At 6,214 feet, this Pisgah Forest summit skips the trees and goes straight to sky

Black Balsam Knob’s open skies above Asheville

Pull off the Blue Ridge Parkway near milepost 420 and you’re a short walk from one of the strangest summits in the eastern United States. A mountain with no trees.

No shade, no canopy, just open sky from every angle.

Black Balsam Knob sits at 6,214 feet inside Pisgah National Forest, and it looks nothing like the forested ridges that surround it.

The closer you get to the top, the stranger the landscape feels, and the wider the sky grows.

It looks more like Vermont than the South

Most people expect mountains in North Carolina to be green and wooded all the way up. Black Balsam breaks that pattern completely.

The treeless summit is a “bald,” a high mountain top with open grassy ground and sight lines that stretch across ridgelines and valleys in every direction.

The whole thing feels more like the mountains of New England than anything you’d expect in the Appalachian South. You can walk nearly three miles across these open balds without ever ducking back under a tree canopy.

The trail carries a Brevard man’s name for a reason

The path to the summit runs along the Art Loeb Trail, named for Arthur Loeb, a local man from Brevard who came to hiking later in life on a doctor’s recommendation and never looked back.

He became a member of the Carolina Mountain Club and spent years helping connect footpaths across these hills. When he died in 1968, the trail was dedicated in his honor the following year, on Nov. 9, 1969.

A plaque marking his memory still sits near the Black Balsam summit, so look for it on your way through.

You can see the Great Smokies on a clear day

Stand at the top and the mountains roll away from you in every direction.

A full 360 degrees of ridgelines fade into layers of blue on the horizon, a sight that defines this part of the Southern Appalachians. On clear days you can see all the way to the Great Smoky Mountains.

The bald summit has no trees to block the sun at either end of the day, making it a favorite for watching both sunrise and sunset. Clouds sometimes drift right across the top of the knob, low and close.

Wild blueberries grow thick along the trail

Come in summer and the grassy balds change character entirely.

Wildflowers spread across the high ground as far as you can see, and wild blueberries and blackberries line the trail, ripe for the picking.

Rhododendron blooms color the slopes in June, though the timing shifts depending on weather and elevation.

Cedar waxwings and other birds gather up here during berry season, drawn by the same crop that tempts hikers to slow down and graze their way along the trail.

The balds have a soft, meadow feel that the dense forests below never do.

Logging and fire cleared this summit long ago

The open look of Black Balsam Knob isn’t entirely natural.

Heavy logging stripped much of this high country years ago, and fires followed, burning through before new forest could take hold. At this elevation and in this thin soil, trees have been very slow to return.

What’s left is the wide, grassy bald you walk across today.

The same conditions that stripped Black Balsam also cleared the string of open summits along this stretch of ridgeline, creating the unbroken panoramas that draw so many people to this part of Pisgah National Forest.

The climb is short but the reward is immediate

The main route to the summit runs a little under 1.5 miles round trip on the Art Loeb Trail.

The path starts in a shady grove of fragrant balsam fir, cool and quiet in the summer heat, before it opens onto the bald and the views arrive all at once.

The total elevation gain is about 400 feet, which puts it within reach for most casual hikers. Rocky outcrops and ledges along the way give you natural stopping points to look back down the mountain.

The climb in means the walk out is mostly downhill.

Tennent Mountain is quieter and just as wide open

Just past Black Balsam, the trail continues to Tennent Mountain at around 6,040 feet.

Many hikers who make the full walk say the views from Tennent are just as good, and the summit tends to draw fewer people. A plaque at the top honors Gaillard Tennent, the mountain’s namesake.

The saddle between the two peaks is loaded with wild blueberries in summer, so plan on slowing down between the two summits.

If Black Balsam feels crowded on a weekend, Tennent gives you a quieter version of the same sky.

The 5-mile loop crosses two open summits

String Black Balsam and Tennent together with the Ivestor Gap Trail and you get a roughly 5-mile loop with views almost every step of the way.

The route crosses both open summits, rolls over gentle climbs through grassy terrain, and passes with good sight lines toward nearby Sam Knob.

The loop rates as a moderate hike, manageable for anyone who can handle a few hours of walking on uneven ground. Locals consider this one of the signature hikes in the region, so weekend mornings can fill up fast.

Sam Knob has a meadow worth the detour

Sam Knob sits at the end of the same road that leads to the Black Balsam trailhead.

The hike out crosses a wide, wildflower-filled meadow, one of the most open and scenic stretches of trail in western North Carolina.

Sculpted rock outcrops at the summit give you a solid perch with views in all directions. Wild blueberries and blackberries line this trail in summer as well.

The Sam Knob trailhead also has restrooms and a larger parking area, which makes it a good option when the main trailhead lot fills early.

Graveyard Fields has waterfalls two miles away

Two miles east on the Parkway, Graveyard Fields drops into a mile-high valley where two waterfalls spill along the Yellowstone Prong.

The lower falls, called Second Falls, sit only about a third of a mile from the parking area. Upper Falls is a bit farther in.

The valley fills with wildflowers and wild blueberries in season, and the name comes from the old mossy tree stumps that once dotted the floor and looked, from a distance, like grave markers.

It’s worth saving an hour or two for after you come down from the knob.

The air up here runs 15 to 20 degrees cooler

When Asheville is sitting in summer heat, Black Balsam is running about 15 to 20 degrees cooler.

The breezes across the open bald feel fresh even in July, and the sun stays warm without the trapped heat you get in the valleys.

On days when the lowlands feel sticky and slow, this high ground gives you something the forests below can’t. That said, the same open sky that keeps you cool also means no shade, so bring sunscreen and a hat.

Layers are smart too since weather at this elevation changes fast and clouds can roll in without much warning.

The trailhead connects to days of hiking beyond

For anyone who wants more than a half-day out, the Black Balsam trailhead opens a much larger network. The Art Loeb Trail pushes on toward Shining Rock, a gleaming white quartz peak that stands out on the ridgeline.

The Mountains-to-Sea Trail passes through heading toward Devils Courthouse.

Backpackers use this as a launching point into the Shining Rock Wilderness, where dispersed camping is allowed. Whether you’re planning an hour-long walk or a multi-day trek, the trails here can fit either one.

Hit the Art Loeb Trail at Black Balsam Knob, North Carolina

The trailhead sits on Black Balsam Knob Road, also known as Forest Road 816, off the Blue Ridge Parkway just south of Asheville near milepost 420. The trail is open 24 hours a day with no admission fee.

Parking is along the road and fills fast on weekends, so arriving before 9 a.m. is a good move. Bring layers, sunscreen, and bear-aware food storage since this is active bear country.

Through Sept. 1, 2026, camping within 1,000 feet of roads open to public vehicles is limited to designated mapped sites, and campfires are prohibited in Shining Rock Wilderness.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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