Mountains to Sea Section 2 Trail

At A Glance

Most Difficult

61.0 mi one-way

Difficulty Rating: 61
Steepness: Hilly
Tread Condition: Moderately Rough
Blaze Color: White
Hikes That Use This Trail: Green Knob, Skinny Dip Falls, Devil's Courthouse

Description

Waterrock Knob to Pisgah Inn

From Waterrock Knob to Flat Gap, the trail follows the Blue Ridge Parkway closely at most times. It gains some distance from the motor road on the southwest slope of the ridge line from there to Haywood Gap.

From Haywood Gap to Beech Gap (NC 215), the trail enters the higher elevations of the Middle Prong Wilderness and encounters sections of beautiful spruce-fir forest. It passes the Green Mountain trail which and then a high waterfall on Mount Hardy, before entering some wildlife meadows. This segment of the Mountains to Sea Trail, combined with the Green Mountain trail to Green Knob, is one of the best hikes in the region. Portions of the trail in designated wilderness are unblazed, but generally easy to follow.

From Beech Gap (NC 215), BRP mp 423.2, to Pisgah Inn at BRP mp 408.6: this portion of the trail travels through some of the higher mountains along the Pisgah Ridge. The trail ascends to Silvermine Bald through a moist mixed northern hardwood/spruce-fir forest, then levels out and passes through a forest of predominantly spruce until reaching Black Balsam Road. It skirts Black Balsam Knob and then the Graveyard Fields area via Graveyard Ridge, before descending significantly to cross the Yellowstone Prong at Skinny Dip Falls. It ascends again toward the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Intersecting Trails

  • Art Loeb Section 2
  • Green Mountain
  • Haywood Gap
  • Little Sam
  • Mountains to Sea Access
  • Barnett Branch
  • Graveyard Ridge
  • Devil's Courthouse Connector
  • Buckeye Gap
  • Buck Spring
  • Mountains to Sea Section 3
  • Bridges Camp Gap
  • This trail is located in the Blue Ridge Parkway Section 6 area. For a list of all the trails in that area, see the Blue Ridge Parkway Section 6 trails list page.

    This trail also crosses into these trailhead areas:

    All Photos from the Trail

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    GPS Map

    Map Information

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    Data Formats

    KML (Google Earth)

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    GPX

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    GeoJSON

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    About the Map

    Copyright

    Base Layers

    Base layers provided by OpenStreetMap, the US Geological Survey, the US Forest Service, and NC OneMap. Base layer images are subject to the respective copyright policies of their owners. Base layers may not be available at all times due to system maintenance or outages.

    WNCOutdoors Base Layer

    The WNCOutdoors Base layer is provided by WNCOutdoors.info. It is licensed by Creative Commons Attribution 3.0.

    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 under the terms of that license (summary).

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    Trail Segments

    Trails are often made up of several connecting paths which may have different characteristics, allowed uses, and seasons. This trail is divided into multiple segments as follows:

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Balsam Gap to Licklog Gap Overlook

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 9.18 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Licklog Gap Overlook to Doubletop Mountain Overlook

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 0.59 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Doubletop Knob Overlook to FS 4644

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 1.84 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Along FS 4644

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 0.51 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - FS 4644 to FS 4668

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 3.68 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Along FS 4668

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 0.53 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - FS 4668 to FS 4666

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 3.76 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Along FS 4666

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 2.52 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - FS 4666 to FS 4665

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 1.37 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - FS 4665 to Haywood Gap

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 1.42 mi

    Mountains To Sea Trail - Blue Ridge Parkway/Haywood Gap to Buckeye Gap Trail

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 2.46 mi

    Mountains To Sea Trail - Buckeye Gap Trail to Green Mountain Trail

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 0.54 mi

    Mountains To Sea Trail - Green Mountain Trail to NC 215

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 2.73 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - NC 215 to Devil's Courthouse Connector

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 1.89 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Devil's Courthouse Connector to Little Sam

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 0.26 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Little Sam to Art Loeb

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 0.9 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Art Loeb - Silvermine Bald to Black Balsam Rd.

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 1.09 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Art Loeb - Black Balsam Road to Split

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 73 ft

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Art Loeb to Graveyard Ridge

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 1.5 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Graveyard Ridge Both Ends

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 1.23 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Graveyard Ridge to GFields Connector

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 0.44 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - GFields Connector to Skinny Dip Falls

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 1.43 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Skinny Dip Falls to BRP LGR Overlook Spur

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 0.3 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - BRP LGR Overlook Spur to Bridges Camp Gap Trail

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 0.35 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Bridges Camp Gap Trail to US 276

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 4.39 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - US 276 to Buck Spring Trail

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 1.48 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Buck Spring Trail to Barnett Branch Trail

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 0.16 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - Barnett Branch Trail to Pisgah Inn

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 4.6 mi

    Mountains to Sea Trail - BRP LGR Overlook Spur

    • Allowed Uses: Hiking
    • Length: 429 ft

    Total Calculated Length: 51.25 mi

    This value is derived from our underlying map data, and it may not match officially published information.

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