Flat Laurel Creek Best Ride

• Difficulty: More Difficult
• Total Length: 7.0 mi
• Trail Tread Condition: Very Rough
• Climb: Climbs Moderately
• Total Elevation Gain: 1000 ft
• Trails/Roads Used: Flat Laurel Creek, NC 215, Blue Ridge Parkway, FR 816.
• Ride Configuration: Loop using singletrack, doubletrack & paved roads
• Starting point: Black Balsam parking area.
• How to Get There: From Asheville, get on the Blue Ridge parkway at one of several access points and head South toward Mt. Pisgah. Just past the Graveyard Fields overlook, turn right onto FR 816 and park at the parking lot at the end of this road.

Sweet singletrack along the meadows of the Flat Laurel Creek trail.

Ride out of the back of the parking lot onto the Flat Laurel Creek trail; you'll stay on this until intersection with NC 215. Starting in a scenic, high elevation, relatively flat area (the Flat Laurel valley), the first part of the trail is wide. The route is an old narrow gauge railroad bed which used to lead all the way to the Sunburst campground, far in the West Fork Pigeon River valley below. It used to be extremely rocky and very technical, and quite wet, but a lot of good work has been done to the trail recently, reducing these extremes and making it more sustainable. There are a couple of sizable creek crossings and several technical areas to contend with still. The trail travels slightly downhill the whole way as it passes through several high-elevation meadows and glades that are brimming with springtime wildflowers; views of Sam Knob loom to your right. The trail meets and follows the gently winding Flat Laurel Creek, which flows out of the flat area, then between Sam and Little Sam Knobs, and drops into the West Fork valley below. Here, the trail narrows and there are several waterfalls, one being on a tributary just to the left of an old concrete bridge you will cross. Beyond the falls, the trail clings to the side of the mountain and there are some more great views.

One of the things that makes this ride interesting is that it is entirely above 5000 feet, and travels through a rare and interesting environment for the Southern US. When starting out on the trail, you will see a dense spruce-fir forest to your left. Most of of the trees are Red Spruce, however. This is because the Fraser firs have been attacked by a non-native bug called the Balsam Wooly Adelgid, which has wiped out most of the mature firs. Several healthy firs do grow here and the seeds regenerate prolifically, but dead or dying ones can be found also. To your right are open meadows with only scattered trees and shrubs, with the imposing Sam Knob in the background. Normally, the meadows would be forested also, but devastating fires burned the valley years ago, killing the forest and sterilizing the soil. This is similar to what happened across the ridge at the well-known Graveyard Fields area. The forest is slowly regaining a foothold in the meadows. The destruction made it up to the road but didn't make it across, leaving the spruce-fir forest intact on the left side. The surrounding mountaintops are typical of mountain "balds" found in the area. Their grassy summits provide great views, and it appears as if they have a treeline, although it's not a true one. Later on, the trail will pass into more of a mixed forest, with northern hardwoods and scattered spruces and firs - those interested will notice that there are several very large, mature Fraser firs that still grow here, some of the largest still surviving in the state.

At intersection with the paved NC 251, turn left, uphill. From here until a little ways past the Devil's Courthouse tunnel on the Parkway, the ride is all uphill - and, though paved, the climb is quite stiff. This part of 215 follows the headwaters of Bubbling Spring Branch, with its own scenic cascades. Turn right at the intersection with the Blue Ridge Parkway access ramp and then left (north) onto the parkway itself. Riding through more spruce-fir forests on the parkway, you will pass by Devils Courthouse mountain and tunnel. An optional side hike up Devil's Courthouse will take you through the endangered spruce-fir environment to the spectacular clifftop summit. Past the Devil's Courthouse tunnel, the parkway levels out and begins downhill, passing through the rugged, scenic high elevation environment. In the middle of a good downhill, turn left at the road to Black Balsam and ride back to the starting point.