Mount Pisgah Trail

Mount Pisgah (5721 ft), for which the Pisgah National Forest is named, was our hike for today.

The name “Pisgah” comes from the Bible.  It was atop Mount Pisgah that God revealed to “Promised Land” to Moses.  This is not that Mount Pisgah.  There seems to be some controversy on how this mountain got its name.  However, both stories credit the naming of the mountain to ministers who looked out over the rich land surrounding the mountain and were reminded of the Moses story of the Promised Land.

Mount Pisgah

During the late 1890s some 125,000 acres of land, including Mount Pisgah, was acquired by George Vanderbilt.  Down the mountain from Mount Pisgah, near Asheville, is the Biltmore Estate, the home of George Vanderbilt.  In addition to the Vanderbilt mansion down below, they also had a hunting lodge on the ridge about a mile from where the Pisgah Inn is located today.  A seventeen mile trail led from the Biltmore Estate to the Buck Springs hunting lodge.  The lodge was rustic compared to the mansion in Asheville, but what it lacked in marble it made up for in having, in the late 1890s, hot and cold running water. That trail is still open today and is called the Shut-In Trail.  Of course, the hunting lodge is long gone.

Our hiking friend, Sharon, had recommended a hiking guidebook, Hiking the Carolina Mountains, by Danny Bernstein.  This was the first hike we have done which was described in that book.  Danny’s route was up the Mount Pisgah Trail to the WLOS TV tower on the summit and back for a 2.6 mile round-trip hike.

The Mount Pisgah Trail begins at the “back” of the very large Mount Pisgah Parking Area just off the Blue Ridge Parkway.  There are three trailheads at this parking lot--Mount Pisgah Trail, Mountains to the Sea Trail, and the Shut-In Trail.

View of Pisgah Inn from Mt Pisgah Trail

The Mount Pisgah Trail starts out on a very gentle incline.  The trail is wide and a little rocky, but not bad.  There are several viewpoints along the way, even with the trees in full leaf.  About halfway in our climb to the summit, the trail narrowed and became noticeably steeper and more rocky.  Also, by this time, the clouds were really beginning to move in.  We pressed on, however, knowing there’d be no views from the top.

View from the summit

They say you can see a whole lot of stuff from the summit on a clear day, including the Biltmore Estate.  Today wasn’t the day.  All we saw was fog.  We lingered a while on the observation platform then headed back down the mountain to the parking lot.

View from the site of the hunting lodge

But, that was only the first half of the hike.  Danny then sent us westward on the Mountains to the Sea trail to the site of the Vanderbilts’ hunting lodge at Buck Springs Gap.  The lodge is no longer there, but there is an information board with photos of what it once looked like.  There are also benches from which to enjoy the view.  The view wasn’t much better here than from the top.  Since the site of the lodge was so close to the parking lot, we came back on another morning for a better view.

View from the hunting lodge on a clearer day

Down the hill from the site of the lodge is the springhouse.  This is the only building which remains of the lodge complex.  By the way, after George Vanderbilt died, Edith spent most of her remaining years at the hunting lodge.

Stairs leading to the springhouse

After looking around there we continued westward on the Mountains to the Sea Trail to Pilot Rock Trail which led to the summit of Little Bald Mountain.  This once bald knob is mostly filled in with small trees and shrubs.

Thunder reminds us of pressing business so we hurry back to the car.  We missed the rain only by minutes.  We were back at the motor home for lunch and a quiet afternoon reading.

That’s all for today.  Thanks for tagging along.

Pisgah National Forest

For a little change of scenery we loaded up the RV and are now parked at Mount Pisgah Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The Blue Ridge Parkway has 9 campgrounds along its 469 mile length.  Mount Pisgah Campground is located at mile 408 toward the southern terminus of the parkway and is across the street from Pisgah Inn.  This is typical of a federal campground--no hook-ups at the sites.  There is a central water spigot and a dump station.  We were totally surprised to find showers in two of the restrooms. Those two restrooms look like they are new or recently renovated.

There are only a few sites large enough to accommodate our RV so we waited until after many schools in the area started and waited until the weekend was over.  We arrived early in the afternoon and had no trouble getting a site.

The campground has four loops--two for tents, one for vans, small trailers, and pop-up campers, and 1 for larger RVs for a total of 128 sites.  Because the campground was nowhere near full, we were told we could park anywhere except in the tent only loops.  There are both back-in and half-moon pull-thru sites, all of which are paved.  Many sites are on such a slope that it would be difficult to get level, especially in the RV loop.  We had to move from the first site we chose just for that reason.  Most sites are too short for our rig.  There may be 10 or so sites that would be suitable for larger RVs.


Mount Pisgah is located in the 500,000 acre Pisgah National Forest in western North Carolina near Asheville.  There are about 400 miles of trail in Pisgah and these trails are commonly referred to as the “Pisgah 400”.  Do you suppose there are folks out there trying to hike all 400 miles?

We came here for the hiking, of course.  There are trails which lead from the campground to Mt. Pisgah Picnic area on the Blue Ridge Parkway and from there on to Mt. Pisgah Trail.  Can’t get much more convenient than that.  The Mountains to the Sea Trail is also nearby.

The campground is located across the street from Pisgah Inn which also has a restaurant and gift shop.  I’ve already bought something for our new home at the gift shop and started my Christmas shopping.  I expect we’ll be dining at the restaurant one night while we’re here since I forgot to bring the meat for one of our evening meals I had planned for this week.

Rooms with a view

And what a view

The elevation here is around 5,000 feet.  We were hoping to escape the heat at the lower elevations and we’ve not been disappointed.  The daytime temperatures have been between the mid 60s to low 70s.  The nights are cool enough that we’re too chilly with the windows open.  However, like is so common in the mountains, we have gotten rain every day so far.

It has been a nice change of scenery and the hiking has been good.  We’re happy campers.

That’s all for today.  Thanks for tagging along.