Donated photo You can hike almost any trail with kids as long as you are prepared to turn around before things get tough.

Taking kids entertained on Haywood County hikes

by JEFF SCHMERKER

Staff writer

Got kids? If you do, there are plenty of hikes in and around Haywood County to keep them entertained. Actually, you can hike almost any trail with kids in tow as long as you are set to turn around before things get too tough.

As with any activity you do with kids, I’d recommend starting off easy and calling it quits before anyone gets too tired, bored or unhappy.

Here are eight suggestions for great hikes to do with kids.

1. Buck Springs Gap

Buck Springs Gap is a mellow out-and-back hike that you can end at Pisgah Inn and enjoy their Sunday brunch or Saturday lunch.

It’s reasonably level, part gravel and mostly straight. Though this can be made in to a long distance trail by beginning at U.S. 276 near the Blue Ridge Parkway, you can also make it into a great little one-miler each way.

Start at Buck Springs Gap overlook just north of Pisgah Inn and head south toward the inn.

The trail tunnels through dense rhododendron forest and has several side paths that lead to spectacular overlooks of the Pink Beds area.

Once at the inn, you can take an alternate path back to your car by walking across the parkway to the Mount Pisgah Campground and following the campground connector back to the Mount Pisgah Summit Trail and back to the Buck Spring overlook.

•Basics: Level, high altitude, good views and a nice pit stop at Pisgah Inn

•Difficulty: Easy

•Distance: Inn to Buck Springs Overlook — 1 mile

2. Sam Knob

Sam Knob is a rounded cone that rises from mile-high highlands in the Black Balsam area of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

This is a great hike if your kids are slightly older and more athletic. Though there is a total vertical climb of only about 400 feet, parts of this trail are steep. The effort pays off, though, with good views and the accomplishment of climbing a true peak.

Sam Knob, 6,040 feet, sits just west of the heavily-used Black Balsam trailhead. It’s sister, Little Sam Knob, 5,862 feet, sits to the southeast across Flat Laurel Creek, but there’s no official trail leading to that summit. From the trailhead at about 5,800 feet the trail winds up a short hill. Just out of the parking lot the trail branches; left is a camp site, right is the trail. From the hillock there is a fine view of the objective.

After this the trail drops into a broad, mowed meadow full of wildflowers, chest-high grass and the sounds of Flat Laurel creek.

At the end of the meadow the Sam Knob trail departs from the summit trail. Turn right. The trail heads into a lovely fern-filled forest with occasional switchbacks and a section of wooden stairs.

From the summit, the north face drops steeply to the West Fork of the Pigeon; Fork Ridge and Mt. Hardy demarcate the horizon to the west; Birdstand Mountain is the main landmark to the north. Black Balsam’s elongated shoulder dominates the view to the east.

•Basics: wonderful meadow, exceptional summit views

•Difficulty: Moderate

•Length: 2.6 miles round-trip

•Trailhead is at Black Balsam, the end of Forest Road 816 which leaves from mile market 420 on the Blue Ridge Parkway

•There is a bathroom and trash can at the trailhead.

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