A short but highly-featured hike that starts and ends at the Blue Ridge Parkway with creek crossings, hand-hewn stairs, rhodo tunnels, balds, medieval directional signs, hill climbs, steep descents. | Photos by JC Garcia
Loop Trail. 2.2 miles
Difficulty. Easy to Moderate but with some technical parts that involve short ladders and stairs, careful footwork around rocks and ledges and a few hill climbs up from the river.
Special Considerations. It’s not too strenuous for your children, but there are some danger spots so keep the young ones close at hand.
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Why You Should Hike The Green Knob Trail
As with many High Country forest trails, the 2.2-mile Green Knob Trail almost immediately provides you with wildness and variety, and in little less than an hour it leaves you with the satisfaction of having stepped deep into a mountain forest.
Starting at Sims Pond, the trail travels a rhododendron-lined route along Sims Creek. It has an ambiance befitting a Blue Ridge Parkway trail with thoughtfully constructed steps, stairs and bridges, and traverses the landscape in an interesting curveture through the old growth forests and fields. And somewhere along the way, someone decided to place these interesting directional arrows that seem reminiscent of gaelic crosses or tombstones. Quintessential Carolina mountains.
Footsloggers pointed me to the Green Knob Trail several years ago as a good spot for an afternoon trail run, and this became a weekly ritual.
But it’s an even better location if you’re looking for a quick escape that’s a quick drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway from Boone and Blowing Rock. It’s mostly family friendly, for the adventurous family, though it does have a couple of places where tripping is a real possibility–especially on that steep downhill at the end.
