Western North Carolina Trailheads
Looking for a place to start exploring the outdoors in WNC? Look no further than our Trailheads.
What's a Trailhead?
HikeWNC's Trailheads are hubs, or areas, where several trails are convenient to one another or joined in a network.
More than Wikipedia's definition of a Trailhead as "the point at which a trail starts", a Trailhead here could be a campground, a parking area where several trails start, a stream basin, an isolated park, a town, or simply an area with a group of trails convenient to one another. Historically, cities located near the starting point for major paths were also called Trailheads.
The US Forest Service has been referring to these as Trail Complexes in its recent Trail Strategy process.
For this site, a Trailhead can be any of these, but represents a way for us to group information about a place where you can spend a day or more exploring hiking trails without having to drive too far - or at all!
Choose a Trailhead from the list or map below to see all the details that we have on each one.
Map of Trailheads
Here's a map of the trailhead areas we cover. Roll over a "TH" symbol to see its name, zoom in near one to see the area's outline, and click or tap for more information about that trailhead area.
Download GPS Data
Click routes, trails, or points on the map to download them (on the GPS Data tab).
List of Trailheads
Here's a list of the trailhead areas we cover, grouped by the type of ownership over the lands: Federal, State, City/County (and other public lands), and private property open to visitors.



Federal Lands
- Pisgah National Forest
- Nantahala National Forest
- Cheoah Ranger District
- Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest
- Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness
- Snowbird Backcountry Area
- Nantahala Ranger District
- Blue Valley
- Cliffside Lake and Van Hook Glade Recreation Areas
- Panthertown Valley
- Whiteside Mountain
- Standing Indian Basin
- Southern Nantahala Wilderness
- Tusquitee Ranger District
- Jackrabbit Mountain
- Fires Creek Recreation Area
- Hanging Dog Recreation Area
- Cheoah Ranger District
- Blue Ridge Parkway
- Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park
State Lands
- Chimney Rock State Park
- Elk Knob State Park
- Lake James State Park
- Crowders Mountain State Park
- Dupont State Forest
- Gorges State Park
- Grandfather Mountain State Park
- Hanging Rock State Park
- Headwaters State Forest
- Mount Jefferson State Natural Area
- Mount Mitchell State Park
- New River State Park
- Pilot Mountain State Park
- Stone Mountain State Park
- South Mountains State Park
- Mountains to Sea Trail
City/County Lands
- Buncombe County
- Greenways
- County Parks
- Collier Cove Nature Preserve
- City of Asheville
- Greenways
- Asheville Urban Trail
- Richmond Hill Park
- Western North Carolina Nature Center
- Town of Blowing Rock
- Town of Canton
- Town of Lake Lure
- Town of Seven Devils
- (Otter Falls)(http://sevendevils.net/nature-trails)
- Town of Sylva
Private Lands
- Beech Mountain
- Hickory Nut Gorge
- Linville Caverns
- Montreat
- Sugar Mountain