This loop highlights the various sides to the Montreat community: town, wilderness area, logging and college.

The hike starts up the Graybeard Road, a residential street. Take the Graybeard Trail which plunges into the Boggs Wilderness crisscrossing Flat Creek several times until you find yourself at Pot Cove on the Old Mitchell Toll Road, originally the route of a logging railroad up to Mt. Mitchell.

Go down the Mt. Mitchell Toll Road. At Sourwood Gap, take Appalachian Way which takes you through Montreat College, a small Christian College which opened in 1916. The Chapel of the Prodigal with an outstanding fresco is definitely worth a stop.

Length: 6.1 miles
Altitude gain: 1,200 feet

Map: Montreat Map available at the Montreat Bookshop

Trailhead: Take I-40 to exit 64, Black Mountain . Take NC 9 north and go through Black Mountain. Continue on NC 9 to the Montreat gates on Assembly Drive. Turn right on Lookout Drive and park.