Big Butt Trail

Trail Name Big Butt Trail Nearest City Asheville State North Carolina Trail Marking White / Yellow / Red Trail Use/Features Difficulty Rating Hard Hiking Time 4 Hours0.25 Days <br />240 Min <br /> Distance: round-trip/trail only 12 Mi19.312 km <br /> / 5.75 Mi9.254 km <br /> Trail Type Segment Climb/Descent Elevation 2,300 Ft701.04 Meters <br /> / -2,300 Ft-701.04 Meters <br /> High Point 5,920 Ft1,973.333 Yards <br />1,804.416 Meters <br /> Parking 35° 48' 35.02" N, 82° 20' 53.41" W Nearest Medical Asheville, NC Trip Reports Click Here Loading map... {"type":"ROADMAP","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"270px","height":"180px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":8,"layers":[],"controls":["zoom"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":35.80972914000000173473381437361240386962890625,"lon":-82.34816843400000152541906572878360748291015625,"icon":""}]} -82.348168434 Show Large Map

Trail Overview

The biggest challenge of this trail is telling your friends and family you're hiking to Big Butt and Little Butt and keeping a straight face about it. :-) Once you get over the the name, this is a fantastic high ridge line, off the beaten path hike in the Black Mountains. Close views of Mt. Mitchell and Blacks Mountain chain. Recommended in late spring (April-June) for wildflowers carpeting the trail.

How to get there

From Johnson City, TN to northern trailhead at Highway NC-197 Cane River Gap:

1. Take I-26 south into North Carolina.
2. Take Exit 15 (Jupiter / Barnardsville).
3. Take NC-197 left.
4. Follow NC-197 15 miles to trailhead. NOTE last 4 miles is gravel road but in excellent condition.
5. Trailhead on Buncombe / Yancey County line. Yancey side of NC-197 is paved while Buncombe side is not.
6. Park on grass and don't block gate.

From Johnson City, TN to southern trailhead on Blue Ridge Parkway:

1. Take I-26 south into North Carolina.
2. Take Exit 18 (Weaverville).
3. Follow US-19 south.
4. Turn left/east onto SR-1003 (Reems Creek Road) for just over three miles.
5. Turn right/east onto Ox Creek Road.
6. Turn left/east onto the Blue Ridge Parkway for 8 miles to around MM 359 (Walker Knob Overlook/Balsam Gap).

Route Description

Blazes are sporadic. They can be white, yellow and/or red. Not really needed as the trail is obvious.

• Note that the Big Butt Trail will NOT take you to the summit of Big Butt Mountain itself. You have to take a short 1,300 foot long spur trail to the top. No views from the summit. A benchmark is located on a small rock there as well.

Distance (mi)	Feature
0.0	Trailhead at Highway NC-197 Cane River Gap
1.3	Arrive at Wilston Ridge after a 1,200 ft moderate ascent via many switchbacks
2.0	Flat Spring Knob
2.5	Trail leaves ridgeline and climbs on east side of Big Butt summit.
2.8	Just before trail connects back to ridgline is the junction for the summit spur trail. Not marked and can be hard to find.
3.2	Ridge is knife edge with good views both east and west. The main overlook in this section has wonderful views of the entire Black Mountain Crest.
3.5	Little Butt summit. Steep drop to the gap is made easier with hundreds of stairs.
3.7	Bottom of gap. Steep climb to Point Misery made easier with lots of switchbacks and stairs.
4.2	Point Misery summit. Nice spruce pine summit but no views. Old pipe marks summit.
5.7	Balsam Gap Overlook on Blue Ridge Parkway. Sign for Big Butt Trail popular with tourists taking photos of it often with their own butt showing.

Typical Conditions

http://nchighpeaks.org/ maintains trail and is in excellent condition from start to finish. Outdated online trip reports give impression of poor trail. Been cleaned up and improved in recent years and is a delight to hike. Stairs installed on steep climbs in gap between Little Butt and Point Misery. Summit trail junction is hard to locate as it's not marked but the trail itself is also in excellent condition. No views from the summit of Big Butt.

Fees, Permits, etc.

Dogs are allowed, but must be on leash.

Southern trailhead inaccessible in winter as Blue Ridge Parkway closed.

Misc. Information

Link to Carolina Mountain Club’s description from Blue Ridge Parkway to Big Butt and back [1]

Big Butt Forest Service Trail #161 [2] description includes directions to north end trailhead.

Best trail write-up found cnyhiking.com site

Maps

Loading map...

{"type":"TERRAIN","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"auto","height":"450px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":false,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":["http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/Big_Butt_Trail.kml","http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/Big_Butt_Summit_Trail.kml"],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFlat Spring Knob\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"Flat Spring Knob\n","link":"","lat":35.79220000000000112549969344399869441986083984375,"lon":-82.34260000000000445652403868734836578369140625,"icon":"/clubwiki/images/MarkerD.png"},{"text":"\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETrailhead parking at BRP\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/b\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/wiki/File:Big_Butt_brp_trailhead.JPG\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Big Butt brp trailhead.JPG\" src=\"/clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_brp_trailhead.JPG/150px-Big_Butt_brp_trailhead.JPG\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" srcset=\"/clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_brp_trailhead.JPG/225px-Big_Butt_brp_trailhead.JPG 1.5x, /clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_brp_trailhead.JPG/300px-Big_Butt_brp_trailhead.JPG 2x\" data-file-width=\"1200\" data-file-height=\"900\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"Trailhead parking at BRP\n","link":"","lat":35.748525000000000773070496506989002227783203125,"lon":-82.333582000000006928530638106167316436767578125,"icon":"/clubwiki/images/MarkerA.png"},{"text":"\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPoint Misery\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/b\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/wiki/File:Big_Butt_point_misery.JPG\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Big Butt point misery.JPG\" src=\"/clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_point_misery.JPG/150px-Big_Butt_point_misery.JPG\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" srcset=\"/clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_point_misery.JPG/225px-Big_Butt_point_misery.JPG 1.5x, /clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_point_misery.JPG/300px-Big_Butt_point_misery.JPG 2x\" data-file-width=\"1200\" data-file-height=\"900\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"Point Misery\n","link":"","lat":35.76813700000000295631252811290323734283447265625,"lon":-82.3377440000000007103153620846569538116455078125,"icon":"/clubwiki/images/MarkerD.png"},{"text":"\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBig Butt\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/b\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/wiki/File:Big_Butt_benchmark_on_ground.JPG\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Big Butt benchmark on ground.JPG\" src=\"/clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_benchmark_on_ground.JPG/150px-Big_Butt_benchmark_on_ground.JPG\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" srcset=\"/clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_benchmark_on_ground.JPG/225px-Big_Butt_benchmark_on_ground.JPG 1.5x, /clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_benchmark_on_ground.JPG/300px-Big_Butt_benchmark_on_ground.JPG 2x\" data-file-width=\"1200\" data-file-height=\"900\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"Big Butt\n","link":"","lat":35.7866580000000027439455152489244937896728515625,"lon":-82.3464910000000003265085979364812374114990234375,"icon":"/clubwiki/images/MarkerD.png"},{"text":"\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELittle Butt\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/b\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/wiki/File:Big_Butt_stairs_down_little_butt.JPG\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Big Butt stairs down little butt.JPG\" src=\"/clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_stairs_down_little_butt.JPG/150px-Big_Butt_stairs_down_little_butt.JPG\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" srcset=\"/clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_stairs_down_little_butt.JPG/225px-Big_Butt_stairs_down_little_butt.JPG 1.5x, /clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_stairs_down_little_butt.JPG/300px-Big_Butt_stairs_down_little_butt.JPG 2x\" data-file-width=\"1200\" data-file-height=\"900\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"Little Butt\n","link":"","lat":35.77532500000000226236807066015899181365966796875,"lon":-82.343558999999999059582478366792201995849609375,"icon":"/clubwiki/images/MarkerD.png"},{"text":"\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETrailhead parking at NC-197\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/b\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/wiki/File:Big_Butt_Cane_Break_Trailhead.JPG\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Big Butt Cane Break Trailhead.JPG\" src=\"/clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_Cane_Break_Trailhead.JPG/150px-Big_Butt_Cane_Break_Trailhead.JPG\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" srcset=\"/clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_Cane_Break_Trailhead.JPG/225px-Big_Butt_Cane_Break_Trailhead.JPG 1.5x, /clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_Cane_Break_Trailhead.JPG/300px-Big_Butt_Cane_Break_Trailhead.JPG 2x\" data-file-width=\"1200\" data-file-height=\"900\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"Trailhead parking at NC-197\n","link":"","lat":35.81009999999999848796505830250680446624755859375,"lon":-82.3479999999999989768184605054557323455810546875,"icon":"/clubwiki/images/MarkerA.png"},{"text":"\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EViews of the entire Black Mountain Crest\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/b\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/wiki/File:Big_Butt_cloudy_views.JPG\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Big Butt cloudy views.JPG\" src=\"/clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_cloudy_views.JPG/150px-Big_Butt_cloudy_views.JPG\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" srcset=\"/clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_cloudy_views.JPG/225px-Big_Butt_cloudy_views.JPG 1.5x, /clubwiki/images/thumb/Big_Butt_cloudy_views.JPG/300px-Big_Butt_cloudy_views.JPG 2x\" data-file-width=\"1200\" data-file-height=\"900\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"Views of the entire Black Mountain Crest\n","link":"","lat":35.77890000000000014779288903810083866119384765625,"lon":-82.3430000000000035242919693700969219207763671875,"icon":"/clubwiki/images/MarkerB.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnmarked Trail to Big Butt Summit\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"Unmarked Trail to Big Butt Summit\n","link":"","lat":35.784246568456779868938610889017581939697265625,"lon":-82.3449891332582950553842238150537014007568359375,"icon":"/clubwiki/images/MarkerT.png"}]}

Photos

• 

  Benchmark closeup

• 

  Benchmark. No views here.

• 

  Trailhead on Blue Ridge Parkway

• 

  Cane River Gap trailhead

• 

  Overlook near Little Butt. Overcast that day

• 

  Point Misery summit

• 

  Average ridgline shot

• 

  Ton of stairs between Little Butt and Point Misery