Cold Mountain Backpack

To start the year off right, I decided a backpack trip was in order. I hadn't been feeling well over New Years, so I was unable to do my annual New Years Eve backpack trip. Destination: Pisgah National Forest. I have been wanting to explore Pisgah for several years now. It is so close to Athens, yet I have only done one hike in Pisgah. Hopefully, that will soon change. I emailed a trail friend I have known for awhile and set-up a tentative plan. We both wanted to hike in Pisgah, but were unsure where. I decided to drive up to Asheville Friday night so that we could head out first thing Saturday morning. We ended up having some delicious beers and food from a new place in West Asheville called W.A.L.K. and then hitting another place for some after dinner beer. Dinosuar took one for the team and helped Michie finish off her beer that wasn't too tasty.

After spending some time organizing gear and deciding on our location, we were off to Cold Mountain! The nice thing about Asheville is that you can be at a wide variety of sweet trailheads within an hour. We parked at the Daniel Boone boy scout camp and began the hike up towards Cold Mountain on the Art Loeb Trail. And it was up. We climbed a few thousand feet and about 3.8 miles to the junction with the Cold Mountain Trail. No need to carry our packs the rest of the way, so we stashed those in the trees and started out for the summit. After 1000 vertical feet and 1.5 miles, we made it to the top! The view was amazing and so was the weather. We tried to pick out our next destination of Shining Rock, but couldn't quite see the so-called "shiny rock."

The view was spectacular, but we still some more hiking to do. We made it back down to where we stashed our packs and devoured some lunch. Then onward to Shining Rock. Dinosaur had been there before, so she knew where to turn off the Art Loeb Trail to get to the summit. The rocks are this really cool white color, with gray specks. Apparently, when the sun shines on them, they shine. Hence, Shining Rock. It was starting to cloud over, so no "shining" for us to see, but it was still a lot of fun playing on the rocks.


It was starting to get late in the day, so we made a quick water stop to fill our bottles and then finished the hike to Ivestor Gap. The Art Loeb Trail reminded me of the Grayson Highlands. Big balds with great views. We arrived at Ivestor Gap right before it got dark and quickly set-up camp in the rising wind. Finally got the tent set-up with assistance from some large rocks. The ground was super hard and not stake-friendly. Had a burrito dinner topped off with some Makers Mark and hit the hay.

The wind and rain had moved in over night, so we were a bit damp and tired. But it was not raining, so we quickly too down camp, ate some breakfast, and headed off down the trail. We took a different trail back towards Shining Rock Gap so we wouldn't have to retrace our steps. Then took the Little East Fork Trail back down to Daniel Boone Scout Camp. So glad we did. We followed the creek almost all the way down and it was beautiful. Thought briefly about going for a swim, then had to remind myself that it was still January even though the temperature had risen above 60 degrees. I settled for putting my feet in briefly before finishing out the hike.

I can't wait to do some more exploring in Pisgah next fall. I might just have to finish out the entire Art Loeb Trail. We all know I love a challenge!