Follows an old railroad grade up from NC 215 to the end of FR 816, the Black Balsam parking area. Gentle climb, wide trail & very rocky all the way. Unique trail; all above 5000' elevation. Starts w/ crossing of Bubbling Springs Branch. Goes into mixed high-elevation hardwoods. Forest transitions to mostly spruce/fir by upper end. Passes over old concrete bridge w/ waterfall going underneath. Then travels along mountainside; excellent views. Prolific rhododendron, mtn. laurel & blueberries. Slips into Flat Laurel Creek valley, w/ cascades to L. as creek spills out of valley. Above this point, trail follows creek for a ways before pulling away to the R. Flat Laurel Creek valley is indeed relatively flat. Trail passes nice campsites & through grassy, high-elevation meadows. From here to end, low forests & open meadows to L. with dense spruce-fir forest to R. Several stream crossings & wet areas, although much maintenance has been done recently improving the surface.
KML is the main file type used by Google Earth. If you have Google Earth installed, clicking the KML link should open the trail or point directly
in Google Earth for viewing. This is the native file format used by Google Earth, but many other map applications can use and understand KML as well,
so if you're not sure which one to download, KML is a good bet.
GPX
The GPX format stands for GPS Exchange - a free, open, XML format for exchanging GPS and map data. GPX is compatible with Google Earth,
many other mapping programs, and most GPS devices (such as Garmin). Load the file directly into your GPS to help find your way on your next trip!
GeoJSON
GeoJSON is a newer, lightweight data exchange format which can be used to quickly share map data and may have a smaller size than KML or GPX. Many
professional mapping and GIS applications support the GeoJSON format.
About the Map
Copyright
Base Layers
Base layers provided by Google, MyTopo.com and Microsoft Research (MSR) Maps. Base layer images are subject to
the respective copyright policies of their owners.
Trail and Marker Overlays
Trail layers and downloadable data are all original works created by WNCOutdoors with guidance from a variety of
sources, including ensembles of our own GPS tracks, user contributed GPS tracks, official maps and GIS data from
government agencies, and field observations. WNCOutdoors data is made freely available under the
Open Database License - you are free to copy and use
it for any purpose unde the terms of that license (summary).
Tips
The map will scroll and zoom, just like a normal Google Map.
Click MyTopo to use a USGS topographic maps as the base layer.
Hover over a trail to see it highlighted. Helps to see start and end points for an individual trail.
Click a trail for more details and to download it.
No comments yet.