The Best Hikes to Views in Western North Carolina
Welcome to your guide to the best hikes to views in Western North Carolina. This section lists guided hikes in the various Trailheads on this site that travel to particularly nice vistas. Short descriptions of each hike are given, so you can decide which ones you are interested in. Hikes are organized by their relative difficulty level (easiest to hardest). To find a hike by another category, choose from the list at the left. Once you select a hike, you can find all the details!
Camp Alice/Commissary
2.5mi, Easy
- Climbing: Climbs Gently
- Tread Condition: Climbs Gently
An easy hike along an old railroad bed (now a graveled, rarely used park road) to an old logging and tourist camp below the summit and then to a beautiful, popular National Forest campsite. You'll wind around a grassy, open mountain ridge. Examine the high-elevation boreal forest and pick buckets of wild blueberries during the late summer. Cross the crystal-clear Lower Creek and continue on an easy path through spectacular alpine forests and meadows. Hike suitable for children!
Craggy Gardens
1.4mi, Easy
- Climbing: Climbs Moderately
- Tread Condition: Climbs Moderately
This self-guiding nature trail passes through a high-elevation Northern Hardwood forest to a Heath Bald, and finally into a Grassy Summit. A large trail shelter makes an excellent spot for a picnic. Visit during mid to late June for a spectacular display of Catawba Rhododendron blossoms. Visit in late summer for a bountiful harvest of fresh mountain blueberries. And visit any time of year to study the high elevation environment in the Craggy Gardens area!
Craggy Pinnacle
1.4mi, Moderate
- Climbing: Climbs Moderately
- Tread Condition: Climbs Moderately
This popular trail climbs a short distance from a Blue Ridge Parkway overlook to a high, rocky peak overlooking the Craggy Gardens area. Blooming rhododendrons put on a fantastic display on this trail in late June. Twisted trees grow in the high-elevation Birch forest. Spectacular 360 degree views of the Visitor Center, the North Fork Reservoir, and the sourrounding mountains and valleys reward your climb.
Green Knob
9mi, More Difficult
- Climbing: Hilly
- Tread Condition: Hilly
This hike takes you along the Mountains to Sea Trail in a remote section of the Pisgah National Forest. The entire hike is above 5000' in elevation, and you'll explore forests of oaks, birches, beeches, spruces and firs. You'll cross the headwaters of clear, cold mountain creeks and have a distant view of a high, thin, unnamed waterfall. You'll travel through rocky heath balds as well as grassy balds and patches of blueberries. Atop Green Knob, a spectacular view awaits of the Flat Laurel Creek valley and Sam Knob. If you're looking for spectacular solitude, hike to Green Knob!
John Rock Loop
5mi, More Difficult
- Climbing: Climbs Steeply
- Tread Condition: Climbs Steeply
This hike takes you past a small but attractive waterfall, up to the top of John Rock, which is the large mountain you see looming behind the Fish Hatchery parking area in Pisgah National Forest. Views of the valley below and up to the Pisgah Ridge, and across to Looking Glass Rock, are this hike's main scenic attraction besides the waterfall, and it also includes some nice displays of wildflowers in the spring.
Linville Falls - Erwin's View
1.5mi, Moderate
- Climbing: Few Hills
- Tread Condition: Few Hills
This trail passes through a majestic forest of old-growth hemlock and white pines, to spectacular cliff-top views of one of the most photographed waterfalls in the East. Linville Falls has two mail trails: Erwin's view and Plunge Basin. Erwin's view is the easier of the two, and stops at three main overlooks: Upper Falls, Chimney View, and Erwin's View. Spectacular views of the falls, the surrounding mountains, and the Linville Gorge await.
Looking Glass Rock
6.4mi, More Difficult
- Climbing: Climbs Steeply
- Tread Condition: Climbs Steeply
This hike, which follows only one trail out-and-back, travels to an icon of the Pisgah Ranger District: the huge granitic pluton which is known by Looking Glass Rock. Visible from many locations along the Parkway and from all over the District, this rock provides spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and valleys and, as such, has been one of the most popular hikes in the area for a long time.
Mount Mitchell
11.4mi, Most Difficult
- Climbing: Climbs Steeply
- Tread Condition: Climbs Steeply
Starting at the Black Mountain Campground on the Toe River, this hike climbs 3600' over 5 1/2 miles, making it one of the toughest climbs in the area. You'll enjoy a varied forest that changes with the elevation and, of course, spectacular views. Much of the forest is old-growth, and you'll pass through stands of Red Spruce that help explain why this tree was such a valued resource. A side loop to a majestic alpine meadow helps provide round-trip variety.
Mount Pisgah
3mi, Moderate
- Climbing: Climbs Moderately
- Tread Condition: Climbs Moderately
A classic Blue Ridge Parkway hike, this trail continues onto National Forest land to climb to the summit of one of the area's most well-known peaks. Easily visible from most of downtown Asheville, Mount Pisgah's 5721' peak supports the transmission tower for WLOS-TV, channel 13, in Asheville. The trail itself is a rocky, steep climb through Northern hardwood forests and rhododendron and mountain laurel tunnels to the summit, where 360 degree views await!
Panthertown Valley Tour
8.8 - 10.0mi, More Difficult
- Climbing: Hilly
- Tread Condition: Hilly
This is a large loop with a wide variety of main attractions. The trails will take you past lazy, meandering streams with clean white sandbars, yet you'll discover 5 major waterfalls as well. You'll explore the unusual, flat-bottomed, high-elevation valley and 300-foot high granite domes standing guard over it. Sheer cliffs offer great views of the unique area. Carnivorous plants grow among thick blankets of sphagnum moss, and rare and endangered species exist in the moist spray-cliff communities and on the dry, windy granitic domes as well. Be sure to bring your camera on this long hike!
Potato Knob Fields
2mi, Moderate
- Climbing: Climbs Moderately
- Tread Condition: Climbs Moderately
This rocky, prominent peak is visible from the Blue Ridge Parkway and is a well-known landmark. This spectacular section of the Mountains to Sea Trail travels to some scenic meadows below the summit. You'll go thorough a pleasant spruce-fir forest, some of which was planted as a reforestation effort after the mountains were logged. The trail itself is a marvel, as gigantic rocks have been moved to form the trail surface.
Sam Knob
2.2mi, Moderate
- Climbing: Climbs Moderately
- Tread Condition: Climbs Moderately
At the top of a spectacular mountain peak located at the edge of the Shining Rock Wilderness, spectacular views await! A surprisingly nice, easy trail wraps around this mountain to its grassy, partly bald summit. Hike in the late summer and enjoy a snack of mountain blueberries along the way. Any time of year, enjoy one of the finest short hikes and easiest true "summit" trails in the mountains!
Skyline-Cliff Trail
1.5mi, Moderate
- Climbing: Climbs Moderately
- Tread Condition: Climbs Moderately
Note: This hike is currently closed, and according to the recently released Master Plan for Chimney Rock Park, it will not reopen. Get more information here.
This more difficult hike starts at the Chimney and takes you high along the cliffs at the top of the gorge, to the top of Hickory Nut Falls and back along a long, natural ledge in the middle of a large cliff! At the top of the falls, a pool and smaller cascade is safely accessible for cooling off on a hot summer day. You'll travel through areas containing sensitive plant habitats and see forests threatened by the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid. Spectacular viewpoints and points of interest abound. Much of this loop is on man-made boardwalks - a feat of construction in and of itself!Summit Trail/Rhododendron Trail
1.5mi, Moderate
- Climbing: Few Hills
- Tread Condition: Few Hills
This mountaintop self-guiding nature trail is a gem in North Carolina's northwest corner. You'll see rare Northern Red Oak forests at an elevation near 5000', as you stroll through an understory of Catawba rhododendron, which put on a showy display during June. And at one of the most spectacular of several cliff-top views, you'll find a heath bald with rare plant species, and a rare, misplaced Aspen forest!
Whiteside Mountain
2.5mi, Moderate
- Climbing: Hilly
- Tread Condition: Hilly
This excellent loop hike climbs to the top of Whiteside Mountain, with its spectacular 700' high cliff walls lofting the hiker for amazing views. Take a camera, as the cliff-top views are lined with beautiful mountain laurel which blooms in mid-june. See relics from the past, when Whiteside Mountain was a tourist attraction. You'll pass through some pleasant woods along the way.
