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Goldsmith grew up hiking and got in the habit of writing trail descriptions, he said. Friends would ask him where a good hike was or where to find a waterfall. He and his sister used to leave their early hiking guides in their mother's guest house for visitors to use. The descriptions were so popular with area visitors that he came up with the idea for the book.
After enlisting his sister, Shannon, and her husband, James Hamrick, to write sidebars on first aid and history, Goldsmith contacted a publisher and worked out a contract that allowed him to spend April-August 1998 in the woods.
The book is dedicated to their grandfather, who Goldsmith said "taught his grandchildren to love and cherish the North Carolina mountains."
What makes his book different from other hiking guides are the maps Goldsmith generated with the aid of Global Positioning Satellite technology, and the fact that he includes GPS data in trail descriptions. He gives coordinates for each trailhead and junction as well as for waterfalls, overlooks and other landmarks.
Goldsmith gives detailed directions to trailheads to make sure hikers can find his recommended paths and includes information on plant life along each trail. Every listing includes length in miles, a trail rating from easy to strenuous, and elevation changes experienced along the way.
When asked to pick his favorite, Goldsmith said he really couldn't - that he likes all the trails his book chronicles. When pressed, he came up with two: Flat Laurel Creek near Shining Rock in Haywood County and Harpers Creek, which is in eastern Western North Carolina near Avery County.
Flat Laurel Creek is located not far from us and can be accessed either from N.C. 215 just north of the Blue Ridge Parkway or from the Black Balsam Knob parking lot. The total distance is 3.7 miles and the hike takes around 2 hours at a slow pace. If you begin from N.C. 215, you pass a couple of waterfalls almost immediately, he said. These are on Bubbling Spring Branch, a tributary of the West Fork of the Pigeon River.
This trail also offers spectacular views to the northwest of Sam's Knob and Fork Ridge. After about 2 miles, you reach the top of Flat Laurel Falls, a series of cascades that Goldsmith says drop one-half mile, though not all of them are visible from the trail. By taking the Flat Laurel Creek trail, hikers pass through three different ecosystems - a high elevation bog, spruce-fir forest and a northern hardwood (beech) forest.
Energetic hikers can extend their journey along the third section of the Art Loeb Trail. It heads up in the Black Balsam Knob parking lot and leads (eventually) to Cold Mountain. This section of the Loeb Trail offers what Goldsmith describes as a "really nice extended ridge walk."
Goldsmith's book provides compass bearings and distances to each peak visible from a number of overlooks. He also includes lists of loop trails, hikes for children and elderly, trails accessible from the parkway, all-day hikes and shorter hikes.
In general the book is not limited to long or short hikes, views or difficulty levels, Goldsmith said.
"I tried for a broad approach - something for everyone of all experience levels," he said.
He enjoyed the hiking more than the writing, he said, and would like to do a similar volume for the Nantahala National Forest someday.
Goldsmith himself is no longer available at Venture Out, but his book is.
I'm planning on that Flat Laurel Creek trail this weekend. After all, I can hike it without straying too far from home.
Someone else will have to report on that trail over near Avery County.
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