Mt. Mitchell
	Colbert Ridge & Black Mountain Crest Trails

I'd hiked a couple of times with PHOC from the Black Mt. Campground up to Mt. Mitchell and back down. It's about 11.5 miles with an elevation change of about +/-3600 ft. (Gain going up, lose going down).
There's another trail that starts near the Carolina Hemlocks campground. It starts at 2750 ft, ends at 6684 ft, and crosses several tall peaks on the way. This hike (one way) ends being about +5000/-1100 ft of climbing. (Going down betweeen the peaks). The hike time was about 6 1/2 hours including lunch. We stopped often to enjoy the 'interior' views.

America's Roof lists the 40 tallest 'peaks' in the Southern Appalachains (plus Mt. Washington). This trail goes over #s 1, 2, 5, & 8. Cattail peak was removed (from the list, the mountain is still there) in 1997 and Big Tom is a sub-peak of Mt. Craig. Not a bad day's hike.

Pictures - Click on any small picture to get a bigger version.

View from Colbert Ridge	2nd from Colbert Ridge	Foggy View from Colbert Ridge	4 leaf painted trillium	Turk's Cap Lily
Yellow Clintonia (Blue Bead)	Foggy View from Black Mt Crest Trail	Turk's Cap Lily	Looking back up Potato Hill	Going down from Potato Hill
Spooky Tree	Foggy Black Mt Crest Trail	Trail	Moss covered dead tree	Cattail Peak
2 peaks down, 4 to go!	Along the ridge	Along the ridge	Along the ridge	Almost to the summit of Mt. Tom and the sun comes out!
Blue Sky on Big Tom Peak	Big Tom - 4 peaks down, 2 to go	Blue skies	Tunnel down to the clouds	Looking back from Mt. Craig
Big Tom from Mt. Craig	View East from Mt. Craig	Mt. Craig - 1 Peak left	Mt. Mitchell from Craig	Our destination
Mitchell from the trail	We made it!	Typical Mt. Mitchell View