Laurel River Trail

Once a rail bed, now an idyllic hike along a mountain creek

What To Expect

The parking lot is along the side of the road and fills up on nice days, so consider getting an early start or waiting until later in the afternoon. Take the trail down through the woods, passing an abandoned rail car on the left (it’s private property, so keep away). Big Laurel Creek will be on your right (despite the name ‘river’ in the trail’s title). The trail bears to the right, passing a private home.  Once you round the bend, you’ll start to see a few flat rocks in the river that you can wade out to. While the water’s not very deep anywhere along the trail, it’s deep enough for a dunk in several places. The sides of the trail are shady, so you’ll also find some good picnic spots here.

While the trail continues for 3.6 miles, it enters Pisgah National Forest at the 1-mile mark. For families with small children, this can be a good place to turn around. If you continue, you might see the remains of the old logging town of Runion, once serviced by the railroad that came through here. When you get to the end of the trail, you’ll actually encounter an active railway.

Hot Springs is a great add-on trip from here: only about 10 minutes away, there are pubs, restaurants, shops and of course the famed hot springs.

Directions

From downtown Asheville, take US 19 N/U.S. 23 N/U.S. 70 W/I- 26 toward Weaverville/Woodfin. Continue onto I-26 W/US-19 N/US-23 N/US-70 W for 8 miles. Take exit 19A and merge onto US-25 N/US-70 W toward Marshall. Stay on this road for 21.3 miles until the just before the intersection with Hwy 208. The parking lot is gravel and will be on the left.

GPS Coordinates

N35.912774, W82.756868

Photo credit: @stacig24