Mount Pisgah Best Hike

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Hike Description

Connecting Trails: Those staying at the Pisgah Inn can walk from the Inn for 1.4 miles North on the Buck Spring trail, past the old Buck Spring Lodge site, to the Mt. Pisgah Parking Area, and then on up Mt. Pisgah itself. From the parking area, the Shut - In trail heads North along the Blue Ridge Parkway toward Asheville. The Shut-In trail is the original route from the Biltmore Estate to the Buck Spring lodge, built as a mountain getaway for George Vanderbilt, owner of the famous Biltmore.

The trail starts at the back of the parking area behind the large sign board. At the parking lot, you are just shy of 5000' in elevation and you are in the midst of the high-elevation northern hardwood forest. You will be in this forest, dominated by oaks, all the way to the summit, although you will see some birches, maples, beeches, and spruces and firs mixing in at times, as well as many other less common species.

In the first half of the hike, you will gain about 200', the other 550' are gained in the second half so the second half is much steeper. The entire hike is very rocky. The trail begins a gentle climb along the slopes of Little Pisgah Mountain. There are some rooty and wet sections here as well. The trees are a bit taller than on the summit but still quite gnarled and twisted. Some of them are hollow, and you may see animals (or people!) inside. As is usual in these mountains, the sound of a rushing stream can be heard in the valley to your left as you wrap around the upper part of its watershed. There are wintertime views of Mt. Pisgah itself, and in the summer the cool, high-elevation woods offer a nice reprise even if you don't hike all the way to the top.

You will gain the ridge between Little Pisgah Mountain and Mount Pisgah itself and begin the more difficult part of the climb. This is where many turn back, but if you don't you'll travel up the ridgeline for a while where the trail is moderately steep. Then you'll slip south on a very steeply climbing, sidehill trail with some difficult step-ups and off-camber rocky sections. After this the trail moderates some and travels through a mountain laurel tunnel, although it is still very rocky - almost one big rock staircase. The trail achieves a side ridge, switches back and then follows this ridge to the top of 5,721' Mount Pisgah. Just before reaching the top, you'll pass through an interesting area of small beech trees. At the summit, you'll find the transmission tower for WLOS-TV, channel 13, from Asheville, and an observation deck, ruining any feeling of being in the wilderness. However, the view is spectacular, and on a clear day, you can see the parking area, the Campground & Pisgah Inn, the Shining Rock Wilderness to your west with Cold Mountain at its northern end, the Great Smoky Mountains far to the west and Asheville and Mount Mitchell to the North. Return to your vehicle on the same path.

History: Mount Pisgah is currently named after the biblical mountain from which Moses first saw the promised land. When the Cherokee were the land's only inhabitants, the mountain was named Elseetoss and what we now know as the Pisgah Ridge was named Warwasseeta. In 1776, expeditions were led into the mountains to fight against the Cherokee Indians. Accompanying the group was Presbyterian minister Rev. James Hall. According to one account of folk history, Hall was reminded of the Biblical story when enjoying the fabulous view from the summit, and named it Pisgah. Another story tells of a different Presbyterian minister, George Newton, who named it similarly in the early 19th century. Whoever named it, the first recorded use of the name appeared in 1808 in a survey splitting Buncombe and Henderson Counties. The now official name carried on to the National Forest which now surrounds the mountain and also to a ranger district within the national forest.

Most of these lands were bought as part of the original tract owned by George W. Vanderbilt, builder of the famous Biltmore Estate near Asheville. Vanderbilt also constructed the Buck Spring Lodge, just north of the current Pisgah Inn and below Mt. Pisgah�s summit, which was to be his mountaintop hunting retreat. You can reach the lodge site by hiking 0.2 mile south from the first parking area on the spur road to the hike�s start. He constructed the Shut-In Trail to climb the Pisgah Ridge to his lodge below the summit of Mt. Pisgah. This trail, still in use today, closely follows the current Blue Ridge Parkway. Later, much of the property Vanderbilt owned was eventually sold to the government to become the core of the Pisgah National Forest, but not before the first forestry school in the country was established near the Pink Beds area.

Vanderbilt needed to manage his vast holdings of forested lands. Therefore, he - along with his landscape architect, Fredrick Law Olmstead and forest manager Gifford Pinchot - created the country�s first school of forestry in the area now known as the Cradle of Forestry, accessible on US 276 South of Mt. Pisgah.

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