McDowell County Highpoint Trip Report

Pinnacle (5,665 ft)

Date: November 10, 2001
Author: John Garner

Ron Tagliapietra's report is fine but I'll add a couple of notes. I found the No Trespassing signs he refers to but the signs don't say stay on your side of the ridge; they just say stay out, period. The actual banned area is on the right side of the ridge as you ascend, and much of the lower portion of this trail is well into the banned area.

You can bushwhack along the left side of the ridge, which is on parkway land. Once you get halfway up, the trail parallels an old barb-wire fence that marks the boundary.

The top is an open rock outcrop, with beautiful views of the Mitchell ridge, including Gibbes, Clingman's Peak, and Potato Knob (sure looks different from the Pinnacle than it did up close). This is actually one of the nicer views, adding in the solitude, that I have ever experienced in the southeast.

1.0 mile round-trip, 500 feet of elevation gain.