You Are Here: Pisgah State Park

I have all my hikes remaining for the AMC South Trail guide planned out, and a couple in Pisgah State Park can only be done in Summer as the access road is not open to vehicles in Winter. So, today I decided to tackle one of those. I confirmed that vehicle access to Fullam Pond was available after all the crazy rain we've had in the past few weeks, and the park manager quickly wrote back saying it was good to go. The Fullam Pond parking area is a few miles in the park from the Old Chesterfield Road entrance, head straight past the kiosk and visitor center and stay straight at all the intersections. I kept thinking I must have passed it, but eventually some clear signage directed me right another tenth of a mile to a moderately sized lot. The road in was fine with my mid-clearance vehicle, most of it was level hard packed dirt, some rocky areas that I just took nice and slow. I could see the bugs circling my vehicle as I drove in so when I got ready I made sure to douse myself in bug spray and packed it for extra applications. This turned out to be the one real negative of the entire day. The bug spray did not deter them at all, and I did get more than a few bug bites, even through my clothing. They were huge! I started by backtracking down the road I drove in on, turned left on Old Chesterfield Road and walked back 0.6 miles to the Nash Trail gate. I turned left onto Nash Trail, which is a snowmobile trail, although unlike many other off season snowmobile trails, this was in great condition with no overgrown grass at all. Nothing scenic along this trail, just standard lovely woods and the occasional brook, though there was a lot of moss in this area. Not sure if that is normal, or another by-product of all the recent rains. Half a mile in on Nash Trail, I passed the Nash Trail Spur which connects Fullam Pond Trail to Nash Trail. I stayed straight on Nash Trail now and continued another 0.7 miles to a 4-way intersection with Fullam Pond Trail and South Woods Trail. I turned right onto Fullam Pond Trail, another snowmobile trail and followed it 0.6 miles to the Beals Road intersection. This was my turnaround point today. Again, the trail was in great shape and only had the slightest of inclines on my way out to Beals Road. Back at the 4-way intersection, I turned right onto South Woods Trail and went 1.5 miles out to the newly opened Habitat Trail intersection. This was an undulating trail, actual trail this time instead of snowmobile trail, with a couple of scenic vistas. The first was a short spur signed "Big Sawdust Pile".. it literally went out onto a large pile of sawdust that overlooked a marsh. The second was a tenth of a mile side path that was previously South Woods Trail, now rerouted around a wet area, down to a viewing platform over a large pond. It was very hazy today from wildfire smoke coming down from Canada, but was a pretty view all the same. I backtracked on South Woods Trail and at the 4-way intersection again, I turned right onto the other end of Fullam Pond Trail. After a couple tenths I reached actual Fullam Pond and the trail became very, very wet. There is a short section of trail, maybe 2 or 3 tenths of a mile that is on narrow land between 2 pieces of the pond. I thought I might have to get into some ankle or knee deep water at times, but thankfully by taking it slow I was able to sidestep the deep sections with some rock hopping and careful skooching around the edges. There was also a section with bog bridges, as I'm sure even without days and days of rain, it's eternally wet. Once through that, the trail opened up again and was clear and dry. The only section I got confused at, was I saw a side path down to a dam just beyond a sign for Fullam Pond Trail, and thought that was just what it was.. a side path to see the dam, I went and had a look then went back up and continued. By staying straight as I did, I ended up back at the Nash Trail intersection, which I needed for redlining anyway, I just didn't realize that's where I was. Once I realized, I backtracked to the side path and went back down to the dam. The trail goes over the dam (I was very nervous as the water was rushing hard after the rains, but it was perfectly fine) and continues past several side paths to the shore of the pond and eventually back to the parking lot. Here was where I saw the first people of my entire day, a group that had been ATVing in the park and were exploring the pond. The parking lot had been empty when I arrived, but now there was another vehicle and several ATVs parked! Although Pisgah doesn't have a lot in the way of scenic things to view, I've found the trails to be exceptionally maintained and easy to navigate. Perfect for a wander in the woods.

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