IT’S GONNA BE COLD, COLD, COLD…
I
was long overdue for a backpacking trip, and I knew it. I’d done a lot of dayhiking
recently, and it’s great, but it’s not the same. Even a short overnight trip with Darrin in
Jones Gap State Park wasn’t exactly a full-scale backpacking trip. I needed a weekend with lots of miles,
elevation gain, and solitude.
Christy
went out of town last weekend, and I was left behind to take care of the
dogs. This was my opportunity, but
Saturday’s weather forecast was hostile.
Luckily, a quirk in my work schedule left me free on Monday. So I planned a quick backpacking trip for
Sunday and Monday. I spent most of
Saturday working to make up for playing hooky on Monday.
I
drove up to Winston-Salem Saturday afternoon to spend Mother’s Day eve with
mom. The next morning I headed out
early, as I had a long drive ahead of me.
Three hours later I arrived at the Daniel Boone Boy Scout Camp on the
edge of the Shining Rock Wilderness.
Brenda was there waiting for me.
She wasn’t planning to backpack with me, but she would join me for a few
hours on Sunday morning.
The
route I planned was an ambitious loop hitting many of the highlights of the
Shining Rock Wilderness. Several years
ago Brenda had hiked to Fork Mountain via the Little East Fork Trail and a
series of old logging roads. When I read
her trip report I was intrigued. The
route she had followed opened up all sorts of loop options including Fork
Mountain. My plan for this weekend was
to replicate her route to Fork Mountain.
From there I’d continue up to the Ivestor Gap
Trail, and then on to the Art Loeb Trail on Tennent
Mountain. From there I’d follow the Art
Loeb to Shining Rock and Cold Mountain before descending back down to the boy scout camp.
When
I arrived I was surprised to see that she had her dog, Bradley, with her. Bradley is a good hiker, but doesn’t always
do well with other dogs. Brenda was
surprised to see that I had my dogs, Boone and Kona. Due to some miscommunication, she thought
that I was hiking without them this weekend.
Brenda was worried that our plan wasn’t going to work out (particularly
after our dogs got into a tussle or two), but I was more confident. I figured they’d work it out once we let them
off their leashes. We decided to give it
a try.
We
hiked up through the camp and picked up the Little East Fork Trail. This trail follows an old logging railroad
grade along the Little East Fork of the Pigeon River. The river scenery along here is
fantastic. There are no true waterfalls,
but the river features an endless series of rapids and cascades. There were
also some nice wildflowers, though it wasn’t nearly as impressive as the
display I’d seen a few years earlier around the same time of year. I think we were a bit early, since spring has
been so late this year, but I’m not sure.
The trilliums we found we pretty ragged.
Either they were already fading, or they’d just been beaten up by the
wet, cold weather.
As
I figured, the dogs got along pretty well once we got going. Bradley asserted her dominance early on, and
Boone and Kona gave her a wide berth.
We
hiked upstream almost to the point where the trail crosses the river. Just before the crossing, we turned right on
an old logging road. The road was
somewhat overgrown, but passable. Of
course it was a lot tougher for me to get through the briars and deadfall with
a big pack on!
We
contoured around several ridges and crossed over three substantial
streams. Before the final stream
crossing, Brenda spotted an impressive waterfall across the valley, through the
trees. Although it was quite a distance
away, it appears to be an impressive drop.
It’s on a tributary of the Little East Fork, originating on the west
side of Flower Knob. The waterfall is
around 4,700’, and it drops over an exposed cliff that is at least 100’
high. It’s a low volume stream though,
so it would be best viewed when the water is up. Unfortunately, getting a closer look would
require crossing the river, and then bushwhacking steeply upstream to the base
of the falls.
We
continued on to the final stream crossing.
After another climb, we reached a junction with another logging road,
which leads up to Fork Mountain. We
stopped there for lunch. Afterwards, we
went our separate ways. I headed up
towards Fork Mountain, and Brenda continued ahead on the old road. Before long she reached a low-volume
waterfall that was pretty nice thanks to the high water levels. From there she descended steeply back to the
Little East Fork.
Boone,
Kona, and I continued on up to Fork Mountain.
We joined the Fork Mountain Trail on the crest of the ridge, and
followed it through rhododendron tunnels and open, grassy forest. This part of the hike was delightful, as it
was cool and breezy up on the ridgeline.
Eventually we reached a sprawling meadow. From there, we were treated to fine views of
Big Sam, Mount Hardy, and the Little East Fork Valley. After a short break, we continued ahead on an
old railroad grade. Just before the Ivestor Gap Trail we stopped at a spring so the dogs could
get water.
We
reached the Ivestor Gap Trail, but instead of heading
towards Shining Rock, we turned the other way.
We hiked towards the Black Balsam Trailhead, but after about ½ mile, we
turned left onto another old railroad grade.
We followed it up to meet the Art Loeb Trail in the gap between Black
Balsam and Tennent Mountain. From there, a short climb brought us to the
summit of Tennent Mountain. Tennent offers
sweeping views of the Shining Rock Wilderness, Mount Pisgah, Looking Glass
Rock, Cedar Rock, Pilot Mountain, the Davidson River valley, and more. I loitered there for a bit despite a chilly
breeze, before resuming my hike.
We
descended the Art Loeb Trail to an unnamed gap, and then climbed a minor knoll
through meadows and spruce / fir forest.
Another descent brought us to Ivestor
Gap. From there, we climbed a steep,
badly eroded trail up to Grassy Cove Top.
Along here we passed a group of dayhikers –
the third or fourth group we passed since joining the Art Loeb Trail. They were the last people I’d see for nearly
24 hours.
The
climb up Grassy Cove Top was awful.
There are alternate routes around both sides of the mountain, and I
recommend either of them, even though they aren’t as scenic.
From
the summit we descended through scraggly bushes and briars to grassy Flower
Gap. I was tempted to camp here, but it
was pretty windy, and the forecast called for gusts up to 30 mph. That could be a problem in an open meadow on
a ridgecrest. Instead I continued ahead. I passed two springs. Just after the second was an appealing
campsite in a small clearing above the trail.
The site had a sizeable hill to the west, blocking the wind. The dogs were beyond ready to stop, and so
was I. Surprisingly, there wasn’t anyone
else around. I set up camp there around
6:30.
Once
my chores were complete I set out on one final adventure for the day. From camp I took a short stroll over to
Shining Rock. At Shining Rock Gap, I continued
straight ahead on the Old Butt Knob Trail.
I followed it on up along the base of the Shining Rocks. Near the top I took a spur trail to the left,
which brought me to a campsite and then to the upper portion of the rocks. Shining Rock is actually a summit covered in
rhododendron thickets, shrubs, balsams, and giant chunks of quartz. We scrambled up onto one of the rocks for a
great view east and south to Mount Pisgah and the Mills River area. Afterwards, we found another rock with a nice
view west. The sun was dropping, and I
was tempted to wait for sunset. I wasn’t
crazy about hiking back to camp in the dark though, and I was famished. I headed straight back, cooked dinner, and
finished eating around 9;30. Afterwards I enjoyed one hot drink before
heading to bed. It was expected to get
well below freezing that night, but conditions weren’t too bad when I headed in
to the tent.
I
slept pretty well, even with two dogs on top of me. I’d brought an extra sleeping bag, which I
wrapped Boone up in. Kona has a lot more
fur, and was content with a simple blanket.
I didn’t notice it getting cold until around 4am, and that was because
I’d unzipped my sleeping bag at some point during the night. Still, there was a heavy frost on the grass
the next morning, and quite a bit of ice on the tent.
I
was up at 6:15 the next morning. I was
pretty sore after the previous day’s hike.
Getting out of my warm sleeping bag in sub-freezing temperatures was
tough, but it had to be done. I was
tempted to return to Shining Rock for sunrise, but I needed get moving. I had a quick breakfast of oatmeal and coffee
before breaking camp. A short walk
brought me to the small clearing at Shining Rock Gap. This is one of the most confusing junctions
around. I turned left, walked about 10
yards, and then turned right to continue on the Art Loeb Trail. I could’ve continued ahead on the Ivestor Gap Trail (after the first left turn), which would’ve
taken me to the Little East Fork Trail after a ¼ mile or so. From there, a 5-mile downhill hike would’ve
returned me to my car. But I wanted to
make the most of my trip. It wouldn’t be
the same without a visit to Cold Mountain.
I
followed a wet railroad grade through a dark rhododendron tunnel below Shining
Rock. It was cold in the shady forest,
and I was glad I’d left my long underwear on.
An ascent of Stairs Mountain warmed me up, but views from the summit
were extremely limited. A long descent
followed. Eventually the trail began
traversing a knife-edge ridge called “The Narrows”. This part of the hike was rather challenging,
with lots of short but steep ups and downs.
The rugged hiking and rising sun warmed me, and I stopped along here to
change clothes.
Before
long I reached the first of three viewpoints.
It offered a fine view west and southwest, towards the West Fork of the
Pigeon River and the Middle Prong Wilderness.
A bit farther on was a similar, but clearer view. On the opposite side of the trail was another
view east, towards Mount Pisgah.
From
there a long descent brought me to a campsite in an unnamed gap. After a brief climb, another short descent
led to another campsite in Deep Gap. At
that point I could’ve headed straight back to the car. But Cold Mountain beckoned. It was only 1.5 miles away (and 1,000’ up).
The
climb from Deep Gap is fairly challenging, on a rather rugged trail. There were a few wildflowers blooming along
here, but for the most part, spring had yet to arrive. I passed a nice spring before arriving at a
saddle on the ridge separating the western and eastern peaks of Cold
Mountain. There are several nice, grassy
campsites here. I followed the trail on
up the ridge to the east. From that
point the hike was pretty easy. Before
long I reached the first of several overlooks.
I skipped that one though, and continued on up to a nicer vantage
point. I stopped on an exposed rock
outcrop, which offers a dramatic view that encompasses most of the Shining Rock
and Middle Prong Wilderness Areas. The
best thing about the view is that there almost no signs of civilization. A small clearing is visible down in the
Little East Fork Valley, and a logging road climbs up towards High Top from
there. In the distance, highway 276 and
the Blue Ridge Parkway were just visible at Wagon Road Gap. Otherwise, the only things visible were
soaring peaks and deep forests.
Deep
Gap (elevation 5,000’) was directly below me.
The farthest extent of spring ended just below the gap. Below that point, the fresh golden green of
new spring held sway. Farther down the
valley, the trees were a deep green. But
above Deep Gap everything was still largely brown and grey.
I
had an early lunch there while I enjoyed the view. Eventually I pried myself away and headed back down. I returned by the same route to Deep Gap and
continued down to the Art Loeb Trail from there. The hike out was enjoyable, as the trail
crosses numerous small streams. Each one
was surrounded by a garden of wildflowers.
The only drawback to the hike out was the numerous PUDs (pointless ups
and downs). Considering that the trail
needed to descend nearly 2,000’, it sure was casual about it.
I
passed one group of dayhikers on their way up near
the end of the hike. They were the first
people I’d seen in almost 24 hours.
My
hike was outstanding, with spectacular scenery, perfect weather, and a
surprising amount of solitude. My thanks
go out to Brenda for showing me the route up to Fork Mountain. That enabled me to combine most of the
highlights of the Shining Rock Wilderness in a single overnight trip.
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