December 18, 2016 Barnett Branch Trail is best known for bisecting Pink Beds, a popular destination for families and day hikers. The northern trailhead starts off the Buck Spring Trail and runs to the Black Mountain Trail to the south. The National Geographic map indicates it is 3.1 miles, which is false, it’s closer to … More Barnett Branch Trail
December 3-4, 2016 I am not a big fan of crowds in the backcountry. Hence my favorite destinations are often obscure. Chief among those are Farlow Gap. Hikers probably don’t recognize the name, for them it’s just a gap on the Art Loeb Trail before the Deep Gap Shelter. Bikers likely recognize is as a … More Daniel Ridge Loop Trail, Farlow Gap Trail
November 1, 2016 On a day too sunny and warm to be at work, I found myself using a sick day to hike another trail as part of the Pisgah 400 Challenge. Graveyard Ridge Trail is almost completely flat with little elevation change, winding around some massive peaks: Tennant, Black Balsam, Grassy Cove Top. Apart … More Graveyard Ridge Trail, Graveyard Ridge Connector Trail
October 30, 2016 “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder… he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.” -Rachel Carson When I first started the Pisgah 400 challenge, I stated my … More Ivestor Gap Trail
October 23, 2016 Once the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) closes for winter, it will cut off access to the higher peaks ad trails. Amongst the trails left in that area, is the mighty MST. The Pisgah Ranger section is 39.7 miles and extends from Haywood Gap near the Middle Prong Wilderness to Bent Creek and … More Mountains-to-Sea Trail: Haywood Gap to Pigeon Gap
September 11, 2016 A man and his dog. Amongst the green foliage and rumbling creek, Gracie and I meandered upon the Haywood Gap Trail. Starting at F.S. 97H, just above Sunburst Campground, you are unlikely to see another soul. Gone are the skyline views from mountain peaks as in the sister Shining Rock Wilderness. Simply … More Haywood Gap Trail
August 25, 2016 Chestnut Creek forms at the base of Devil’s Courthouse on the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP). Flowing south, the creek eventually joins Courthouse Creek and flows over Courthouse Falls. I took a day off from work and Alice, Emily and I traveled from on Hwy. 215 south toward Rosman. Several miles after passing … More Chestnut Creek Falls
May 8, 2016 The first Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot described Pink Beds as a “great bowl with mountains for the rim.”[1] Indeed it is nestled in the basin between Rich Mountain, Black Mountain to the south and east and the Blue Ridge Parkway and Frying Pan Mountain to the north and … More Pink Beds Loop Trail, Pink Beds Connector Trail
April 10, 2016 Black Mountain and Clawhammer Mountain have loomed over my hikes for the past two months. Black Mountain has that classic conical mountain feature, whereas Clawhammer is non-uniform, rugged. I would look up to these mountains as I made my way winding around the edges of their new spring skirts, their shadows over … More Black Mountain Trail
March 26, 2016 If you are in the Brevard/Asheville area and have family in town that don’t hike, but you want them to be outside, this is the perfect set of trails. Easy, level, close to the car, Andy Cove and the Exercise Trail are located beside the Pisgah Ranger District Office. Andy Cove Trail … More Andy Cove Trail, Exercise Trail