Below, the view from the Blue Ridge Parkway, looking northeast up the Straight Fork Valley towards Balsam Mtn., my jumping off point for today's hike. The weather is perfect for a high country trek - cool, cloudy, and with a nice breeze to keep the bugs at bay.

Spring seems to have arrived a few weeks late this year, so a lot of flowers that are usually gone by now were still abundant at the higher elevations. The pink ladyslippers below were standing by the side of the Balsam Mtn. trail, not far from the trailhead on the Round Bottom Road.

The Balsam Mountain trail, running from the one-way Round Bottom Road to the junction with the AT at Tricorner Knob, is a real treat to hike. It's smooth and follows the gently rolling ridgeline of the Balsam Mountain range.

Below, the intersection with the Beech Gap trail, at Beech Gap, of course.

After a little over 4 miles of easy walking, you emerge into the sunlit clearing at Laurel Gap, where an old stone trail shelter stands. Unlike most other trail shelters in the Great Smoky Mountains, this one is the old style, faced with chain link fencing to keep out the bears. The newer shelters are more open and attractive, but this one is still in a superb location.

Decisions, decisions! I had originally planned to hike out to Tricorner Knob and back, but somewhere along the way, I decided to drop down the Gunter Fork trail into the Big Creek drainage instead. From there, I would climb up the Swallow Fork trail to Sterling Ridge and then back to the Balsam Mtn. trail to comple the hike. When I got to the intersection with the Pretty Hollow Gap trail, it looked like some pretty heavy weather was moving in across the main range of the Smokies. Because the crossing of Big Creek at the foot of Gunter Fork can be a beast when heavy rain falls, I changed my plans and headed out the gentle winding pathway of the Sterling Ridge trail instead. There are no bad choices to be made along the Balsam Mtn. trail, other than perhaps that of turning back.