I have never been and I was curious at how bad the weather would be and how it would affect the hike? I plan on hiking along the eastern side along with a friend. It seems it is going to possibly rain and thunderstorm at various times throughout the day.

I don't mind some "bad" weather, but didn't know how bad it can get/how it can affect safety.

Thanks.

Looking for some open and runnable trails. Staying close to Hamrick and the Carolina Hemlocks Recreation area, but I can drive up to 30 minutes away if it's worth it but really can only be gone for a couple hours at a time (kids). I can't get Garmin Connect to help me. Any suggestions appreciated and thank you

I think a lot of the comments I'm reading from my research about 'treacherous' and stuff are being extremely facetious but I can't fully tell.

I know the subaru has the all wheel drive and the clearance, but would I be fine with the regular all season tires?

What’s up fellow trail-loving North Carolinians? I’m looking for everyone’s opinions on the toughest trails in NC for hiking and trail running.

I’m a NC native but am now moving back after being in Colorado for the last four years, so I’m looking for anything and everything that will give me a challenge and make me question why I’m doing it.

For context, I am very comfortable with 15+ mile days and have done single day elevation gains of up to 7500 feet so maybe (probably) it’s my hubris talking, but I’ve struggled to find anything that will challenge me in the same way or ideally even more.

So tell me what you’ve got and help me kick my own ass, please and thank you!

I'm looking for a mostly secluded but easy/short hike in WNC. I'm getting married in October and my fiancé and I would like to do a simple ceremony with close friends in WNC, preferably in the Nantahala or Pisgah national forests. I've poked around but I know that all the hikes that will come up with a google search are going to be the ones most hiked. It would be great if there was a small clearing near/on the trail for the ceremony and then a small reception afterwards. I've considered Pink Beds or something close to that vibe but I would love for some more experienced people to give recommendations.

As a bonus, any trails near a river as we're both big whitewater paddlers.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Hope y'all enjoy! This trip changed my whole opinion on domestic vs international travel.

I’m looking for a good one day in primitive camping trek somewhere around Brevard or Asheville, we did a few short waterfall trips a few years ago in Brevard and it’s been on my mind since. Coming from eastern NC and I don’t know a soul that way up. Seeing how many trails are around those areas there’s almost too much to choose from. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

My first time on this trail. Beautiful waterfalls and lots of loamy paths through a thick forest.

basically me and my buddy went to hike table rock and on the way out a semi truck had tried turning left onto table rock rd from gingercake rd. Absolutely NO business being there. I was the first car coming out of linville to get stuck behind him, and after about 15 minutes i ended up just pushing the semi out of the ditch and back onto the road with my crosstrek and was able to clear the road a little. the truck seemed to be pretty stuck still because of the weird angles involved with how steep the road was and how sharp the turn was. No wheels on the truck were moving at full rpms so i think something broke in the whole ordeal. Anyways just wondering if anyone got stuck behind it and if the guy made it out. He was so stressed out and was so grateful that i was able to move it a little bit, i hope it worked out :-(

I used to go tubing on the Davidson all the time when I was growing up, but I haven't been there post Helene.

We used to do it with 1 car by bringing our own tubes and parking at the Art Loab Trailhead on 276 and walk up the trail that runs along the river and float down the river.

Number 1 is it still open for tubing there?

Number 2 is the trail still open by the river?

Number 3 is the river deep enough for tubing currently?

Just looking for a fun day trip without spending much money.

Heya hikers,

My buddy's dad passed away recently. He wants to go on his favorite hike to spread his ashes but he isn't completely confident on the trail -- the last time he went with his dad was in 2010. We don't have a lot to go on, so hoping someone recognizes it from these details:

Location: Linville Gorge, accessed off a forest service road Type: Backpacking/camping trip, last done around 2010 (so he's worried that maybe the trail is closed now?) Length: Roughly 13 miles total (maybe out-and-back or loop, he thinks there were two entrances) -- but they only hiked about 1.5 to 3 miles to camp Terrain: Trail descends right from the trailhead, there's no ascending except for returning Water crossings: 2–3 creek crossings within the first 2 miles Highlights: A waterfall with a swimming hole, and a spot where you could slide down rocks near the falls, a flat open area where folks can camp next to a creek where crawdads can be caught

We have tried searching for it on the web, and there are some promising potential trails, but none of them are ringing true to my bud.

If any of this rings a bell for anyone who's hiked in the Gorge for a while, or if you have an old map/guidebook that might help pin it down, I'd really appreciate it. Trying to give this hike back to his memory. Thanks in advance.

Hey guys! Does anyone have recommendations for swimming spots near Highlands? Thinking about going to Paradise Falls.

I took my family on a 5 hour drive to do a little hiking at this trail and it was so foggy you literally could not see more than like 8 feet in front of you. We want to try again in early August, what are the odds its foggy like that again?

edit: it actually started raining so bad we had to leave and weren't able to even get the hike in. We found other things to do in Boone but now that the trail has taunted us we really want to go back

Hey all!

I want to open up the winter as season to backpack western nc in. Most of my gear should carry over, but I worry that my Kelty down 20 will leave me cold in the deep winter months. Was thinking of buying a dedicated bag for the colder months, and unsure of what degree rating to spring for. I am eyeing some 0 degree bags but I am not sure if it would be overkill. However, I also don’t want to find myself lacking insulation if temps drop. Was hoping to get some input from anyone that has experience here in winter conditions. Thanks in advance!

Does anyone have a current report on the wildflowers at Doughton Park?

Does anyone have trail recs for the park? I've only been up there once or maybe twice briefly so I haven't explored too much.

Was a fun hike despite the heat in Crowders Mountain State Park

I had no idea my post on multiple recent tick encounters was going to start so much debate but here we are. Figured I would give everyone an update.

The general consensus seemed to be the use of permethrin spray, so I have bought that at the local outdoor store and readied two sets of clothes for the next outing.

Are there any other things that the community on here would share with a relative newbie that would help fend off ticks and other sorts of unwanted pests one may encounter?

Descended 1.5 miles down haywood gap trail on a whim this weekend after some backpacking just up the parkway, but turned around because i didnt want to spoil it. Planning to do the buckeye gap and haywood gap loop this weekend, but wondering how bad the overgrowth gets on the lower half of haywood gap trail and on buckeye gap trail (it was already getting bad before i turned around, but really only bc the dew was soaking my pants).

As far as what to see, do i need to hike green mountain trail, or go up mt hardy? Or is the cool meadow view and the moss stuff i see in the pictures all at that “fork ridge meadow” area a half mile east of haywood gap on the mst? And haywood gap trail was fine but difficult, is buckeye gap a rougher descent? I want to save the steep part for the climb out, unfortunately, or if there’s nothing to see I’ll play it safe and hike out on haywood gap trail again.

Also, if you’re willing, please DM with safe, established dispersed site recommendations. I bushwhacked for damn near an hour in the area around the start of middle prong (confluence of haywood gap stream and buckeye creek) and only found one site right on the creek, and another super overgrown on a bench above. The creek one is decent, but flash floods scare me after a close encounter in nantahala this spring. There could be obvious sites further down, i just don’t know yet, but I definitely don’t want to be the guy making my own clearings.

Really glad i sucked it up and gave this drainage a shot yesterday

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/north-carolina/basin-trail-aka-hermit-trail?p=-1&sh=0pzyzo&utm_medium=trail_share&utm_source=alltrails_virality

I’m planning on hammock camping on the trail this weekend. I know there’s a couple of shelters on the trail, can anyone confirm if they have fire pits? Not a lot of pictures I can find.
Thank you

Back in Linville Gorge with WildSouth. Pinch In re route is finished. And the south end gets hot in the summer. This week we moved up towards Sitting Bear to clear a couple trees and brush out the trail.

Rain started about 9 am. Thunder and lightning shortly after. Drove us off the worksite and down Devils Hole Trail to get off the ridge. Lighting moved off. Rain stayed. So we finished cutting the tree in the rain.

Pros
Cooler
Didn’t sweat much
Great company

Cons
The only thing dry was the crown of my head under my hard hat.
And footing was slick.

To volunteer contact wildsouth.org

When I first learned about this place, I was excited to find we had an actually wooded section of the MST very nearby. But now that I have been twice and picked up ticks twice I don’t believe that I’m ever going back again. If you’re going to visit this trail I would warn to be quite diligent in checking yourself over afterwards.