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 | Craggy Gardens | |||||||||||||
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! |
Note: this hike is currently closed. The Parkway is currently closed due to a landslide in this area and this hike is likely to be inaccessible until the summer of 2009. | |||||||||||||
| Craggy Pinnacle | Green Knob | |||||||||||||
Note: this hike is currently closed. The Blue Ridge Parkway is currently closed due to a landslide in this area and this hike is likely to be inaccessible until the summer of 2009. |
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 | Linville Falls - Erwin's View | |||||||||||||
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. |
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 | Mount Mitchell | |||||||||||||
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. |
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 | Panthertown Valley Tour | |||||||||||||
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! |
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 | Sam Knob | |||||||||||||
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. |
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 | Summit Trail/Rhododendron Trail | |||||||||||||
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! |
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! | |||||||||||||
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