Hawksbill Mountain

Stunning

Background:

Clif looking out over the gorge and Table Rock mountain from a rock outcropping on Hawksbill

Hawksbill mountain sits on the eastern rim of the Linville Gorge Wilderness area in the Pisgah National Forest. Getting to this mountain is not a very hard trek by foot at around 3 miles roundtrip, but the drive there is remote as you travel along Forest Road 210 off of NC 181.  

The Linville Gorge and Lake James as represented by my USGS raised relief map. 

I do not have any official confirmation of how Hawksbill Mountain got its name, but I would venture to say that it is because, from a distance (especially from the western rim) it literally does look like a Hawk's Bill (or entire head, rather). Here is a side-by-side of a sketch I found at the top of the mountain and a picture of Hawksbill I took from Table Rock:

See what I mean? In other hikes from the western rim, I have double-taked because of the awesome views of it. 

Hike Report: 

From the northern terminus of FR210, Hawksbill mountain is the second trailhead you come to after Sitting Bear mountain. On the day that I went, I ran into a few different hikers, and it was during the week so that tells me that this trail gets a lot of traffic. Pretty soon I would learn why!

The hike itself was short, and only had one point where the trail splits to go to Devil's Hole. One day I would love to do this hike, as I've heard that it is a beautiful, albeit strenuous trip into the gorge. 

As we got farther along the trail towards the top, the trail became more and more washed out and there was a good bit of climbing we had to do. While this hike was short, no mountain climbed is not earned and I was breaking a sweat making our way up.

An easterly view of Brown Mountain and the Wilson Creek gorge in the distance

This post will be lots of pictures, and they are all beautiful. I will let the images do the talking for me this time around. Hawksbill is a beautiful mountain and very accessible. I recommend to all.

Large rock outcroppings were everywhere on this beautiful summit

A view down into the gorge

One cool side note was that I found a pencil box under a large rock with a book full of signatures of people who have climbed this mountain. I was happy to add Clif & I to this book!

All in all this is a beautiful mountain that probably deserves more praise than it gets, thanks to nearby Table Rock. The hike itself can be completed by almost anyone and the top rewards you 360 degree panoramic views of the Linville Gorge and beyond. There is also much room to explore, tons of spur trails litter the summit.