NC Arboretum Excursion: Beartrap Gap Hike

Join Naturalist Scott Dean on this hike from Beartrap Gap to Wet Camp Gap looking for and learning about wildflowers along the way.

Expect to see the last of spring’s bloom and the first of summer’s on this excursion with Naturalist Scott Dean. Stepping off from the Beartrap Gap overlook, the trailhead at 5580 feet will provide a pleasant break from July’s heat. The walk is just under three miles round trip and holds the possibility of seeing Turk’s Cap and Michaux’s Lily, Houstonia, Jack in the Pulpits, Bee Balm, several different Coneflowers, and lots of blueberry bushes along the trail (likely in fruit). If the flora isn’t enough of a draw, the turn around point on the trail provides a gorgeous high-elevation meadow for taking in great easterly views.

Scott Dean was born and raised in the mountains of southern Appalachia, specifically the coalfields of West Virginia and southwestern Virginia. He developed the original Ecology, Botany, and Zoology curricula for the Blue Ridge Naturalist Program, and has been both a classroom and field instructor with the program since its inception. He has led walks for UNC Asheville and the Cullowhee Native Plants Conference, been a featured speaker at the Great Smoky Mountain National Park Wildflower program, and spoken at various social and civic events in the Asheville area over the last twenty years.