Date: Saturday, June 1st
Time: 10:30am
Where: Snowball Mountain Trailhead, off the Blue Ridge Parkway
Distance: 3 miles
Difficulty: Moderately strenuous (7/10)
Cost: $10 for non-members, FREE for members
Join Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy for a hike to the protected Snowball Mountain. The first Saturday of June each year is Land Trust Day. On this day businesses and land trusts across North Carolina have come together to celebrate conservation. Land Trust Day highlights the important role that protected lands and the outdoors play in our communities.
This moderate 3-mile hike will take hikers along a high elevation ridge line with remarkable views. We will start out on the Mountains-to-Sea trail and split off to climb Snowball Mountain. Next, we will continue North to Hawkbill Rock where we will look back onto the property and into the Woodfin Watershed— another SAHC-protected landmark. Hikers should be prepared for a short trip, but steep elevation changes along the way. Snowball Mountain was one of the marquee parcels that pushed SAHC past the 50,000-acre milestone mark at the end of 2011.
Come and enjoy this beautiful property and learn about SAHC’s projects in this spectacular area of the Black Mountain range. In 2012, the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy purchased 90 acres on Snowball Mountain in Buncombe County, permanently preserving scenic views for recreational visitors, clean water sources for area residents, and habitat for native species. Nestled in the beautiful Craggy Mountains, this tract is highly visible from the Blue Ridge Parkway and national forest land, and it adjoins the publicly accessible Snowball Mountain Trail and Camp Sequoyah Trail.
SAHC’s Snowball Mountain tract joins a significant swath of state and federal protected land, contributing another piece to a vast network of over 125,000 acres of contiguous protected forestlands. The trail overlooks national forest land and the Woodfin Watershed, which contains the headwaters to Reems Creek Watershed, which SAHC protects with a conservation easement.
What To Bring: hiking shoes, lunch, water, jacket/rain gear, camera, and please dress in layers.
Dogs: Dogs are allowed.
If you have any questions, please reach out to katie@appalachian.org.
This hike is FULL! Thank you for your interest in our Outings Program guided hikes. We hope to see you on the next one!
