park (New!)...
Best Hikes
The Best Hikes combine the individual trails from the Trailheads above into a fully guided experience. We feel like these trips are most representative of the great hiking that Western North Carolina has to offer!
Featured Hikes: Toms Creek Falls, DuPont State Forest Waterfalls, Rattlesnake Lodge, Mount Mitchell...
Maps
This section covers all of the maps we have available for you to view, download, and purchase, including maps of the Trailheads and Best Hikes above, and interactive Google Maps with downloadable GPS data.
Featured Maps: Interactive Map of Trailheads, USGS Topographic Maps, Nat. Geo Trails Illustrated™ Series...
Photo Gallery
Browse through photos of the trails, views, waterfalls, and mountains in the region. Links to these galleries are provided from Trailheads and Hikes as well.
Featured Galleries: Looking Glass Rock, Sam Knob, Whiteside Mountain, Panthertown Valley, Crabtree Falls...
Area Information
Get general area information to round out your trip, including things to consider when planning a hike, information about places to stay and outfitters, and ways to get involved in the area's hiking community.
Area Information Pages: General Considerations, Camping/Lodging, Hiking Outfitters, Weather/Climate, Clubs and Organizations...
Site Updates & News
Live Blog – Pisgah Ranger District Trails Strategy Meeting
We’re going to post updates from tonight’s Trails Strategy meeting with the forest service, regarding the Pisgah Ranger District trails (Bent Creek, Mills River, Davidson River, Shining & Middle Prong Wilderness areas, and the Graveyard Fields/Black Balsam areas). Keep watching as we’ll be providing updates from the meeting (we have wifi). And post comments with [...]
Posted on May 8, 2012 4:46 pm
Mingo Falls Details Added
We’ve added details and a photo of Mingo Falls near Cherokee, NC. This is a great one to visit if you’re anywhere near Cherokee or the Great Smoky Mountains, and may even be one of the ones worth driving farther to see: if you’re coming to western NC to see waterfalls, this should be on [...]
Posted on May 3, 2012 8:39 am
Elk Knob State Park Trailhead Added
We’ve added the Elk Knob State Park trailhead to the site. North of Boone, the new trail in the park winds to the top of 5,500′ Elk Knob, with great views both from the top and along the way. It’s a unique and interesting hike. Check it out!
Posted on April 30, 2012 1:03 pm
Over Half of Mortimer Campground Closed
According to a recent Forest Service press release (and to confirm a lot of rumoring going on before that), part of most of Mortimer Campground has been closed due to the potential for flash flooding in the area. 12 of the 23 campsites, in the lower area of the campground nearer Wilson Creek, are now closed. It [...]
Posted on April 9, 2012 11:16 pm
Harmon Den & Max Patch Photo Gallery
We’ve added a few photos of the Harmon Den & Max Patch Mountain area, and the Appalachian Trail as it crosses the summit. Check them out in the Harmon Den & Max Patch Photo Gallery!
Posted on February 8, 2012 9:47 pm
Jackrabbit Mountain Trailhead Added
We’ve added the Jackrabbit Mountain trailhead to both MTBikeWNC and HikeWNC. Although the trail system was designed with mountain biking in mind, it’s a pleasant place to hike as well, being close to the campground and lake. For mountain bikers, though, the experience here couldn’t be better. Purpose-built for mountain bikes as a “stacked loop” [...]
Posted on January 25, 2012 11:07 pm
More on the Forest Service Trails Project
There was a great article in the Smoky Mountain News Wednesday about the Forest Service non-motorized trails planning project. A couple of the public input workshops have already been held; I plan on attending the one in Mars Hill this Thursday evening (Jan. 19, in the Peterson Conference Room, Mars Hill College). Regardless of the [...]
Posted on January 16, 2012 9:05 am
Archived news and more articles are on the WNCOutdoors.info Blog.
