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Blackrock Mountain and The Pinnacle - Plott Balsam Mountains, NC

2,472 views · Published 18 April 2016 · 18:05 · Indexed 11 October 2026

Channel: Zachary Robbins · 2016 · Travel & Events

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The Plott Balsam Mountains are an oft overlooked mountain range sandwiched between the Great Balsams and the Great Smokies. I've never been here before and there is limited information on the region with the exceptions of Waterrock Knob and Pinnacle Park. My hike started at the Waterrock Knob intersection on the Blue Ridge Parkway following an unofficial trail southwest to Yellow Face, one of the four 6,000 footers in this range. Although this is the high point of the hike, it isn't the highlight. The trail gets much more rugged on its way to Blackrock Mountain, a magnificent summit with awesome views of the Plott Balsams and Great Balsams. 

From there I had a decision, and instead of following my original plan to turn around and check off Waterrock Knob I continued down the trail which connects to Pinnacle Park. The weather was too perfect to pass up a long hike with more views. This former protected watershed is now a public park for Sylva, NC and the main attraction is The Pinnacle. If Blackrock doesn't blow you away, The Pinnacle will. It has the same panoramic views with the bonus of seeing the crest you hiked and nearly 2,500 foot prominence over Sylva. It was definitely worth the pain of hiking up and down Blackrock twice. 

Hike distance was 11.3 miles in just under 7 hours. I would estimate it was 6 hours but I chatted a while with 2 very nice groups of hikers and also had many double takes for video segments. Sorry about the audio on the last segment, I thought I was louder.

Hike location
https://goo.gl/maps/KU4RHWMfV1E9oBpd9

Hike report
http://www.hikingupward.com/NCSP/BlackrockMountainThePinnacle/

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