WNC Sierra Club is sponsoring a hike around the beautiful Pink Beds Loop in Pisgah National Forest on Monday April 28. This is a 5.3 mile loop with a total elevation gain of around 300 feet so it’s a gentle trail.
The relatively flat valley containing the Pink Beds contains beaver dams, clear babbling brooks, very large pine trees, and scenic open woods. In the first part of the hike are wetlands and the trail contains several boardwalks in this section. Most of these are natural mountain bogs, one of the rarest and most sensitive habitats in the southern Appalachians. These upland bog areas contain several rare and endangered plant species such as Swamp Pink (Helonias bullata) and are full of wildlife.
Beyond the boardwalks, the stream largely returns to its channel and the trail follows it on a dry path. The forest returns to something more typical of what you find across the southern Appalachians, with tall mixed hardwoods trees growing along with some pines and hemlocks, with an understory choked with doghobble, mountain laurel, and rhododendron and later on the trail fern beds and large tulip poplars.
If anyone is feeling sick, and/or has a fever, they should not attend this outing. Families are welcome! Any children should be accompanied and supervised by parents or other adult family members. Be sure to bring lunch/snacks, water, extra layers, and rain gear is always a good idea regardless of the forecast!!
There will be two options for meeting places:
- At 8:30 am in West Asheville at 151 Smokey Park Highway in the parking lot behind Chik-Fil-A. We will sort out carpooling and make the drive to the trailhead in Pisgah National Forest.
- Or you can meet us at the trailhead at Pink Beds Picnic Area parking lot on HWY 276 in Pisgah National Forest at 10:00 am. We will begin the hike there and we should be back to the parking lot by 3:00 – 3:30.
Please email the hike leader, Ed Maggart, at edmaggart@gmail.com or text at 828-713-0541 to sign up or ask any questions. When you sign up, be sure to let me know which meeting spot you will choose!! We will limit the group size to 15. I hope to see you there!!