
Date: Saturday-Sunday, July 20-21
Time: 9:00 am Saturday – 3 pm Sunday
Where: Black Mountain Crest Trail
Difficulty: Strenuous (10+) — 12.4 miles, 5,390′
Cost: FREE for all participants
Join the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy and Wicked Weed Brewing for an incredible hike and camping trip along the Black Mountain Crest Trail. Often described as walking from Carolina to Canada, hikers will travel through Appalachian Cove, Northern Hardwood, and Spruce-Fir forests on their way up to the tallest ridge line trail in the East. Participants will learn about the ecological and cultural history of the Black Mountains and be rewarded with SAHC’s coveted Southern-Sixer patch and Appalachia IPA courtesy of Wicked Weed Brewing. The group will travel 8 miles on the first day to camp at Deep Gap and then hike out the remaining 4.4 miles along the ridge line to Mt. Mitchell the following morning.
The Black Mountain Crest Trail runs adjacent to the SAHC-monitored, 8,500-acre Big Tom Wilson Nature Preserve. This beautiful section of mountains can be seen from the Blue Ridge Parkway. SAHC’s conservation work in this area protects high elevation habitat and pristine headwater streams. So come out and let’s celebrate Appalachia and land conservation together. This hike is FREE for everyone!
Hike difficulty ratings are based on this formula: (0.002 x elevation gain (ft.)) + round trip distance (mi.) = difficulty rating (1 – 10+)