Waterrock Knob & Browning Knob Plane Crash (BRP 451) aka The Day My Kids Decided They Do Not Like Hiking

Waterrock Knob is really one of my favorite places; the views are stunning, even from just the parking lot, and this is one of few easily accessed places from which you can view such a large segment of the Smokies in one big panoramic sight. At an elevation of over 6000’, this is also one of the highest points along the Blue Ridge Parkway and is home to the highest visitor’s center. The visitor’s center is small but nice enough and of course restrooms along the parkway are always welcome. The really is something for everyone here (unless you are hungry J) regardless of whether you intend to hike a bit, stretch your legs for a moment, or just answer nature’s call. Waterrock Knob is also now a part of the Mountains to Sea trail system. I have visited here many times and I find it hard to not stop here if travelling on the BRP, even if this is not my actual destination, sometimes just to drive through the parking lot and take in the view for 5 minutes. While my wife and I were dating, we even intentionally drove here just for a picnic in the parking lot (she’s not much of a hiker, more on that in a bit).

On this particular day, my family (wife + 3 kids + a new puppy that “miraculously” followed one of our daughters home exactly one week prior) and I drove here from our home in the Charlotte area to meet with my dad and his family as they were vacationing in nearby Cherokee. We intended to spend the afternoon hiking and picnicking together and remaining until long after sunset to view the stars and planets via my telescope that I had gotten for father’s day. I had truly envisioned Waterrock Knob as a prime destination for night sky viewing due to the wide open sky, the high elevation, and the lack of light pollution. I had also never hiked to the plane crash site on browning knob and had mentioned to my dad and kids and they were interested as well. We had BIG plans for a nice family outing. Plans change, today was definitely no exception.

We arrived at the parking lot to a cloudy view which very shortly turned into an afternoon rain shower. My dad had not arrived yet so we waited in the car until the rain slacked off a bit. My kids decided that they were fine walking around the parking lot in the rain to give the puppy a chance to get out of the car as well. It did not take very long for the rain to stop however and the clouds rolled away to reveal the normal wonderful views. My dad and his family arrived shortly thereafter and we soon after began our accent to the summit. The summit hike is a short but challenging for some 1.2 mile round trip, but it has several rest spots and a lot of views on the way up. The kids (and the puppy) of course hiked ahead and summited well before any of us adults did. The summit offered even more spectacular views on this now sunny day. We had passed the spur trail just before the summit that leads to Browning Knob and the plane crash. We returned to that trail and this is where the more interesting part of the trip begins.

My wife and stepmom had decided the plane crash was not on their to-do list for today so they returned to the parking lot and visitor center while the remainder of our crew began the trek over to Browning Knob. I actually tried to talk my youngest (age 9) out of this part but she was insistent on going with us. The trail itself is blazed but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was super easy to follow. Black mud, downed trees, grabbing other tree roots for stability, and sliding down rocks is essentially what the trail is. It wasn’t super difficult to traverse, just really slow, especially with a puppy still in tow (he really was a champ, never barked even once, and went everywhere we did without issue on his own 4 legs). Thankfully, another hiker on his return likely saved us some extra walking around as he told us we were near and that he had marked the ground for the side trail to the crash. I am unsure if we would have noticed the trail split otherwise. About the time we got to this point it was just me and my kids and dog. My dad and step-brother we still headed this way, just a bit slower than we were. We could also hear the weather changing as distant rumbles had also began; this trail is so heavily under vegetative cover that we could not see really the skies to notice otherwise. When we began the side trail down the slope to the crash, what we were hearing was now upon us as it was starting to sprinkle. 2/3 kids decided they did not care, we had hiked this far so they wanted to continue down to the plane. Another solo hiker apparently heard us and called out to us, seemingly lost in finding the way back up to the main trail. We continued talking with him to help guide him back up. We made our own way down to the plane crash site which truly was an amazing thing to see. The crash happened in 1983 and there is still debris scattered all down the mountain in addition to the main hull of the plane – a very interesting site. We spent around 10 minutes at the crash site (likely would have been longer if not for the weather). We hiked back up to the main trail with the sounds of the coming thundershower growing louder/closer. We met dad a bit back down the trail and he decided to turn back with us towards the cars. Very shortly after… the bottom fell out of the sky. The downpour did not really seem as bad as it was at the time though because of the green tunnel we were walking through. Once we returned to the Waterrock Knob trail, it was a lot more open and we experienced the full rain shower for the remainder of the walk back to the cars. I walked ahead with my kids to ensure they made it back okay and then retuned back up the trail to meet dad and walk back out with him and my step-brother. Once I caught up with dad, about 5 minutes later the rain once again stopped and the sun came out. We were absolutely soaked from head to toe at this point. I am also quite grateful for bringing an extra set of clothes to change into once we were back at the cars so I did not have to ride home wet. At this point, we had all decided we had had enough and opted to just return home and for my dad and his family, their campsite. No picnic, no starry night, nothing more. On the ride home, my 9 yo daughter decided she hated hiking and the other 2 kids’ feelings weren’t quite as strong but hiking was not on their immediate list of things they wanted to do in the future.

Overall, this was… an interesting trip. The views were great, the plane crash site captivating, and the weather… not so fun. Of particular note, there was no rain in the forecast and the ranger at the visitor’s center when we arrived told us the clouds should move on making for a beautiful day. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

*update March 2021* My then 9yo (now 10) is still not fond of the idea of hiking but she has since been on much smaller hikes that were much more enjoyable. My now 14yo daughter speaks mostly fondly of this trip and wishes to return to the plane crash with some of her friends. My now 13yo son is indifferent on hiking in general – he wouldn’t choose to do it if he were planning a trip somewhere but will mostly go along if the rest of the family are going.

Total Miles: unknown due to multiple back tracking on trails. Best guess is ~5.5

Features: Views, Plane Crash

Overall rating: 5/5 (not accounting for the weather)