Pisgah Inn to Mills River Valley Overlook, Mountain to Sea Trail, Segment 3

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
7/4/2021	9.2 miles	5 hours 17 minutes	1,963'	1.9 mph	148.9

Map: Gaia and https://mountainstoseatrail.org/ trail guide

Parking: Pisgah Inn

Directions: Head towards the left side of the parking lot (facing the inn). Follow the MST to Mills River Valley Overlook. Return the same way.

We are working on hiking the Mountain to Sea trail segment 3, which is 71.4 miles in the Asheville area. We drove south along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and came across a car stopped on the road. Why? To look at a bear eating on the side of the road. We went around the stopped car, rather than staring at the bear. Does that make us locals already? I think we've averaged 2-3 bear sightings a week since we've moved here. We saw another bear in East Asheville on our way home.

I'm still not used to driving on the twisty parkway. We parked at the Pisgah Inn. It's expensive, but might be nice for a special occasion for out of town folks. The first 1.5 miles of this hike had quite a few people. After that, we barely saw anyone. We got to our halfway point and didn't feel bad at all. We checked, and we had only done 450' elevation gain. No wonder. Then we noticed there was lots of climbing on or return trip. We took breaks going up. Living here, will get us more fit. Especially after a year off from hiking in 2020. This hike had no water sources. Something I forgot to check before our trip. Although it's cool up there, it's still humid, and I was huffing and puffing on the climbs. Luckily I got by on 2 liters.

The parking lot at the Pisgah Inn. Views to the mountains from the back of the inn.

Trailhead