If you want a challenging 4-Wheeling experience this is a good on. Start ant the north end and come down. About half of it is improved dirt road. When you get to old house gap, you better kick the 4 wheel drive and have some traction boards. We went after a week of rain so it was super wet.
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Decent trail. Good camping and fishing. Some rocky spots but no too bad.
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Second time doing this hike. You can go counter clockwise and have the views towards the end of the hike or go clockwise and get to Slate Rock near the beginning. We went counter clockwise both times. That direction provides a cardio climb over 600ft then you level off towards the lookout. Slate Rock views are awesome. Many people hike to Slate Rock clockwise and return same way. Depends on your fitness level. Parking area is about 6.6 miles on right from where the gravel forest road begins.
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The hike starts at the parking lot off Black Balsam Knob Road. The trail starts out fairly level. Then you go down a set of wooden platforms and stairs to the meadow. At the end of the meadow, turn right to stay on Sam's Knob trail. The trail soon ascends. This part of the trail is narrower and has lots of roots and rocks. It's an easy trail to follow to the summit of Sam's Knob. Great views await.
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This is definitely a beautiful hike and quite a journey. Gorgeous waterfalls throughout the hike up and down and once on the Art Loeb, the Mountain View’s are breathtaking. Shining Rock is a large area of quartzite that is so cool! Definitely unexpected in a forest of evergreens. This was the hardest hike we’ve done in a day- it was long but also very strenuous. We were required to cross the stream several times, basically climb up rocks in some areas and steep declines were also a big element. Shining creek is the hardest of the entire hike- it’s worth getting that one over with in the beginning as the Big East Fork is much flatter.
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Hiked on 2/22/20. Snow was on the ground and it was beautiful! Highly recommend!
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Beautiful hike with lots of laurel and rhododendron. Distance might be an issue for some hikers, but I would in no way rate this as difficult. Relatively little elevation change.
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We hiked this section back in September 2019. What was to be a 2 day split overnight trip, we ended up crushing in a single day. Two of us were rookies, and two of our group were veteran hikers. We had a great time and the views are awesome.
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Blue ridge parkway was closed so we made a loop hiking mtn seas to trail then back on blue ridge parkway. Would not recommend hiking blue ridge parkway when there’s traffic.
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Hiked this on New Years Day, which may have attributed to a crowded trail. The hike starts and ends steep, but the trail is well-maintained. There is a gravel road that also leads to the tower, so you may encounter non-hikers at the top. The view from the tower is fantastic on a clear day.
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Great OHV trail. Made it relatively easy in a Raptor but full flex in some areas. Would recommend going when it’s been dry for at least a few days.
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We were closing the MST from 276 to the Arboretum. Beautiful hike on a beautiful day with a beautiful woman.
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Very busy parking lot. Started the hike a bit later than usual, around 1:30. Still had plenty of time to do the trail to Black Balsam Knob. Beautiful views even though clouds rolled in during the hike. Quite a few rocky climbs but not too strenuous.
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Actually a 3-mile hike (2.95 on Garmin and iPhone). First two mikes a moderate climb. Then a bit more rocky and rigorous. Nothing too bad. I’m 65 with an arthritic knee. View is tremendous!
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Great hike, close to town, easy to navigate, with a rewarding view. There are toilets and hand washing in the camp right past the bridge just beyond the trail head. Not great for running, since it's covered, moderately rocky, slick, steep, and with downed trees. Many streams en route, bring a steri-pen. Glad we used Gaia- we got a few hundred feet down a trail offshoot on the way down and had to backtrack. Some bushwhacking near the summit but underneath a clear path. Is the view to the SE an old volcano crater?
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Hike to the top of Sam’s Knob was totally worth it. Nice boggy area near Flat Laurel Creek. All stream crossings were rock-hop-able.
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This hike is not for the faint of heart. Had to end up calling emergency services for an assist. The rim trail on the east is worth the trip but unless you really want a challenge avoid the gorge trail. Lots of steep descents and ascents around stream crossings, lots of rocks on the trail and trail easy to lose in places.
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Excellent hike through Rhododendron‘s,mountain laurel,fields of ferns along streams. Relatively flat. Some beautiful areas. Not much elevation changes
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Great scenic drive completely gravel. Saw plenty of 2wd cars. Not sure how cars make it as there are lots of exposed rocks and deep ruts! Definitely worth an overnight.
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Great scenic drive completely gravel. Saw plenty of 2wd cars. Not sure how cars make it as there are lots of exposed rocks and deep ruts! Definitely worth an overnight.
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The difference between this hike and the identically named trail marked as “easy” is that this one includes the Johns Rock Loop. Even with that included I wouldn’t rate this as hard, maybe moderate. I’m not in great shape and didn’t think it was that tough. Well worth doing. Cool river views, waterfalls, and the lookout on Johns Rock is awesome.
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This trail was seriously tough with the high elevation change, and actually its 3 miles in 3 miles out not 2.7. However this trail was also very cool. I did it on a cool, wet and foggy day and it made for some spectacular views of the mountains in the fog. The higher up the mountains i got, the foggier it got! Near zero visibility at the top! Made trying to look out off of looking glass rock at the top impossible but thats also what made it cool! Sloughed my cooler up the mountain with me and had lunch as i stared out into the foggy abyss. 10/10 would do it again, just on a dryer day. Since it was so wet, it was a mudhole going up the mountain and made some of the fallen trees difficult to navigate without slipping off the face of the trail. I was pretty muddy by the time i got down.
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This is a good walk for some exercise but not much in the way of scenery hence the four star rating. It starts an ends at the Davidson River Campground parking lot and is 5.6 miles long. Across the bridge the left onto the exercise trail along the Davidson River for a mile then right at the Art Loeb trailhead. The trail is initially steep and steadily uphill before it moderates somewhat after about half a mile. The Art Loeb section is 1.7 miles and intersects FR 5002 where you turn right and head downhill for a pleasant stroll that will bring you to a gate across the road at the Schenk job corps property. There's a sign depicting a hiker with No Throughfare written on it. Through the gate take an immediate right onto a grassy road which almost immediately becomes dirt and gravel and follow that until you see a trail on your right that will reconnect with the exercise trail on the Davidson and then left and return to the parking lot. There are a few trails connecting to the exercise trail from the Schenk property so if you miss the first one you'll still have a few more opportunities. This is a pleasant walk with a nice up and then a gradual downhill and good trail conditions throughout with no stream crossings or obstacles.
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10.8 miles, 3000 foot elevation gain, very steep climbs/descents, tough terrain, very remote - no cell service, beautiful scenery and views of river and gorge. Recommend counter-clockwise route. Take GPS map, free download availabe from Avenza maps app. Can be occassionally easy to lose trail if not careful and have GPS.
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Hiked on 10-7-18. Was hoping for more fall color but it is a little later this year. Hiked this same hike a few years back on first Friday of October and colors were at peak. Easy hike. Mostly flat. Very muddy after any rain at all. A lot of secondary trails have been made by hikers to go around the bigger mud holes. Falls had much less water on this trip compared to a few years back. Can get crowded on weekends. I hiked out to falls about 4:30 PM and passed more people than I could even count who were returning from the falls. When I arrived there were only two couples at the base and a few people above the falls. Within 10 minutes they were all gone and I had it to myself.
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This is a very pretty waterfall, and a nice, short walk from the parking area. On this trip, we went at too busy of a time, and it was nearly impossible to get a photo without other people in it. Still, make a point to take the user trail over to Little Moore Cove Falls, which is much less crowded.
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