Completion of the Art Loeb Trail - Things I wish I knew before Hand

[Gambit McCrae]

Myself, 2 good friends and the Ol' dog took on the ALT this weekend as a 3 day hike. The ALT starts in Daniel Boone Boy Scout Camp, and ends at the Davidson River Campground. Trip started Thursday evening leaving Cookeville, TN at 6pm. After 3 hours on the road my good buddy in the back seat had a flash of fear as he remembered his hiking shoes were nestled deep in the backseat of his pickup truck in my driveway. A quick detour and $19.95 later and he had himself a nice pair of Wal-Mart's finest wrangler, no lace suede type shoes. He was less then excited now. We rolled into Brevard, NC at about 12:30 am, warmed up the room, pulled out the roll away bed and caught a good 7 hours of sleep before up and out to catch the shuttle. The Shuttle ride from Davidson River Campground to the northern terminus at the boy scout camp is about 1.5 hours thru curvy mountain roads, scenic river views, and the mountains in our future. Quick note on weather: We really shot the gap for this trip. For February in NC it was wildly warm weather. The pictures below were the most snow/ ice we saw on the trip and day time temps were as follows Fri: 38-40, Sat: 50-60 Sun: 60-77. The temps provided were not read off of a thermometer, just a guestimate from what the forecast was supposed to be down in town. When I arrived at the pickup point for the shuttle down in the valley the temps were 31*, be time we got to Daniel Boone BSA Camp, the temp was somewhere around 38-40 before the climb up.

Day 1 started out up. It was nothing but up for the first 6 miles or so. Then, it was still up, but the trail opened into Roan type grass, open views all around. As we entered Shining Rock Wilderness, the Art Loeb Trail has suddenly become worth the half day of climbing we had done to get there. The trail climbed over one peak after another, we were exhausted but the experience was worth it. As the trail became exposed we covered up more, pulling our buffs up from our necks to our faces. The temps were in the 30’s and the wind was strong enough that it was blowing us around pretty well. At the end of the day we topped Tennent Mountain, and then the trophy of the trip, Black Balsam Mountain. Sunset atop Black Balsam was probably the best I have seen, we made our way down the huge spruce thicket campsites on both sides of Black Balsam Road. As the sun set we searched for flat spots for tents, and after all were pitched, huddled in one to cook dinner and laugh about the day. Ear plugs came in handy that night as the wind was screaming all night. The shadows of spruce gleamed through my tent by the light of the snow moon. By looking at the profile map, we thought that the worst was behind us. We were sadly mistaken.
12 mile day.
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Day 2…and 3.. Were fairly uneventful. The BRP is closed this time of year, and that was the only access to the trail other than some long FS roads. So traffic on the trail was near to none, we saw about 6 day hikers, 3 backpackers, 3 cyclists and a handful of trail runners on the whole trip. The trail south of Mount Pilot was more or less completely uneventful. Lots of ups and downs, quite the roller coaster in the southern half. Saturday night was spent at Butters Gap Shelter. An older shelter that is in need of some love. We made our way down into the Davidson River Campground, following the bike path back to the trailhead there are many places to jump into the Davidson River. After the rough day I had had, I was quick to drop my shorts (still in compression shorts), shoes still on jumped right in with my lab. The others were quite a bit more reserved then I. Running my bandana thru the clear water and over my head in the 77* Brevard air was refreshing, and the feeling of accomplishment was upon us. We did 10 miles on Saturday and 8 miles on Sunday.
Key notes of the trip: A large portion of this trail is unmarked, with lots of side trails, and intersections which are also unmarked. I carried with me a pocket map, the Nat Geo Illustrated map 780 which shows the entire ALT on it. The best tool I had bar none was the GAIA App that I had downloaded the GPX file for the ALT onto. It was extremely accurate and update my path within feet of choosing say a “left right center” trail direction. Not once were we turned around, or took a wrong turn. The App even showed water ways that I could walk thru the woods the get water if needed. The water, and water sources were well….I would suggest not passing up a water source on this trail. I used 8 liters in 3 days. Was pretty dehydrated by the end of the trip but didn’t run out during the trip. 2 of the 3 sources I pulled water from on this trip had a funky smell and taste to it. I filtered all the water except for cooking which was boiled, but the only way I can describe the smell is that it reminded me of the smell of a privy, and didn’t taste any better. The 2^nd water source just north of the Mount Pilot was some of the cleanest tasting water I have had. Never the less, water is water, it was all running, marginal tint to it and I was grateful to have it. Another key note is that winter seasons the BRP thru here is closed, there was very limited access to the ALT along our route. Very little litter on the trail, trail was pretty well maintained however this trail has some long, rugged stretches. A lot of the up and down trail looks like gully washouts. There were about 20 blow downs along the 30 miles that required more then simply stepping over, either walking around, are walking on knees under. I would really look more closely at exactly where a bear canister is needed, I assumed it was needed the entire trip, however after doing it, I think it is only needed in certain areas, as a result I learned that I hate bear canisters.
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If I had to do it again…Unless you want to say you have completed the whole ALT, I would suggest the following trip plan. Drive to Black balsam Trail head on Black Balsam Road. Camp that night (assuming you get in late on a Friday night), in the spruce thickets where the Mountain to sea trail merges with the ALT. Sat morning take your time getting up and head toward Daniel Boone Boy Scout Camp, but stopping at the last areas before the trail drops down into the valley. Camp in the treeless areas and on Sunday morning head back over the amazing balds of Shining Rock Wilderness to the car.
For this Trip I used 2 services: Sunset Motel, and Headwaters Outfitters for a shuttle. The Motel was clean, quiet and very accommodating for a late check in. Key was in the mail box and we had no issues there. The shuttle service was on time, best price I found and was good conversation with a safe driver. I give both an A+
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All in All a great trail, a good notch in the belt but would not want to do the entire trail again. Happy Trails
Thanks to all who helped me plan on here, and if any one has questions feel free to ask!

[Rain Man]

Great report, Gambit! Thanks for sharing. Brings back memories, though we did it in nice weather and as two trips with USFS road off the BRP as our middle trailhead. We added in Cold Mountain, of novel and movie fame.

And yes, the bear canisters are only required in the Shining Rock Wilderness (the area just north of BRP, the most popular site with the most "novice" hikers and campers, and the least trees to hang bear bags properly from, thus the bear problems).

[Tennessee Viking]

FYI, if you want to go peak bagging for other high peaks, you can claim SB 6000 status.

http://www.carolinamountainclub.org/...age/SB6K-Rules

[clusterone]

Thanks for the trip report! I do have the NG Trails Illustrated map, but having trouble finding a downloadable GPX. Mind posting the dl url for the GPX data(I use a different app)?

[Gambit McCrae]

Thanks for the trip report! I do have the NG Trails Illustrated map, but having trouble finding a downloadable GPX. Mind posting the dl url for the GPX data(I use a different app)?

GPX Files at bottom

[clusterone]

Thanks. Came across the online map, but failed to scroll down far enough to see the dl options.

[Dogwood]

Thx Gambit. Timely. Looking for some insider info on the ALT you just gave designing a ALT, Baltram, MST, AT, Foothills Tr loop through Dupont and a bushwack to Jones Gap SP.

Mind numb right now after a 6 day. What is BRP? Where is the A Frame lean to pic?

[johnspenn]

Thx Gambit. Timely. Looking for some insider info on the ALT you just gave designing a ALT, Baltram, MST, AT, Foothills Tr loop through Dupont and a bushwack to Jones Gap SP.

Mind numb right now after a 6 day. What is BRP? Where is the A Frame lean to pic?

BRP=Blue Ridge Parkway if I'm not mistaken.

[Dogwood]

Thx. I feel silly and woozy all in one now.

[johnspenn]

Thx. I feel silly and woozy all in one now.

Glad to be able to help =)

Care to share more details about the loop you're working on- either here or in its own post? Sounds very interesting.

[Gambit McCrae]

BRP is indeed the Blue Ridge Parkway.

There are 2 shelters on the ALT, the one we stayed at is Butters gap shelter, def needs some love as the roof is falling off of it. there is some, but not lots of good tenting options at this location, and is about 8-9 miles from Davidson Campground. The water sources "south of here" are plentiful

Speaking of woozy, the ALT had some of the nastiest tasting/ smelling water I have had, out of 2 different sources separated by 20 miles of trail. Must just be a Pisgah water thing

[blue indian]

BRP is indeed the Blue Ridge Parkway.

There are 2 shelters on the ALT, the one we stayed at is Butters gap shelter, def needs some love as the roof is falling off of it. there is some, but not lots of good tenting options at this location, and is about 8-9 miles from Davidson Campground. The water sources "south of here" are plentiful

Speaking of woozy, the ALT had some of the nastiest tasting/ smelling water I have had, out of 2 different sources separated by 20 miles of trail. Must just be a Pisgah water thing

Could you describe, in some detail, the source of where you pulled this water from?

[Gambit McCrae]

Source 1: Coming out the side of a hill at high alt. about 6 miles from northern terminus(Daniel Boone Scout Camp), it has a funky tint to it, yellowish and was filtered using sawyer.

Source 2: Butters Gap Shelter piped creek/ spring. Filtered the same

[golfjhm]

[QUOTE=Gambit McCrae;2129732]Source 1: Coming out the side of a hill at high alt. about 6 miles from northern terminus(Daniel Boone Scout Camp), it has a funky tint to it, yellowish and was filtered using sawyer.
Just South of Shining Rock Gap on trail left as you head south? Unfortunate if so as that is THE SPRING for that area. You could always hike down Shining Creek Trail a little ways - doesn't take long to get to where the feeders form an actual stream.

[Gambit McCrae]

[QUOTE=golfjhm;2129839]

Just South of Shining Rock Gap on trail left as you head south? Unfortunate if so as that is THE SPRING for that area. You could always hike down Shining Creek Trail a little ways - doesn't take long to get to where the feeders form an actual stream.

The water smell made me not want to drink it, but it was wet, and all I had. Not the end of the world but it wasn't that crystal clear kinda water we all hope for. It made my nauseous, but its been 3 weeks and no side effects, I filtered/ boiled all of it and was grateful to have it. But I guess a tip I will give people is unless you don't mind nasty smelling/ tasting water bring some water flavoring or Gatorade mix.

Other advice I would give is I carried that damn bear canister 30 miles for no reason. from what I understand, it is only needed from the northern terminus to Black Balsam RD, about the first 12 miles or so. ( I am not 100% on this someone please call me out if its wrong I do not want to give false info)

[TNhiker]

Other advice I would give is I carried that damn bear canister 30 miles for no reason. from what I understand, it is only needed from the northern terminus to Black Balsam RD, about the first 12 miles or so. ( I am not 100% on this someone please call me out if its wrong I do not want to give false info)

yeah...

as of now-----bear canisters only required in the shining rock wilderness part...

i would expect in a few years or less---for this to change as im sure human activity will increase bear activity....