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Route: Plott Balsam Range Traverse (NC)

Submitted by Ben Gans on Sat, 05/15/2021 - 08:50pm
Location
North Carolina, US
Distance
21.3 mi
Vertical Gain
7,694 ft
Description

This route connects the contiguous summits of the Plott Balsam Range that are accessible to the public via trail.  Those summits being Blackrock Mountain, Yellow Face Mountain, Waterrock Knob, Browning Knob, Mount Lyn Lowry, and Plott Balsam Mountain.  Note that the Plott Balsam Range continues to the southwest, but Pinnacle Bald and Perry Top are trail-less.  Many people use the latter part of this trail to cover 4 of the 40 peaks for The South Beyond 6k Challenge (SB6K).  By linking 4 miles to the start, I extended the route to Pinnacle Park in Sylva, making for an almost 8k in vert in less than 22 miles.  To get that kind of face-punching vert in so few miles is unheard of in southeast.  I created this route as a true vertical challenge comprising some of the highest peaks east of the Mississippi.

The route begins at the trailhead at the end of Fisher Creek Road in Pinnacle Park, follows the trail to Blackrock Mtn, continues along the ridgeline to Plott Balsam Mtn, and returns the same way.

The Plott Balsams portion of the SB6K:  https://www.carolinamountainclub.org/index.cfm/do/pages.view/id/151/page/SB6K-PlottBalsams 

The portion I added: https://www.hikewnc.info/trailheads/pinnacle-park/    

Another addition for the added portion: https://www.hikingupward.com/NCSP/BlackrockMountainThePinnacle/

 

GPS Track
OKT_FKT_The_Plot_to_Plot_the_Plotts.gpx4.31 MB

FKTs

Comments

Caet Cash
Mon, 05/17/2021 - 07:52am

Big Congrats on this one Dr. Ben! You've spent a lot of time in these peaks which shows in this fabulous write up! Can't think of a better person to put down the FKT for this route.

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Myers.JacobG
Sun, 10/10/2021 - 04:40am

Did you touch each benchmark or was this just the trail run??? I'm wanting to put this route down and wanted to make sure it was done correctly.

I did touch each benchmark, waterrock is really the only one you need divert slightly from the trail to hit.  Have fun and feel free to ask me any questions on the route!

I did touch each benchmark, waterrock is really the only one you need divert slightly from the trail to hit.  Have fun and feel free to ask me any questions on the route!

Kevin McCabe
Fri, 03/11/2022 - 07:42pm

I might give this a go this weekend if the weather isn’t too crazy.

Tried on Saturday and turned back due to poor weather conditions at Blackrock. Completed on Sunday in 7:20:05. Waaaay harder than I anticipated. Kudos Wes on a strong run and Thanks Ben for putting the route together.

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Myers.JacobG
Thu, 10/27/2022 - 08:38am

Thanks for the benchmarks, Wes.  They were great microgoals to push myself on the FKT attempt yesterday.  I still see areas for improvement, and my climbing was definitely a bit off, but overall it was a great run and a truly great route.

Hi Jacob, this is a really impressive time but it looks like you took the FS road between Pinnacle Park and Black Rock instead of the riverside trail, and it looks about a mile shorter overall than Ben's and Wed's data. Is the route here up to runner's preference?

I’m just now looking at this comment, sorry Jimmy.  
 

You’re right! I had believed the route followed the road ip, but it was the trail instead. I’m not totally sure if this falls outside the spirit of the FKT, as bagging all these linear 6,000ers seems to be the goal, but if Wes thinks the trail should be the only way up then my FKT should be stripped.  
 

the 1 mile is watch GPS variance. The trail is more direct than the road and does not add a full mile of distanceÂ