[at-l] Art Loeb Trail

[DanandGailSC@aol.com (DanandGailSC@aol.com)]

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Jan wrote:
>> At only 30 miles, the AL trail is very doable for a weekend warrior. It is
said to start at Davidson River camp, and end on Cold Mountain. It's above 5K
feet for most of it. For a while, it runs in conjunction with the Mountains
to the Sea Trail, another one of my future lusts, if the AT doesn't break me.
<<

>> From close to the Black Balsam parking area, the Art Loeb Trail will take
you up to Black Balsam, Tennent Mountain, Ivestor Gap, and then into the
Shining Rock Wilderness Area. Heading left (west) will take you to Silvermine
Bald, the spectacular, 4-state-view, 360-degree panorama of Devil's
Courthouse, and after crossing highway 215, the Middle Prong Wilderness Area.
Anyone here done it?  <<

Gutsy (Gail) and I hiked the Art Loeb Trail in Nov. 1995, accompanied by Ron
Tagliapietra, author of The Southern Sixers, a great book for peak baggers.
I think it was my first multi-day backpacking trip.  We live in SC, less than
30 miles from Brevard, NC.  Gail cooked a big Thanksgiving dinner and served
about 20 people early in the afternoon.  Taking along some leftovers, we
started hiking after dark at the northern terminus of the Art Loeb Trail,
near Camp Daniel Boone.

The next day at Deep Gap, 3.8 miles from the trailhead, we turned left on the
1.5-mile spur trail to the summit of Cold Mountain, 6030'.  We then returned
to Deep Gap and continued on the Art Loeb Trail to just south of Shining Rock
Mountain, where we camped for the night.  The temperature was cool but the
sky was clear and views were superb.

On Saturday we hiked in cold rain and sleet.  Visibility was less than 100'
when we summited Tennent and Black Balsam, two of the ten mountains in the
Black Balsams over 6,000'.  We finished up on Sunday at Davidson River
campground.

We have fond memories of that hike, including a funny skunk story.  Pisgah
National Forest has many miles of wonderful backpacking trails!  We later
summited the remainder of the 40 "southern sixers."

Dan