Shining Rock this weekend?

[SteveJ]

Hi, all. I'm taking a Boy Scout Troop to Camp Daniel Boone this Friday night, with plans to hike up the Little East Fork Trail to Shining Rock Gap Sat morning.

A couple of questions for those of you in the area or with experience with the mountain:

* Current weather.com forecast for the Canton area is for showers on Fri and 50% chance of rain/snow showers on Sat, with high of 44 and low of 25. My hope is that we'll get up Sat, if it is 'precipitating' it's snow, and we'll have a pleasant hike up the mtn in the snow. Is this a reasonable hope, or am I destined to drag 15 wet and miserable kids up the mtn in the rain?

Our fallback position is to stay in camp and participate in a District camporee - but the kids (and dads going along) will be disappointed....

* The live webcam site has indicated very little wind over the last month or so. Weather.com is indicating winds of 8-10 mph for Canton this weekend. Any ideas as to what this translates to for the top of the mtn?

Kind of a bad news/good news/bad news situation for me! My 16 y.o. has decided his girlfriend's 16th b'day party is more important than hiking this weekend (priorities, priorities!). But my 10 y.o. has convinced me to take him. While I'm concerned about the weather, he's a champ, and will have fun regardless. But since I'm taking him, no hammock for me - a ground-pounder I'll be!

I also found some great deals at REI this week for the 10 y.o. Hi-tec boots for $15. A waterproof breathable jacket for $22. oh, yeah, I got me a new 0 deg Marmot bag! whoo-hoo!

I assume everyone with any interest in this area is aware of the shining rock live webcam, but if not, it's pretty cool!:

http://webcam.srs.fs.fed.us/

well, this post is all over, but thanks for any feedback!

Steve

[Repeat]

Hello,
I would expect the temps to be 10 to 15 degress lower at Shinning Rock as compared to Canton, where I live. The trail up is well graded. Camping spots are pretty limited as to location. All are on the ridge with some sheilding by trees, so winds could be pretty fierce.
Repeat

[Jerm]

shining rock is over 6,000' so i'd be counting on snow. the elevation in canton is just a little over 2300'. but your boy scouts, so "be prepared" for anything.

[Jerm]

oh ya, there is an exposed rocky section that could be tricky. it is b/w deep gap and stairs mountain called the narrows. like repeat said, there is very few places to camp, those available are exposed. you could think about staying at deep gap and bagging cold mountain, at 6,030'. you could even tie in a history listen

[ed bell]

Hey Steve, That is a nice area to explore in winter. Looks to me like any precip. is going to be gone by Fri. Windy and cold will follow. Shining Rock Gap is at almost 5800', I'm guessing that a good bit of snow from this past weekend will still be around this weekend. This area is prone to wind, but you can find room to get out of it. Steve, are you going to stay overnight? I re-read your post and couldn't decide. I'm assuming you are.

[Jerm]

s*%t, now i saw that you were hiking up the little east fork. the narrows is on the art loeb trail. so the above hike up to deep gap is on the alt, where you could drop packs, set up camp, then head up to cold mountain and back for the night. then back down the next day. not sure how much snow they got up there, but Mt LeConte in the Smokies got 41" of snow!!!!!

[SteveJ]

Hello,
I would expect the temps to be 10 to 15 degress lower at Shinning Rock as compared to Canton, where I live. The trail up is well graded. Camping spots are pretty limited as to location. All are on the ridge with some sheilding by trees, so winds could be pretty fierce.
Repeat

Thanks, Repeat. That's about what I thought.... we took the troop last January on the same trail (not my favorite, but we needed to have a base camp for younger boys, and Daniel Boone Camp is a great place for that, with access to shining rock, esp. with the Blue Ridge closed), and stayed in the overused campsites at Shining Rock Gap. Temps then were below 0, with very high winds - not many others around! We're hoping for weather not quite as extreme this weekend.....

[SteveJ]

s*%t, now i saw that you were hiking up the little east fork. the narrows is on the art loeb trail. so the above hike up to deep gap is on the alt, where you could drop packs, set up camp, then head up to cold mountain and back for the night. then back down the next day. not sure how much snow they got up there, but Mt LeConte in the Smokies got 41" of snow!!!!!

We'll probably not make it over to Cold Mtn - I have a couple of younger boys, and would be afraid to get across the narrows with them in what I assume will be icy conditions.... I talked with someone in the boy scout council office today - the camp ranger told her the mtn didn't get too much snow. the webcam certainly didn't indicate feet of snow - but hard to tell... it would be fun if we could hike in some (inches - not feet!) this weekend!

[SteveJ]

Hey Steve, That is a nice area to explore in winter. Looks to me like any precip. is going to be gone by Fri. Windy and cold will follow. Shining Rock Gap is at almost 5800', I'm guessing that a good bit of snow from this past weekend will still be around this weekend. This area is prone to wind, but you can find room to get out of it. Steve, are you going to stay overnight? I re-read your post and couldn't decide. I'm assuming you are.

yeah, Ed - it's one of my favorite winter hikes - one of the best places in the SE to get alpine-type conditions! I tried to get the boys to do this trip in April when the weather on top is a little more predictable, but they wanted a 'polar bear' - looks like they'll get it! We'll be camping somewhere around shining rock. If it's not too windy, I want to get to one of the terraces with a view of Cold Mtn - assuming we have a view and aren't in the clouds.... The webcam did say the temps got to almost 50 today on top of the mtn... hope some snow is still around, but that it's hikeable for the younger guys....

[TN_Hiker]

Steve,
Keep the boys warm and fed w/ a good hot meal -- they will have a blast. Just to be safe you might want to plan on something hot for lunch such as soup or hot choc. Have a great trip!!

[napster]

Steve
That is a most beautiful hike.I first hiked it with my scoutmaster in 76' starting from shinning rock parking lot via way of stairs mt then onto camp D Boone in and I try and get up there once a year since then. My concern would be hobblin over trees from the recent ice storm. I hiked in shortly after Ivan and Francis hurricains and went up to Cold Mt then decided to hike down to camp DB and hitch a ride out rather then hurdle and fight all them down trees and go back thru them again. Ya'll be alright as long as ya keep dry. I'd take some instant heat just in case. Most storms scatter when they hit the NC/TN border right along the AT. Unless they are calling for a major precip and you see the doppler with a huge mass coming towards the area I would'nt worry.Have fun and stay dry as possible.
Napster

[ed bell]

Steve, I'm sure you keep checking the forcast like I do before a hike, if not, they have upped the chance for precip for the weekend. Good luck.

[SteveJ]

Steve
That is a most beautiful hike.I first hiked it with my scoutmaster in 76' starting from shinning rock parking lot via way of stairs mt then onto camp D Boone in and I try and get up there once a year since then. My concern would be hobblin over trees from the recent ice storm. I hiked in shortly after Ivan and Francis hurricains and went up to Cold Mt then decided to hike down to camp DB and hitch a ride out rather then hurdle and fight all them down trees and go back thru them again. Ya'll be alright as long as ya keep dry. I'd take some instant heat just in case. Most storms scatter when they hit the NC/TN border right along the AT. Unless they are calling for a major precip and you see the doppler with a huge mass coming towards the area I would'nt worry.Have fun and stay dry as possible.
Napster

Thanks for the info, Napster - first I've heard about downed trees. We're actualy going up the little east fork trail to shining rock gap. Have you heard if there are downed trees there, also? Yeah, the 'hand warmers' are on the '10 essentials' list for this trip!

[SteveJ]

Steve, I'm sure you keep checking the forcast like I do before a hike, if not, they have upped the chance for precip for the weekend. Good luck.

yeah, I know! my current "working hypothesis" (call that a 'hope') is related to the forecasted low Saturday being lower than freezing. I'm hoping that we'll leave camp Sat morning before it warms up - that any precip will be snow - and that we'll get to elevation before it turns to rain.... I hope that the mtns aren't in the clouds, but prolly will be!

[Ridge]

I'm not sure what your itinerary is but if you are starting out at Daniel Boone the logical first night would be Deep Gap, lots of room here, then you can proceed to Shining Rock via The Narrows the following day. Cold Mtn would make a nice and scenic side trip from Deep Gap. Snow should not be a problem, but be prepared for wind and cold. You can do a shuttle to USFS Road 816 off the Parkway for a nice hike.

Deep Gap (Pisgah NF) near summit of Cold Mtn N35.40025 W82.86376
Camp Daniel Boone BSA Trailhead N35.40025 W82.86376
USFS Road 816 off Blue Ridge Parkway Trailhead N35.31637 W82.86816

[napster]

Thanks for the info, Napster - first I've heard about downed trees. We're actualy going up the little east fork trail to shining rock gap. Have you heard if there are downed trees there, also? Yeah, the 'hand warmers' are on the '10 essentials' list for this trip!

SteveJ
Im not sure bout that side of the mountain and how it was hit but I'd pay close attention to the tops of then tree line on the way in friday and sat am before you set out. If it looks like a giant bushog has taken to the tops of the trees chances are the trail up the mountain will be rough going.Ask Doug at camp DB if he is aware of any recent trail maintance

[ed bell]

Steve, If you can get the boys off quick on Sat. morning I'm sure you can find a good spot to hunker down on Sat. night. Be picky in the Shining Rock Gap area. There are plenty of crappy areas to camp, but with a little work you can find some real sweet spots. I recall that the Little East Fork trail is mostly an old logging road. Should be clear or easy to navigate the blowdowns. Keep those boys warm! Let us know how it works out.

[SteveJ]

I'm not sure what your itinerary is but if you are starting out at Daniel Boone the logical first night would be Deep Gap, lots of room here, then you can proceed to Shining Rock via The Narrows the following day. Cold Mtn would make a nice and scenic side trip from Deep Gap. Snow should not be a problem, but be prepared for wind and cold. You can do a shuttle to USFS Road 816 off the Parkway for a nice hike.

Deep Gap (Pisgah NF) near summit of Cold Mtn N35.40025 W82.86376
Camp Daniel Boone BSA Trailhead N35.40025 W82.86376
USFS Road 816 off Blue Ridge Parkway Trailhead N35.31637 W82.86816

Thanks, Ridge. We have a couple of younger boys (1 10 y.o. and 2 11 y.o.) on this trip. I'm afraid to plan on going across The Narrows - I recall doing this before and having several 'scrambles' up and across rock faces.... Given the potential for ice, don't want to put the boys (or myself!) through this.... That's why we'll probably stick with the little east fork trail (old logging road / horseback trail) - relatively flat and easy for them to navigate......

[SteveJ]

SteveJ
Im not sure bout that side of the mountain and how it was hit but I'd pay close attention to the tops of then tree line on the way in friday and sat am before you set out. If it looks like a giant bushog has taken to the tops of the trees chances are the trail up the mountain will be rough going.Ask Doug at camp DB if he is aware of any recent trail maintance

thanks Napster... of course, we'll be driving in after dark Friday evening, and leaving camp as quick as I can get everyone up and fed Sat mornning, so won't get to see a lot before we leave.... I will ask Doug - hadn't thought of that - great tip!

[SteveJ]

clip...but with a little work you can find some real sweet spots. I recall that the Little East Fork trail is mostly an old logging road. Should be clear or easy to navigate the blowdowns. Keep those boys warm! Let us know how it works out.

Thanks, Ed. IF the wind is low, I'm aiming for one of the terraces on top of Shining Rock Mtn that has a view of Cold Mtn.

Posted a pic:

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/...?i=10001&c=658