Mount Mitchell State Park: Maple Camp Bald Loop

Mount Mitchell State Park – Maple Camp Bald Loop – 7/17/20 – 8.3 miles

Browsing my shelf of hiking guidebooks for a training hike for my upcoming John Muir Trail adventure, Danny Bernstein's stellar Hiking North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains offered up a loop hike in Mount Mitchell State Park. I wanted something interesting, physically challenging, and within a reasonable distance from home. As Meatloaf famously sang, "Two out of three ain't bad."

Jim tagged along, good sport that he is, to help me with the six-hour roundtrip drive and for safety on the hike. The terrain in Mount Mitchell NP is no joke, and weather can change rapidly and more severely than in many places that I'm comfortable hiking solo. Plus I enjoy having him around.

We opted to tackle the loop going clockwise, in the opposite direction of Danny’s narrative, to hike on the ridgeline first and avoid two things: more people later in the day and exposure to possible afternoon thunderstorms.

From the parking lot, Deep Gap Trail leads through the picnic area and into a Hansel and Gretel alpine forest, misty and cool, with secret moss-covered places for storybook creatures to hide. I’m sure we added an hour to this hike just by taking photos.

The view from the top of Mount Craig - 6,650 feet

Deep Gap Trail continues its ramble eastward along the ridgeline, an ever-so-slight downhill to the summit of Big Tom at 6,580 feet. These two peaks and several more 6,000 footers are lined up along the Black Mountain Crest. I’ve hiked them before as part of the South Beyond 6000 Challenge.

Michaux’s saxifrage growing in mossy spots

I remembered that the trail was rugged, yet I was still surprised by the big boulders and roots and intimidated by the ropes set in place for ascending and descending Big Tom’s slippery rock faces. 

Looking back up at what we just scrambled down

We turned right off of Deep Gap Trail, plunging steeply downhill on Big Tom Gap Trail (#191-A), which sees far less foot traffic. It was narrow, poorly marked, and alternated between piles of rocks and overgrown tall grass such that we couldn’t see our footing.  Jim was especially good at stepping into holes and yelping. This trail wasn’t long but it was ornery.

At the intersection with Buncombe Horse Trail we paused for a snack break, then turned left to follow Danny's directions to Maple Camp Bald. This trail was even less traveled, and since we were following the route in a different direction and weren’t checking mileage, it was challenging to determine when we had reached our destination. The vegetation was nearly chest high, which afforded the opportunity to enjoy the profusion of yellow flowers.

St. John’s Wort

Whorled loosestrife

Southern bush honeysuckle

Looking across the South Toe River valley towards the Blacks – are they on fire?
No, but those gathering clouds got our attention.

We arrived at a campsite with a nice view – could this be Maple Camp Bald? The “bald” is very broad and we couldn’t find a summit marker. We kept going for a bit, then turned back,
figuring we had done our best.

Buncombe Horse Trail was wide and very flat, rocky as to be expected, and required paying attention to navigate muddy spots. At this level of alpine elevation, the temperature was cool and comfortable (unlike our home in Charlotte, sweltering in the 90-plus degree heat).  Those dark clouds were concerning, and persistent thunder rumbled for the couple of hours we were on this trail, but they didn’t produce any wind or rain. (On our drive home we saw evidence of lots of rain in the valley.)

Galax

Surprise of the day – one purple fringed orchid

We stopped for a quick lunch at a campsite near the junction of the Buncombe Horse Trail and the Mountains-To-Sea Trail. With less than two miles to go, it was tempting to just keep pushing, but I’m glad we stopped to eat and rest. We had a big job ahead of us climbing up Mount Mitchell.

The MST runs concurrently with Mount Mitchell Trail and I’ve hiked this section several times, both up and down. It is seriously steep, unforgiving terrain, with encouraging (or discouraging) signposts of elevation progress (ex. 5900, 6250, etc.) It is a mental challenge as well as a physical one. The best advice I have is to go at your own pace. In total, the trail is about an 800-foot elevation gain in 1.6 miles, and Jim and I completed it in exactly one hour.

As we neared the parking area, we met the flow of people just getting onto the trails. It was a good decision to hike clockwise for more solitude. [We saw only five hikers on Deep Gap Trail and no one else until those folks near the end of the loop.] It was just good luck that thunderstorms never developed while we on the trail.

We stopped at a little brewery in the town of Marion to see if they were COVID-friendly (yes). Jim loves trying local beers and I’m happy that most places now offer ciders too. Mica Brewing had one of my favorites from Wisconsin on tap: Ciderboys Peach County! We toasted Danny’s contributions to the hiking world and another safe, magical day in the North Carolina mountains.

“The world is big and I want to have
a good look at it before it gets dark.”
~John Muir