Waterfalls or a 6,000-Foot Peak? Pick Your Private Asheville Hike
A private morning hike out of downtown Asheville, with the trail chosen after you book: waterfalls, a quiet forest path or a 6,000-foot summit. Snacks are included, and you drive behind your guide unless you add transport.
Blue Ridge Hiking Company runs this as a private trip: only your group, one to nine people, with one of its guides. Nobody fixes the trail in advance. After you book, the office gets in touch to ask what you want, whether that is waterfalls, seasonal wildflowers, a quiet walk on a forest path or a climb up a 6,000-foot peak, and how far and how hard you want to go. Snacks are included; the drive to the trailhead is not, so by default you follow your guide in your own car.
Plan on four to five hours, driving included, from the 8:30 AM start. The listing budgets three of those hours on the trail.
The price is per person and falls as the group grows. As of October 28, 2026, the booking calendar showed USD 310 for one hiker alone, USD 155 each for two, USD 105 each for three, USD 90 each for four or five and USD 75 each for six to nine.
Privately Guided Half Day HikePrivate hike for one to nine people, about four to five hours with driving, starting 8:30 AM in downtown Asheville. Snacks included, trekking poles on request; transport costs extra.www.viator.comThe Trail Gets Picked After You Book
Your guide can steer the hike toward waterfalls, historic sites, a 6,000-foot peak, the Appalachian Trail or the Blue Ridge Parkway, drawn from what the operator calls over 1,000 miles of trail within an hour's drive of downtown Asheville. The listing itself names no trail; its single stop is Pisgah National Forest. The booking option says these hikes typically run three to five miles. The operator's FAQ puts the half-day range at two to five.
You also set how hard it gets. The operator's half days run from easy to strenuous, and it says most suit beginner and intermediate hikers; the listing marks the trip as suitable for all fitness levels. Say what you can manage when the office calls. One hiker with occasional knee trouble wrote in April 2026 that they took it easy and still climbed a fire tower and saw a couple of waterfalls.
Where Recent Half-Days Went
Reviews attached to this listing give a sense of the spread. In July 2026 one group took in Black Balsam Knob, Skinny Dip Falls and the Fryingpan Mountain lookout tower along the Blue Ridge Parkway in a single half day. Other 2026 reviewers walked the Art Loeb Trail or hiked in DuPont State Forest, and a November 2025 hiker went up Mount Pisgah and called the climb moderate. Some mention guides pointing out wildflowers and mushrooms, bringing spare layers and hiking poles, and sending photos afterward.
Treat these as examples of what guides chose on request; your own route is set on the planning call. The operator's trail-status post after Hurricane Helene was last updated in December 2024, so use that call to check that the trail you want is open.
Your Car, Right Behind the Guide's
You meet at the operator's downtown Asheville store at 8:30 AM, and that start time is the same every day of the week. Bookings close 24 hours ahead. Transport is not included: the listing expects you to follow your guide to the trailhead in a separate vehicle. The operator puts its hikes anywhere from 20 minutes to just over an hour's drive from town.
If you would rather not drive, transport between Asheville and the trailhead, including hotel pickup, can be added for an extra fee. The operator says that depends on whether its shuttle vehicle is free and asks you to call to arrange it; the listing and the operator's day-hike pages give no figure for it. Some reviewers mention being picked up at their hotel or rental, so it does happen when it is booked.
Rain, Refunds, Dogs and Tips
Hikes go ahead rain or shine. Bring a rain jacket, an extra warm layer and water; the operator asks for one liter per person on a half day and says sneakers or running shoes are fine. Trekking poles come at no extra charge if you ask, and the guide wants any dietary restrictions in advance for the snacks.
Cancel at least 24 hours before the start for a full refund; inside 24 hours there is no refund. The operator may cancel or reschedule for severe or dangerous weather, and names flooding, lightning and ice as conditions it would call a hike off for.
- Ages: one price band covers every age, and each booking needs an adult.
- Animals: the listing says service animals are allowed. The operator's own FAQ also welcomes well-behaved dogs on its private day hikes, on a six-foot leash, if you tell the guide ahead.
- Access: the listing marks the trip suitable for all fitness levels. The operator says it has guided blind, deaf and mobility-impaired hikers and recommends a private hike so the route can be tailored, so raise any need on the planning call.
- Tips: not included. The listing calls 15 to 25 percent standard; the operator's FAQ says 20 to 25 percent and that guides never expect one.
📍 The meeting point is Blue Ridge Hiking Company's store at 70 College Street in downtown Asheville. The listing says to look for a gated alley with a sign reading "Blue Ridge Hiking Company". If you are driving, arrive ready to follow the guide out; the hike ends back at the same store.