XXVII 
PISGAH AND THE BALSAMS 
PISGAH, lying between Toxaway and Ashevllle, 
is the most noticeable and the favorite moun- 
tain seen from Asheville. Everybody knows it. 
Rising, as It does, above the other heights. Its beau- 
tiful form outlined against the sky, it inspires a feel- 
ing of affection In those who see it day after day. It 
is the highest point in the Pisgah and Tennessee 
ridges, that long mountain barrier winding in a 
southwesterly direction from Beaverdam Creek, a 
few miles from Asheville, to Toxaway Mountain, 
a distance of some twenty-five or thirty miles. There 
is said to be a trail along the whole length of this 
crest, a sky walk to be envied the mortal who can 
take it. 
It does not detract from the interest one feels in 
Pisgah to know that It has retained its height above 
other mountains of the region because its rocks are 
crystalline, — that, in short, Pisgah Is high and 
strong because it is largely composed of garnets, of 
garnets and cyanite, the latter one will remember 
being very closely related to topaz. 
At Garden Creek, Pisgah often comes to view in 
your walks, and from Cruso, near where the trail 
goes up Cold Mountain, there is a road up Pisgah, 
that portion of the mountain now being Included in 
