WNCOutdoors.info Blog

We’ve added the Jackrabbit Mountain trailhead to both MTBikeWNC and HikeWNC. Although the trail system was designed with mountain biking in mind, it’s a pleasant place to hike as well, being close to the campground and lake. For mountain bikers, though, the experience here couldn’t be better. Purpose-built for mountain bikes as a “stacked loop” trail system, an easy, central loop (with that name) leads you to junctions with other loops that are harder as they reach out toward the lakeshore.

Overall, none of the trails here are terribly difficult – but there are some areas which require a bit more technical skill and effort to climb. For the most part, these are the kind of fast, flowing, and smooth trails you’d expect for a lakeshore trail system – similar to Tsali or the W. Kerr Scott trail system. And there’s a nice picnic area at the trailhead parking by the lakeshore to round out your trip.

It’s been nearly a year since we attended the grand opening and we wish we could’ve gotten the info out sooner. But for your patience, along with the trail info, we have full GPS maps of all the trails for you to download. Enjoy!

Jackrabbit Mountain Trailhead on MTB WNC
Jackrabbit Mountain Trailhead on HikeWNC

There was a great article in the Smoky Mountain News Wednesday about the Forest Service non-motorized trails planning project. A couple of the public input workshops have already been held; I plan on attending the one in Mars Hill this Thursday evening (Jan. 19, in the Peterson Conference Room, Mars Hill College). Regardless of the outcome of the project, it appears some changes to the National Forest trail system may be upcoming – however, it also looks like the end result could be largely influenced by public input, which is great.

Whatever happens on the ground, our input to the Forest Service will be to encourage rapid and accurate dissemination of information (such as changed trail designations, trail closures, or upcoming trail work) so we can in turn keep you informed. They’re doing a much better job of this in recent years (especially on their new web site), so I think it’ll be much easier to stay informed through this round of changes.

See you at the meeting Thursday!

Happy New Year! Just in time to ring in 2012, we’ve added some new maps in the Mount Mitchell area, including a general map of the whole park and surrounding trails,  and a map each covering the Camp Alice/Commissary, Old Mitchell Trail, and Mount Mitchell Best Hikes. Each contains downloadable layers for display in your GPS or Google Earth.

Right now, Mount Mitchell State Park isn’t reachable by car due to road closures on the Blue Ridge Parkway. But the park is still accessible via the Mount Mitchell Best Hike which leads all the way to the peak from the lower elevations where the roads are open. It’s a strenuous trek, and be prepared for some cold, snow, and ice on the trail. But if you’re looking for a more wilderness-like hike and a secluded experience on the highest summit in the Appalachians without throngs of summer tourists, this is the time of year to do it!

The National Forests in North Carolina (NFNC) are working on a trail planning project during 2012, and the trails need your help! With federal funding on the wane, it’s becoming more and more difficult for the Forest Service to maintain the trails we all love. In light of that, NFNC is hoping to get public input while developing their “Non-Motorized Trails Strategy” next year. A series of workshops are planned in January to get public input from Pisgah and Nantahala’s trail users, and it appears that the Forest Service is hoping to get more volunteers putting in hours maintaining trails in the future. It’s great that they’re reaching out to the public like this, so let’s make a showing at these workshops and tell them how important the trails are!

Here are some links to other web sites with more information about the process:

• National Forest in North Carolina (NFNC) web site
• Pisgah Area SORBA Web Site

We posted some more detailed information and a photo of Wintergreen Falls in DuPont State Forest. See the Wintergreen Falls page for all the details!

We’ve got a lot of footage “saved up” over the years and so we’re going to try to start putting together some videos again. Here are two more we’ve made recently. Enjoy!

First, here’s Maidenhair Falls from a cool mid-November weekend:

And here’s another video from this fall: Harper Creek Falls in the Wilson Creek section of the Pisgah National Forest, near Grandfather Mountain.

We’ve added the three waterfalls along the Glen Burney Trail to NorthCarolinaWaterfalls.info, and a full trailhead page on HikeWNC.info as well! Owned by the town of Blowing Rock, the waterfalls include The Cascades, Glen Burney Falls, and Glen Marie Falls. All of these would make worthy destinations in and of themselves, but with this trail you get to see all three in one hike. It’s a fairly strenuous hike for a trail that starts right in town, so be prepared for that, but we think it’s well worth the effort as you treck down into the gorge formed by New Year’s Creek. Perhaps this would make a great New Year’s Day hike!

Glen Burney Falls, one of the three on this hike

We’re rolling out some big style changes to HikeWNC and MTB WNC! We think the new look should be simpler and more modern, and we’ve toned down the colors quite a bit. Please refresh – maybe a couple of times – and give us your feedback!

We now have a GPS map available with all the trails in DuPont State Forest. You can see the maps & download the data on HikeWNC or MTBikeWNC. The interactive maps (based on Google Maps) have USGS topo base layers, plus the Google Terrain layer and satellite views. Grab the data and load it into your GPS before your next hike or ride. And remember, we have these maps of lots of other nearby areas – such as Davidson River, Mills River, Bent Creek, Big Ivy, and Tsali. Enjoy!

Front of the map.

The guys with Pisgah Map Company – Pete Kennedy and Jack Mohr – have released a fantastic new competitor to the old Trails Illustrated map #780 (Pisgah Ranger District) by National Geographic. Called the Western North Carolina Trail Guide, the new map covers the South Pisgah Ranger District including Bent Creek. And like the Trails Illustrated map, this one has a topographic base layer with hill shading, and is printed on waterproof, smear-proof paper. They’re the same physical size, and both show almost all of the trails in the Pisgah district, color-coding them black, blue, and red for hike, hike/bike, and hike/bike/horse use respectively.

However, the new Western North Carolina Trail Guide boasts many improvements over the Trails Illustrated map. It rotates the view 90 degrees so that the areas which contain trails cover more of the map. Also, there’s no overlap in coverage between the front and back of the map like there is with the Trails Illustrated map. Davidson River, Mills River, Middle Prong & Shining Rock Wilderness areas are all on one side of the map, and Bent Creek is on the other. This allows the map to be at a larger scale across the entire area, and since Bent Creek (which has a dense network of trails) is on its own side, it’s shown at an even larger scale yet, making it easier to distinguish between the individual routes there.

Great level of detail in the tight areas, and trail names right beside the trail.

In addition to the standard numbered index, the new map prints the trail names right on the map beside the trails – an obvious but greatly appreciated feature, made possible in part by the larger scale. No more hunting for the name of a trail in a huge list based on the little number printed beside it. And the trails are just more accurately placed – these guys have taken a lot of time to ensure accuracy of the map data, and it shows! Especially in the small, compact, confusing intersections, where details matter most. This is the second edition of the map, and several improvements have been made over the first edition, further illustrating their commitment to quality and accuracy.

You won’t find these waterfalls on the Trails Illustrated map, but you’ll see them along the trail.

There are tons more waterfalls on the new map than the Trails Illustrated map, and since they’re one of the most popular destinations in the forest it’s a great help when you’re hunting for them.

Finally, the map includes a healthy series of mountain bike ride descriptions to get you started, so it’ll make a great all-in-one guide for someone getting started riding in the area, or looking for something new to try. These include stats, directions, and a neat elevation profile which allows you to easily compare length and climbing between the different rides.

I had a chance to meet with Pete last week to get a copy of the map and talk a little shop about GIS, find out more about what he’s trying to do, and how the company works. I can tell that they’re passionate about this product, and it shows. Not only do you have some top-notch cartographers behind this map, but they’re locals, and know the local trails. By buying this map, you’re supporting local businesses and the local outdoors community – a portion of the proceeds are even donated toward trail maintenance!  This will definitely be the paper map I recommend for trips into the Pisgah District.

Pick up a copy of the map at one of the local outfitters or bike shops on this page. One of these stores should be on your way to the trails from where you’re located!