As Day Hikes go ...This One is a Perfect 10

The Flat Laurel Creek Trail to Black Balsam and Beyond - Appx. 9 Miles (6 Hrs.)

My challenge was to come up with the perfect hike for my visiting friends. I had received a call earlier in the week from my friend Shane Huddleston telling me that he and our friend Randall Hill were coming from the coast for a couple of days and wanted to go on a great hike.

Shane and I are completing the SB6K summit challenge (see Carolina Mountain Club Challenges) so I saw a perfect opportunity to “ bag a summit “ while giving Randall some breathtaking views and waterfalls. The one trail that offered all of these benefits was Flat Laurel Creek. After an evening of meticulous planning (see “ maps, maps, maps” on Randall’s website at randallhill.org) we set off on June 15th for the Pisgah National Forest.

The trailhead is off NC Hwy 215 .8 miles north of the intersection of 215 and the BRP. Going north on 215 from the Parkway there is an unmarked gravel road to the right. A few yards down this road there are a couple of parking places and a very nice primitive campsite straddling Bubbling Spring Branch. About 60 yards down there is a crossing over the Branch and a small waterfall to the right. The next 3 miles will be a gentle ascent of about 800 feet. In a little less than a mile there is a concrete bridge over wildcat falls.

The stretch of trail from Wildcat Falls to the Flat Laurel Creek Falls offers many nice views and a couple of excellent backpacking campsites. At about 2.3 miles we arrived at the Flat Laurel Creek Falls, an unbroken series of cascades that plummets a half a mile into the valley below. There are numerous plunge pools along the cascades and several nice campsites adjoining the creek.

At 2.5 miles the trail arrives at the junction of the Sam Knob Trail. We continued on the Flat Laurel Creek Trail where we left the forest and entered a high mountain meadow. From this vantage point there are wonderful views of the surrounding mountains, including the 6080 ft. Sam Knob. At 3.6 miles we arrived at the Black Balsam Parking Lot. This area can be accessed from the BRP at MM 420. Numerous trails intersect at Black Balsam, including trails to Black Balsam Knob, Tennant Mountain, Shining Rock, Cold Mountain and access to the Art Loeb Trail.

From the parking lot we took the Sam Knob Summit Trail. After completing a strenuous 1-mile hike we arrived at the summit. This peak pleased both Shane and I, as this added another 6000+-foot summit to our SB6K Challenge list. Sam Knob is basically a bald with a spectacular 360-degree view. The mountains that can be clearly viewed from Sam Knob include Black Balsam Knob, Devil’s Courthouse, Tennant Mountain, Shining Rock, Mt. Pisgah, Mt. Hardy,
Max Patch Mountain and Mt. Mitchell, just to name a few.

After a leisurely lunch and sightseeing on top of Sam Knob we began a gentle decent back to highway 215 and the car. The entire trip encompassed 9 miles and took less than 6 hours to accomplish. I would rate this trip moderate, as there is a total elevation gain of over 1000 feet. However, the section from the highway 215 trailhead to The Black Balsam Parking Lot is comparatively easy, while the Sam Knob Trail to the summit is rather strenuous. To get a better understanding of this area obtaining a copy of the National Geographic Topo Map for Pisgah will be helpful. This map will show all of the different trail configurations in the region. A brief note of caution: Black Balsam is a very popular area. While there are many places in this expansive wilderness where a person can find solitude, many of the trails are heavily used in the summer and on weekends. The best bet is to plan this trip in the off-season. That being said I still rate this hike a perfect 10.