Pinnacle Park Archives - GetGoing NC!

Rediscover Western NC with a week of great hikes

JoeMiller — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 21:24:48 +0000

You’ve been wanting to get back to the mountains post-Helene, but you haven’t been sure of where to go, of what’s accessible, of where you can spread some of your tourism dollar joy.

How about Transylvania and Jackson counties, and their respective basecamps of Brevard and Sylva?

From Tuesday, Sept. 9 through Sunday, Sept. 14, those communities along with the State of North Carolina’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources are sponsoring two events under Gov. Josh Stein’s Rediscover the Unforgettable campaign. That campaign aims to let folks know that Western North Carolina is rebounding from last September’s Hurricane Helene and is eager to welcome tourists.

A disclosure before pressing on: My day job is with the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and a good deal of my time lately has been spent helping to put these events together. Thus, I’m exceptionally excited about both events, which you can find out more about by clicking the links below:

Rediscover the Unforgettable: The Art of Exploring Brevard (this event coincides with Brevard’s second annual Plein Air Festival), Sept. 9-10
Rediscover the Unforgettable: Sylva Adventure Sampler, Sept. 12-14

Both events include a smorgasbord of adventures, from rafting, paddling and tubing, to mountain biking, waterfall chasing and Forest Bathing.

And, of course, hiking.

There are 7 hikes as part of both events. And because the events are back-to-back, that’s nearly a week’s worth of continuous hiking. All the incentive you need to make a getaway out of it.

The hikes

The hike schedule follows. Although most hikes are free, space is limited; If you see a hike of interest, click the link and sign up. Additional information — trailhead location, weather forecast two days out, what to wear and bring — will be sent upon registration.

John Rock, Pisgah National Forest

Tuesday, Sept. 9, 10 a.m. John Rock Hike, 4.7 miles, moderate difficulty. This lollipop loop hike starts and ends from the Fish Hatchery near the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education, and includes a break atop the trail’s namesake, a rock outcrop offering stellar views. Learn more and sign up here.
Tuesday, Sept. 9, 4 p.m., Pink Beds Loop, 5 miles, moderate difficulty. A surprisingly flat hike, this trail spends much of its time navigating a rare mountain bog, elevated in the swampy parts by strategically placed boardwalk. Learn more and sign up here.
Sam Knob area

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 10 a.m., Sam Knob Hike, 8.7 miles, moderate difficulty. This hike includes great views of the Shining Rock Wilderness and passage along mountain streams, a waterfall, through a high-altitude Balsam Forest and more. Learn more and sign up here.’
Friday, Sept. 12, 9 a.m., Pinnacle Park in. Sylva. This 6.2-mile up-and-back hike on the Pinnacle Trail will be led by Jackson County Parks and Recreation. It gains 2,000 vertical feet and is recommended “for those who have previous experience hiking, although anyone is encouraged to try.” Learn more and sign up here.
Saturday, Sept, 13, 9:30 a.m. – noon, Forest bathing at Pinnacle Park, If you’ve heard of forest bathing, the Japanese practice of restoring your soul through nature, here’s your chance to check it out. This hike will be led by Mark Ellison, a certified forest therapy guide and forest therapy trail consultant by the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy. Learn more and sign up here.
Saturday, Sept. 13, 5 p.m., Late Day Walk on the Jackson County Greenway, Sylva, 5 p.m. We wind down the day with a mellow 2.3-mile walk on the Jackson County Greenway in Sylva. Learn more and sign up here.
Sunday, Sept. 14, 9 a.m., Hike the Mountains-to-Sea Trail: Soco Gap to Waterrock Knob, 8.8 miles. moderately difficult. On this out-and-back hike we will ascend to the highest point on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, 6,692-foot Waterrock Knob, then descend back to the trailhead. Learn more and sign up here.

This is a great lineup of hikes and the perfect opportunity to reintroduce your hiking self to Western North Carolina. Not a bad way to get a jump on the fall hiking season.

Hope to see you there!

The post Rediscover Western NC with a week of great hikes appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

MST: a peak into the future

JoeMiller — Wed, 20 May 2015 21:09:39 +0000

Last year when I was reporting the annual state of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail for Great Outdoor Provision Co’s blog, Kate Dixon, executive director of the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, gave an intriguing description to a portion of one route being considered in the mountains.
“It’s a hellish six-mile climb,” she said.
Hellish!? I was intrigued. Did she simply mean it was a challenge? Or was she suggesting there be defibrillators and oxygen stationed along the way?
Last month I was in the neighborhood of the hellish climb and decided to give it a go. In the event it proved as daunting as Dixon suggested, I got my daughter, Hana, to come along. Hana attends Western Carolina University; the trail in question is just down the road in Sylva, in the town’s Pinnacle Park.
“A hike? Sure,” she said, perhaps believing this would be akin to the hikes we took around Shelley Lake in her youth.
I won’t go into detail about how this stretch — it’s actually 6.2 miles, not 6, according to a trailhead sign — fits into the MST’s plans; for that, you can check out this year’s State of the Trail report, here. This bit of trail would perform the key function of elevating hikers from a long passage along the Tuckaseegee River, elevation about 2,051 feet, up to existing MST trail along the Blue Ridge Parkway at Waterrock Knob, elevation 6,293 feet. (That’s a difference of 4,242 feet if you don’t have a calculator handy.)
At the trailhead, we stood and looked up into the 1,100-acre park that once served as Sylva’s watershed.
“This is pretty,” Hana said.
We started on an old forest road. Five minutes in, we ran into a hiker headed down. We told her we were on our way to Waterrock Knob. She smiled and suggested we take the East Fork Trail, which would lead us up to the ridge and the trail to Waterrock. “I hike here a lot,” she added, perhaps to establish credibility.
“Is it steep?” I asked.
She smiled again. “Yes.” I couldn’t tell if she meant it was steep for a pair of yokels not accustomed to mountain hiking, or whether it was steep regardless.
Shortly, we diverted right onto the East Fork Trail, which was flat until it hung a left at Fisher Creek and began to climb. As the climbing accelerated, our conversation diminished into labored breathing.
“Hold on,” Hana said. “I need a break.”
We conserved our breath until there was enough to speak.
“She was right,” I said. “It’s steep.” Hana started to look up the mountain.
“Don’t!” I advised. “Don’t look up.”
We continued hiking, up. I tried to find trail to compare it to. The Mount Mitchell Trail, which gains 3,600 feet in 5.6 miles. The westernmost stretch of the North Carolina Bartram Trail, which claws its way up Ledbetter Creek from the Nantahala River to Cheoah Bald. The first quarter of the Cox Mountain Trail at Eno River State Park, apparently blazed before the switchback was invented, repeated a couple hundred times.
“Kick steps,” I yelled back to Hana, referring to the mountaineering technique for progressing upward at high altitude.
I stopped, Hana stopped. Hana stopped, I stopped. I was hoping to at least make it to the ridge, but every time I did have the courage to look up, there was no hint of ridgeline, no enticing shelf of blue, no gap. Nothing but more trees somehow clinging to the slope.
“Rats,” I said after stopping yet again.
“What is it?”
“Turnaround time,” I said pointing to my watch. She had a puzzled look. She’s a parks and rec major at Western, but apparently — and fortunately — hadn’t gotten to turnaround time in the curriculum.
“Means we need to turn around if we want to make it back to the car by dark,” I explained.
“Really?” She looked at the sky. The sun wasn’t directly overhead, but it wasn’t far off. We’d been on the trail maybe an hour and a quarter, the descent would take half as long. I was hoping she wouldn’t do the math.
“OK,” she said.
Moral: If the River Valley Route is adopted as the official route of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, do not become complacent on your cheerful stroll along the Tuckaseegee. On the other hand, if and when you make it to 6,293-foot Waterrock Knob, keep in mind that it’s downhill to Jockey’s Ridge.
Pretty much.

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For the latest information on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail route in the mountains, read this recent entry in the Great Outdoor Provision Co. Blog. For an update on the MST from the Triangle to the coast, go here.

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