Blue Ridge Parkway - Creekside Balsam North Carolina

Blue Ridge Parkway Since the first section of the Blue Ridge Pakway scenic motor road opened to public travel more than 60 years ago, the Parkway has recorded some 700 million visits. That’s a stunning number, to be sure, but then the Parkway is a wonderfully stunning resource. Local highlights include Waterrock Knob, Graveyard Fields, Devils Courthouse and the highest point on the parkway (6050 feet) all within an hours drive of Balsam, North Carolina. The gently winding road offers spectacular mountain scenery as it threads its way from the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. Along its 469-mile length, distant vistas are complemented by pastoral landscapes, replete with log cabins and split-rail fences. At the same time, the Parkway boasts a surprising variety of plants and wildlife. Trails close by on the Parkway Mile Post 407.6 Mt. Pisgah Trail (summit view) 1.26 Moderate / Strenuous Mile Post 407.6 Buck Springs Trail (Pisgah Lodge to view) 1.06 Easy / Moderate Mile Post 408.5 Frying Pan Mountain Trail 1.65 Moderate / Strenuous Mile Post 417 East Fork Trail (USFS, access to Shining Rock Trail System) 0.1 Easy / Moderate Mile Post 418.8 Graveyard Fields Loop Trail (loop by a stream) 2.29 Moderate Mile Post 419.4 John Rock Trail (leg stretcher to view) 0.1 Easy Mile Post 422.4 Devil's Courthouse Trail (panoramic summit view) 0.42 Moderate / Strenuous Mile Post 427.6 Bear Pen Gap Trail (access to Mountains-to-Sea Trail) 0.22 Easy Mile Post 431 Richland Balsam Trail (self-guiding loop through spruce-fir forest) 1.47 Moderate Mile Post 433.8 Toy Taylor Overlook Trail (paved trail to overlook) 0.1 Easy Mile Post 451.2 Waterrock Knob Trail (summit view) 1.18 Moderate / Strenuous *Mileage indicated length of trail one-way unless otherwise noted. Blue Ridge Parkway Website Return to Home Page