Named for the dark
evergreen forests of spruce and
fir
that cover its peaks, the
Black Mountain Range is the highest east
of the Rockies. Running roughly north to south for
15 miles, these mountains have 18 peaks higher
than 6300'.
Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak, is named for Dr. Elisha Mitchell,
a professor of sciences
at UNC-Chapel Hill who first suggested
that the peak that bears his name was the highest
in the range. Dr. Mitchell died at a waterfall
on the western slope of the mountain while returning
from one of many exploratory trips to western North
Carolina.
The Blacks were logged extensively during the early years of
this century. In fact, Mt. Mitchell
State Park was created in 1915 to preserve
the fir trees around the peak from the loggers'
axe. Originally only 525 acres, the park expanded
through several subsequent acquisitions until it
reached its present size of 1469 acres in 1969.
Today, the summit is surrounded by the matchstick remnants of
spruce and fir trees that have died
in the last 25 years - all of them victims
of a one-two punch delivered by an exotic insect and
acid rain. The
premature death of fir trees
is not limited to the Black mountains.
It is common above 5500 feet throughout
the southern Appalachians. And there is increasing
evidence that in some areas an unusually large
number of high altitude hardwoods are dying prematurely
as well.
Despite the ghostly tree skeletons on the summit, the Blacks
are a great treat for outdoor enthusiasts. Rising more than 3000
feet above their base, these mountains offer some of the most strenuous
hiking in the eastern U.S.. Colbert's
Ridge
Trail , for example, ascends from 2750'
at the trailhead near the Carolina Hemlocks
campground to 5700' at Deep Gap in only 3.7 miles.
From there, if one heads south along the
Black
Mountain Crest Trail , Cattail Peak, (6675')
is only a little over a mile away.
Almost as strenuous is the Mt.
Mitchell
Trail , a 5.6 mile trek that begins
at 3200' at Black Mountain Campground and ends
at the summit of Mt. Mitchell. About two miles
from the campground trailhead a side trail to the
left leads to Higgins Bald (see right above.)
Above Higgins Bald the trail continues to switchback
up the south face of the mountain through an oak - hickory
forest (below 4500'), then ascends into a northern deciduous
forest of birches and other high altitude hardwoods (4500'
- 5500'), and finally enters the spruce and fir zone
just after the trail passes the remnants of an old logging
camp from the 1920s named Camp Alice.
At Camp Alice the Mt. Mitchell
Trail
intersects the Buncombe
Horse Range Trail . At 15 miles,
it is the longest in the Blacks. For most of its
route, it follows old logging roads and the corridor
of an abandoned rail tramway that took sightseers
to the top of Mt. Mitchell in the early years of the
20th century. It passes through Maple Camp Bald (see right
above) near its midpoint, a nice spot to have a
sunny lunch on a clear cold day and gaze up at Big Tom
and Cattail Peak.
The Black Mountain Crest Trail
begins at the parking lot on top
of Mt. Mitchell and heads north along the crest
of the Black Mountain Range. During its 12 mile course
it crosses Mt. Craig, Big Tom, Cattail Peak,
and Potato Hill before descending to Deep Gap (5700.')
Here the
Colbert's Ridge Trail
intersects from the right and descends 3.7
miles to Colbert's Creek Rd. near the Carolina
Hemlocks campground. Continuing north the Crest
Trail crosses Celo Knob before dropping to the trailhead
at Bowlen's Creek Rd (3000').
For more info, see the links below or
contact the USFS Toecane District Ranger at 828-682-6146. Forest
Service campsites, such as Black Mountain
Campground and Carolina Hemlocks, can
be reserved online at
ReserveUSA
. Forest
Service maps can be ordered at 800-660-0671.
For the Black Mountains, order the South Toe
River Trail Map.
