As home to the tallest mountain on this half of the continent, Yancey County offers some of the most spectacular hiking in the Eastern U.S. Topping the list is the Black Mountain Crest Trail, a rugged track that offers spectacular views and a chance to hike through a moss-matted forest of Spruce and Fir. Rare in the Southern U.S., you'd have to drive 1,000 miles north to Canada to find this eco-system, a remnant of the last ice age.

Easy access to the Crest Trail is available by driving to Mt. Mitchell and sampling the trail from there. But to truly climb the Blacks, you must ascend at least 3,000 feet on an approach trail - Woody Ridge, Colbert's Ridge, Buncombe Horse Range, Bolen's Creek or the Mt. Mitchell Trail. All of these tracks are steep and challenging, so do your research first by consulting the Interactive Trail Map found on this website.

For the less ambitious or fit, there are plenty of other hikes, and some are easy! The River Loop near Black Mountain Campground or the short, easy walk to Roaring Fork Falls in Busick near Highway 80 are both simple to access and hike. Again, the Interactive Trail Map has click-on descriptions of all our local hikes - find one that fits your skill and fitness level.

As Yancey County's only hiking club, High Peaks leads monthly hikes, with the schedule also found on this website. Feel free to email the hike leader and sign up or ask for more information. 

If you like working in the woods and want to give back, click on our Trail Maintenance tab. We're always looking for strong backs and willing workers to help us improve our trails!

If hiking and the woods are what you love, we invite you to join our club and/or donate. We use our funds for trail improvements, tools, signs, blazes and all the things it takes to keep a hiking trail in decent shape. We are also supporting extensive improvements to some of our most over-used trails like the Mt. Mitchell Trail. We have applied for - and won - a series of large grants that fund teams of young workers who spend weeks at a time each summer working on the Mt. Mitchell Trail. Most of these grants require us to pay up front and then get reimbursed, so please consider donating to our Trail Fund to make these projects more feasible. We are a small, volunteer-based club and greatly appreciate any help you might send our way.