[at-l] Art Loeb / Mountains to Sea ..pictures

[wb4pan@mindspring.com (Charles Davidson)]

Hi Gang,
=09Here is my trip report from my recent trip to the Asheville Area :-)
http://friends.backcountry.net/wb4pan I put some pictures in the Gallery an=
d captioned a few of them.
Aint Ryan great! thanks again

             I headed for high elevation leaving the Summer heat back home.=
 First night I slept on Mount
  Mitchell (highest point East of the Mississippi). It was an easy walk to =
Commissary Ridge, an area just
  outside the park boundary and 5,900' in elevation. Hey I was sleeping rig=
ht on the the MST :-). Twelve
  hours sleep later I walked back to my car and met up with Cheryl. We spen=
t most of the day exploring
                some Mountains to Sea Trail crossings along the Blue Ridge =
Parkway.

        I drove to Shinning Rock Wilderness area and made camp.. Again I sl=
ept above 5000' and again I
 slept 12 hours, it was great. After breakfast I started my hike to the Dav=
idson River on the Art Loeb Trail
 (AMST alternate Mountains to Sea Trail). I walked 11 miles and camped near=
 Cedar Rock. I met a Sierra
Club group during the day. Just before camp I met a college group from Wash=
ington D.C. Also I met Josh
  who was hiking the ART Loeb,  AMST, MST loop in the opposite direction fr=
om me. There is a nice
 swinging bridge crossing the Davidson River at the East end of the Art Loe=
b Trail. In this 18 mile section
                            I had ascended 3,820 and descended 7,390'.

           Karen picked me up and drove me to Asheville for a shower, clean=
 cloths and Dinner pizza at  the "Magic Mushroom". It is a great thing to h=
ave friends along the trail.
         The next morning she dropped me off at Pisgah Inn. I walked the MS=
T back to Black
  Balsam Mountain. This was an enjoyable ten hour hike all at high elevatio=
n where it was much cooler
   than in the Davidson River Valley. I ran Into Josh again today and also =
met up with the college group
                                             :-)

              Today I had planned to hike to Cold Mountain and spend the ni=
ght. But this Wilderness area is
  challenging to hike in. There are no trail blazes and very few signs. Man=
y trails crisscross the area and
   only part of them are on my map. Areas like this make you realize how mu=
ch is done for you on well
  marked trails like the AT. The AT often leads you right to water. Here yo=
u must consult your map and
 make side trips for water. One wrong turn took me back to where I was two =
hours earlier. This
   short cut only took an hour and came in handy later. I did not mind the =
wrong turn at all. The air is cool, blueberries are everywhere, I got three=
 days food and my pack weighs less than 20 pounds. At Shinning Rock I met t=
he college girls again :-)

             The trail from Shinning Rock to Cold mountain eluded me. Some =
day hikers helped me look for
  the trail. They had walked it many years ago. Finally I found the overgro=
wn trail above Shinning Rock
  and headed to the top of Stairs Mnt 5,870'. The little bald area on top l=
ooked like a great place to camp
   even though it was only 4:00. I have never seen so many blue berries. Th=
ey where thick, plump and
    juicy. There where so many you picked them 4 or 5 at the time, or just =
munched them right of the
  shoulder high bushes. From here the trail was very faint, I pushed throug=
h head tall brush and followed
 several dead ends. I found one trail that kept going but it headed in the =
wrong compass direction. Back to
the bald area and camp for the night. In the morning I will explore the tra=
il I found. If it is correct it should turn north and drop to 5,000' in a c=
ouple of miles.

          100% humidity and quite a heavy condensation on everything this m=
orning. I slept in till after 8:00,
 letting the sun dry things out somewhat. The trail I found yesterday was t=
he correct one and it improved
greatly in about a mile. Soon I followed a very narrow ridge line (the Narr=
ows) to  Deep Gap. On
the other side of this gap rose Cold Mountain. Maybe I will read that novel=
 named after this mountain. On
 my way back to Black Balsam mnt I took a different trail which did not go =
over Shinning Rock and soon
  joined the short cut trail that I had walked yesterday. I took FS 72 all =
the way back to my car. It rained
                     lightly and there where many berry pickers out again t=
oday.

chase