Potato Knob Fields Best Hike

• Difficulty: Moderate
• Total Length: 2 mi
• Trail Tread Condition: Moderately Rough
• Climb: Climbs Moderately
• Lowest Elevation: 5370 ft
• Highest Elevation: 5720 ft
• Total Elevation Gain: 350 ft
• Trails/Roads Used: Mountains to Sea
• Hike Configuration: Out-and-back
• Starting point: Parking Area on NC 128, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway
• How to Get There: From Asheville, take the Blue Ridge Parkway north for 27 miles to the entrance for Mount Mitchell State Park. Turn left, on NC 128. The trailhead is at the crossing of the Mountains to Sea Trail, shortly after you turn onto this road; there is a parking pulloff on the right. The trail ascends a set of steps across the road on the left as you drive in.

View from the fields below Potato Knob

Traveling to a high meadow above the Blue Ridge Parkway, this moderate hike offers an alternative to the crowds of Mount Mitchell State Park. Marvelous views - both up and down - reward the hiker along this splendid section of trail, which is an attraction in and of itself. This trail is suitable for families with older children; younger kids may have difficulty on some of the rocky sections.

Start by ascending the stairs across the road from the parking pulloff. You will see the sign for the Mountains to Sea Trail, and this trail follows white circular blazes. You will immediately pass through a staggered fence designed to keep large animals (e.g., horses) off the trail. The trail switches back in a grassy area under some spruce trees, then ascends gently to achieve the ridgeline. Immediately you will notice how well this trail was built. Its design sheds water at all possible locations, and the trailbed is "outsloped" - meaning water runs across and off the edge of the trail rather than down the length of the trail. This means the trail is not eroded, making the walk that much more pleasant. The entire trail up to the meadows is similarly built - in fact most new sections of the Mountains to Sea Trail are this way.

As you approach the ridge, you'll notice the tall, straight spruce trees, whose dark appearance from afar in comparison to other trees give the Black Mountains their name. However, many of the spruces on this section are not native, yet imported from Europe and planted after the Black Mountains were logged of the native Red Spruce. Valuable for the soft, resilient wood, the Red Spruce were logged extensively during World War II and used for airplane propellers. The denuded mountainsides were re-planted with Norway Spruce, and you pass through stands of these now middle aged trees. They were selected for their similarity to the native spruces and their faster growth rate. The two species can be distinguished (among other things) by looking at their limb structure. The Norway spruces have drooping twigs along the main limbs, while the Red Spruces do not. And although they are not natives, they are not considered an invasive species - they will survive if planted but don't spread particularly fast nor compete unfairly with native species. A third alpine tree, the Fraser Fir, is not very abundant in this immediate area but you will see a few of them closer to the base of Potato Knob.

As you walk up the pleasant, gently sloping ridgeline, you'll pass through several grassy openings in the forest. You'll also pass the boundary markers for the Blue Ridge Parkway property, downhill to your left. Several stands of short, straight beech trees, where the ground covered with soft grass, appear at points along the trail. The beeches are under attack by a non-native disease, just like the Fraser Firs, Red Spruces, the American Chestnuts (now completely devastated), the Dogwoods and the Hemlocks. Look for brown or orange colored leaves on these trees during mid to late summer, often times sprinkled with the bright green of new growth as the trees attempt to recover. The fate of this species - like the others mentioned - is still unknown.

The trail swings right to become sidehill again and this is where some of the first remarkable trail structures can be seen. The trail was built by members of the Carolina Mountain Club, who took no shortcuts. At one point a seep or small stream oozes beneath a stone bridge. Massive stone steps carry you up around a switchback and back over the same seep once again. The trail will round the main ridge once more, and this is where you will catch your first views of the valley below. This is the Asheville Watershed, and the large lake in the valley below is the Burnett Reservoir. Asheville has one of the cleanest water sources of any city in the country thanks to these forests, and the watershed protects the largest contiguous stands of Red Spruce forest in the Southern Appalachians. The steep, rocky peak above you, to your right, is Potato Knob (6420').

The forest you will be traveling through now is more of a mixed high-elevation forest with young trees. Open areas are at times overgrown with wildflowers and blackberries. The trail is well-blazed, and it is not very difficult to follow. The trail passes through "block fields", areas where stacks of rocks and boulders have fallen from cliffs or steep mountain peaks. These stone fragments were pried loose by freeze-thaw action mainly during the last ice age. Massive slabs of stone had to be moved to form the trail's surface. There are stone steps at almost every up- or down-hill section. The trail is indeed up and down as it traverses the slopes between Potato Knob and the Blue Ridge Parkway and there are some sporadic views.

As you round the next ridge coming off of Potato Knob, the trail will switchback once and a spectacular view from a rocky outcrop opens up to the left. Here, the emblem of the Carolina Mountain Club has been cemented to the rocks as a tribute to those who built this trail. Their efforts are greatly appreciated when enjoying views such as this. Continue just a couple hundred feet further up the trail to an open meadow that, during the spring and summer, is just brimming with wildflowers. A large rock sitting on the left side of the trail marks the end of this hike, but the trail ahead plunges back into the deep, dark spruce and fir forests before ascending to the top of Blackstock Knob. Enjoy the views, have a snack and re-hydrate, and head back down to your vehicle the way you came.