6 Spectacular Summits Near Asheville, NC
Asheville, North Carolina sits pretty (to say the least) within the embrace of the loftiest mountains in the eastern United States. These highlands are a real crown jewel of America’s landscape, and their seductive Southern Appalachian realm—verdant slopes, mystic coves, whitewater ravines, knobby peaks, long backbone ridges, sun-drenched balds—beckons at Asheville’s doorstep.
Give in to the siren call of those heights and devote part of your AVL getaway to exploring them. The following is a resplendent lineup of summits in Asheville’s vicinity (and, to give the sluices some love, one waterfall-touring trail) forming a pretty unbeatable beyond-town itinerary.
Max Patch
Although the Southern Appalachians don’t rear high enough to hit the regional climatic timberline, many ridge-crests, saddles, and mountaintops support the tantalizing high meadows and shrublands—some of the only openings in this densely forested kingdom—called “balds.” Arguably the most celebrated of all is that broad grass bald in the (ahem) Bald Mountains called Max Patch, set at about 4,600 feet near the Tennessee-North Carolina line within an hour-and-a-half of Asheville.
The Appalachian Trail cuts across Max Patch, which some argue delivers that iconic long-distance footpath’s single grandest view. If you aren’t getting here by the “A.T.,” a short, steep trail climbs to the bald from the Pisgah National Forest’s Road 1182. The Bald Mountains have a central-ish position in the complex of ranges forming the pinnacle of the Southern Appalachians, and from the pastoral vantage of “the Patch,” the viewshed encompasses a royal swath of that soaring country. You can also, rather uniquely, survey a couple hundred miles of the Appalachian Trail’s footway through this magnificent terrain.
Mount Pisgah
The lush, blocky tooth of 5,721-foot Mount Pisgah creates one of Asheville’s signal peaks, a skyline fixture and a signature landmark of the Blue Ridge Parkway. A mere 16 or so miles southwest of downtown, the mountain’s a pilgrimage, and the hike to the top is a nice balance: quite short (only about two miles round-trip), but definitely strenuous enough to qualify as a workout.
From the Parkway trailhead on the flanks of Little Pisgah Mountain, the route climbs through hardwood forest and mountain-laurel thickets to the heath bald and transmission tower at the Mount Pisgah summit. The tower’s observation platform delivers a knockout panorama that takes in Fryingpan Mountain—the fire tower atop which is another lookout well worth experiencing—to the near southwest and magisterial Cold Mountain (topping the Shining Rock Wilderness—more on that peak soon) westward as well as the cliff-girt monolith of Looking Glass Mountain to the south.
Mount Mitchell
Only about an hour or so from Asheville, Mount Mitchell State Park (among the oldest state parks in the nation) protects the eponymous peak in the Black Mountains that, mounting to 6,684 feet, forms the highest point in the eastern U.S. Once called Black Dome, Mount Mitchell was renamed by the U.S. Geological Survey in the early 1880s to honor Elisha Mitchell of the University of North Carolina. Decades before, he’d proved the peak was loftier than New Hampshire’s Mount Washington, once suggested to be the East’s tallest mountain and yet, in fact, overshadowed by dozens of “Southern Sixers” (as peakbaggers call the 6,000-plus-foot summits of the Southern Appalachians).
You can steer a vehicle up to the observation deck atop Mount Mitchell, or earn some bragging rights achieving it via a 4.4-mile round-trip hike along the historic Old Mitchell Trail. A goodly chunk of that trek passes through stands of the evocative upper-elevation spruce-fir forest that darkens the highest Southern Appalachian ridge-leads and summits (hence the whole “Black Mountains” and “Black Dome” labels)—and which, thanks to the exotic scourge of the balsam woolly adelgid, is on the decline. Ghost snags of adelgid-killed Fraser firs here (and so many other corners of the highlands) tell that grim story.
The views from the rooftop of the East are, as you’d expect, stirring and far-ranging (depending on weather and air-quality conditions), with great looks at other Black Mountain peaks such as 6,647-foot Mount Craig (second-highest U.S. mountain east of the Mississippi) and 6,611-foot Balsam Cone (fifth-highest), plus farther-off landmarks—among them mighty Grandfather Mountain, the capping 5,940-foot massif of the Blue Ridge Escarpment.
Black Balsam Knob
The Great Balsam Mountains form a high-standing nest of peaks—some of the loftiest in the Southern Appalachians—southwest of Asheville. Among numerous stellar trails in this burly range, the short hoof-it up its second-highest summit, 6,214-foot Black Balsam Knob, is one of the must-do hikes in Asheville’s backyard.
The main ascent to the wide-open heights of Black Balsam Knob, a 1.4-mile (round-trip) affair, is via the Art Loeb Trail, the trailhead for which is just a short drive off the Blue Ridge Parkway. An introductory passage through high fir woods will lead you onto the knob’s sweeping summit bald, where the vistas sprawl to such heraldic Southern Appalachian tops as Mount Mitchell, Mount LeConte in the Great Smokies, Mount Pisgah, and Richland Balsam, the 6,410-foot crown of the Great Balsams (and highpoint of the Pisgah National Forest). And if you’ve timed your climb for blueberry season, you’ll find abundant pickings among the mountaintop shrubbery.
Cold Mountain
The third and most remote summit hike we’re featuring in the Great Balsams, 6,030-foot Cold Mountain makes the pyramidal acme of the Shining Rock Wilderness, the biggest in North Carolina. Getting to the summit and back from the Daniel Boone Boy Scout Camp—via another section of the aforementioned Art Loeb Trail and then the Cold Mountain Trail itself—sees you cover 10 miles round-trip and roughly 3,000 feet of huff-and-puff elevation gain.
But boy, is it worth it: an opportunity not only to bask in the peak’s expansive panorama, but also experience true backcountry ambience in one of the wild hearts of the Southern Appalachians.
Waterrock Knob
The Plott Balsams are a handsome and impressively elevated Southern Appalachian range whose relative obscurity stems from their perch in between the higher-yet and more massive blocks of the Great Smokies to the northwest and the Great Balsams to the southeast. Named for settler Henry Plott—also the namesake for North Carolina’s state dog, the Plott Hound, bred for Southern Appalachian bear-hunting—the mountains culminate with 6,292-foot Waterrock Knob, an easy summit hike in a range mostly lacking in those.
It’s also one easily reached from Asheville shy of an hour via the Blue Ridge Parkway, where, at Milepost 451.2, you’ll find that All-American Road’s highest-set (5,820 feet) visitor center and the trailhead for Waterrock Knob. Even if you don’t have time or inclination for the summit, the parking lot yields ravishing vistas from the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with views extending beyond nearby Plott Balsam summits such as Yellow Face Mountain to many Great Smoky, Great Balsam, and Roan Highland/Unaka Range eminences.
Bridal Veil Falls
An hour or so south of Asheville, the DuPont State Recreational Forest showcases a series of showstopper Blue Ridge waterfalls along the Little River. The hike to Bridal Veil Falls via High Falls gives you a memorable taste for this flumed, cataracted forestland. First admire the 125-foot plunge of High Falls, followed by a chaser of the double-decker slide of Bridal Veil over a wide, potholed granite bed—the spectacle of which you might recognize from The Last of the Mohicans or The Hunger Games.
Find the Perfect Launchpad for Greater Asheville Hiking & Summit-Hopping
Bear in mind the above list is very much at scratching-the-surface level: What about Craggy Pinnacle? Bearwallow Mountain along the lip of the Hickory Nut Gorge? Lover’s Leap overlooking Hot Springs, NC and the French Broad? The vast, view-dazzled balds of Roan Mountain, one of the Southern Appalachians’ magic spots?
Well, consider your adventuring work cut out for you when vacationing in Asheville! And on that count: Look no further than The 100 Collection partner Greybeard Rentals—helmed by local outdoors-lover and Asheville trails aficionado Chip Craig—for the perfect getaway in one of the East’s premier mountain towns (and cultural hubs). From secluded upscale cabins to lakefront lodges, Greybeard Rentals has got you covered—with each and every Asheville-area property hitting that exhaustive standard of luxury and hospitality The 100 Collection trademarks in.
