Art Loeb Trail

Ever since I moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains and became a hiking junkie, the Art Loeb Trail (ALT) has been on my radar. This 30.1 mile trail traverses a beautiful section of the Pisgah National Forest from the Daniel Boone Boy Scout Camp down to the Davidson River Campground near Brevard, NC. A couple of issues gave me pause on doing this hike solo. First, the trail passes through the Shining Rock Wilderness and is not blazed, plus there are many intersecting trails, so good map reading and compass skills are recommended. Also, many black bear encounters in this section have caused the forest service to require carrying and storing your food in an approved bear canister. When I started hiking with the Friday Hoofers and expressed interest in hiking the Art Loeb, I learned that 2 of my hiking companions had planned a spring hike on the ALT and they invited me to join them. Craig, aka Jet Lag, thru hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2013 and also had previously hiked the ALT. David is a strong day hiker and looking to branch out into backpacking.

Day 1

We met up at Lowes in Brevard at 7:30 am and loaded up into David’s car for the hour-long ride up to the Boy Scout camp. David’s daughter accompanied us so that she could drive his car back to the Lowes parking lot and it would be available to him at the completion. It was a pretty brisk morning as we started up the trail toward Cold Mountain, the inspiration for the book and movie of the same name. I can’t tell you how happy and content I felt to put on my trusty pack and start hiking! It felt so right, like coming home. The ascent was a good 4 miles and we were soon shedding our puffy jackets. At Deep Gap there was an option to take a side trail to the summit of Cold Mountain but since my hiking companions had hiked this previously and I could do it another time, we continued on through the Narrows, a very narrow ridge walk with amazing views. We stopped for lunch in this section, though since it was still quite cool, it was a brief stop.

We then hiked toward Shining Rock Gap, named for its abundance of quartz rock. There were many intersecting trails and we were glad to have GPS tracks on our phones to negotiate the correct way to go. The rest of the afternoon was glorious with amazing long-range views of the Pisgah National Forest.

We traversed several balds, Tennent Mountain and the highest peak on the ALT, Black Balsam Knob at 6,214 foot elevation. This section is definitely a highlight of the ALT!

We crossed USFS 816 and decided to camp in the fir forest on the other side of the road. We couldn’t find the water source noted on our maps but were fortunate to receive trail magic from some young day hikers who gave us ample bottled water for dinner preparation. The temperature was dropping rapidly, so dinner was followed by a hasty retreat to our respective tents and hammock for David. 11.4 miles today.

Day 2

Last night was a true test of my tolerance for cold weather camping. The wind really picked up and we estimated that the temperature got into the teens, probably single digits with the wind chill. I stuck a couple of hand warmers into my down booties and was warm enough until they gave up about 4am and I started to feel cold.  Taking down my tent and packing up in the morning was brutal. My fingers were like icicles! It was so cold that digging a cat hole for the morning call of nature was impossible. The ground was frozen solid. I packed up and told David and Craig that I needed to move to try to get warm and I’d stop and eat breakfast and let them catch up with me later.

The ALT followed the Mountains to Sea Trail for about a mile before sharply dropping and crossing the Blue Ridge Parkway. I walked another mile or so before finding a nice spot with a good sitting log in the sun and stopped to make coffee and eat breakfast. It was only 5 or 10 minutes before Craig and David caught up with me. The drive up to the Blue Ridge Parkway from Brevard is a steady climb so one would expect that the hike down toward Brevard would be a steady descent, but nothing is further from the truth. The trail goes over every mountain and is a roller coaster of a hike. We didn’t seem to be making much progress and every climb was quite the slog. There are 2 shelters on the ALT though they are not as nice as those found on the Appalachian Trail and unfortunately not in good repair.

Because it had been so cold last night, Craig thought he would like to complete the trail today but we just couldn’t seem to hike much faster than 1 MPH and decided to stop and camp at Butter Gap Shelter. There were a large group of students from University of Maryland on a 5 day team building trip set up in the shelter. They were a pleasant group and not too rowdy. It was a much warmer evening than last night and I sat and watched the sun go down as I sipped my hot tea toddy. 10 miles today.

Day 3

It got down to freezing last night, but felt downright balmy compared to the night before. The trail skirted Cedar Rock, one of the many Pisgah Forest plutons, a rock formation caused by an ancient volcano. This is a popular rock climbing area but no climbers to be seen today.

According to the map, it appeared that there wasn’t as much ascending to do although there were still some challenging mountains to hike, notably Chestnut Knob and Stoney Knob. We were all feeling a little sore and tired and had to fight for every mile. Craig wondered what Art Loeb had done to tick off the trail planners to design such a challenging trail in his name! The forest service rates this trail as strenuous and difficult and I’d have to agree. It is a stunning trail but no walk in the park. Brevard traffic noise could soon be heard and it wasn’t long before we arrived at the Davidson River. There was another 1/2 mile of trail to get to the terminus but Craig and David decided to walk downstream back to the cars at Lowes. David was just done and Craig had thru hiked the ALT before, but I wanted to complete the whole trail and walked across the bridge and to the campground. Craig generously picked me up and drove me back to my car at Lowes, saving me an extra mile and a half of walking. Fantastic hike and excellent company!   8.7 miles today.