This is nice and easy but lengthy day hike I did along the Asheville “town” section of the MST. While it’s not as scenic as other sections, it is interesting. You’ll cross over and under bridges and overpasses, across railroad tracks and through a tunnel and get to see two rivers. While signs of human encroachment are obvious throughout much of this segment, it’s a nice easy section to enjoy and connects some of the more remote segments in the higher mountains.
We started at the Folk Art Center after leaving another car at the Bent Creek River Park on 191/Brevard Road. Parts of the Parkway were closed so our shuttle took a little longer than it normally would. We started our hike crossing a small bridge over Highway 70, and continued on to the large pasture under the I-40 bridge and across the Swannanoa River. From here we crossed the railroad tracks (ignore the no trespassing signs, the trail DOES cross here) and through a small tunnel under the interstate. You’ll continue on for a short while and cross a higher bridge on the Parkway over 74A.
From here, the trail follows pretty closely along the route of the Blue Ridge Parkway. If you want a shorter hike, consider using one of the many access points all along this section of the road to start or finish your hike to break it up in to smaller sections. Near mile 7.5 now, you will cross over 25/Hendersonville Rd. I actually drove this route most every day for work (pre pandemic) so it was interesting to see how long it took to walk from the other side just a couple of miles from home to here.
The next stretch of trail through the Biltmore Forest area was really nice and easy, and the entire long stretch of trail was well maintained and thoughtfully constructed. On this trip we saw three separate trail volunteers out making improvements and working on the trail. They are the people that keep the trails alive, so many thanks to them for their efforts! The next stretch is in the back yard of million dollar mansions you may catch a glimpse of through the trees and behind the tall and out of place fences all along the trail that follows along Dingle Creek.
The next section leaves the neighborhood and takes you along the Parkway to cross the very tall bridge over I-26. A short section of trail here was marked as closed, so we followed the roadway detour for a short ways. The last 2-3 miles are mostly a nice downhill, and you will reach another high bridge over the French Broad River. We ended here and headed down off the parkway. We crossed the road under a small culvert to avoid traffic and reached the parking area at Bent Creek Recreation Area, a popular picnic spot and river put in area. 14 miles of really easy trail, very worthwhile if you have never considered this in town section before.
You can pick up the Shut In Trail, which is the next segment of the MST heading up to Mt. Pisgah from here.