Here's the report for the hike I was gathering info for here.
Start/Finish at Black Balsam/Sam Knob trailhead at the end of paved USFS 816. Decent parking area with restrooms.Apprx 19mi loop, done counterclockwise. 12-14 April 2021Water was plentifulWeather was 70s/40sBig thanks to the trail maintainers!My wife dropped me, my 14y/o Speedy G and 10y/o T2 at the trailhead and stayed in Brevard with the rest of the crew for a couple of days. We hit the Art Loeb Trail spur at just before 4pm, zigzagged up to the Art Loeb Trail and turned South.
20210412_160115_resized.jpg
After a brief run on the very windy ALT around Black Balsam knob (T2 was worried he was going to take flight!)we intersected the Mountains-to-Sea Trail next to USFS 816. Lots of sun, wind and great views. We lost altitude through Graveyard Ridge following the MST.
1618507803920_P1050099_resized.JPG
The trail guide I referenced labelled most of this loop as "Moderate" or "Difficult." T2 liked the "Most Difficult" label on this sign post.
Screenshot_20210427-120541_Gallery.jpg
We passed over a nice bridge over a waterfall. Shortly thereafter we turned onto Bridges Camp Gap trail for about a mile and camped at the intersection of the BCGT and the Big East Fork trail (6.3miles for the afternoon). This is also the joining of the Greasy Cove Prong and East Fork/Pigeon river. The BEF trail does a sharp right, almost 180 degree turn and follows along the East bank of the river.The first few miles of Tuesday was hiking along side the river. My favorite hiking is high open spaces but after that is next to a rushing river. Plenty of rock, rapids and noise here. A few stream crossings.
20210413_091732_resized.jpg
We came to the end of our time on the BEF trail at a trailhead on US276. There is about a 100m roadwalk North to the trailhead for Shining Creek trail. We had planned on taking the Old Butt Knob trail but were busy talking and blew past the trail intersection so we continued up the Shining Creek trail. Shining Creek was fairly boisterous at the lower altitude.
20210413_150022_resized.jpg
Obligatory flower shot
20210413_140719_resized.jpg
We lost the obvious trail towards the top for a short while (I typically let the kids lead the way)but at that point Shining Creek was Shining One-foot-wide drainage and the woods are very wide open so we just kept following it uphill along what I suppose was the trail and it rematerialized. We hit the ALT with plenty of daylight left. (about 8miles for the day) We found a nice campsite very close to the water point. The water point had great flow and is a 8 foot piece of split bark. Super convenient. Tent went up just in time for about 30min of mild rain. That blew over and we were able to hike over to Shining Rock, do a brief scramble up one of the many trails, to watch the sunset. There is a serious pile of quartz going on there. That's all I can say.
20210413_193801_resized.jpg
After some supper the kids racked out and I got things prepped for the morning. The kids wanted to try to make it off trail in time to grab a shower before the 7hr ride home in a van with everyone else. So it was a 0500 wake up and goal of 0600 on the trail (0609 actual), about 5 miles to the trailhead. The trail was fairly easy for the first bit while hiking in the dark. Then we passed through the scratch-o-matic zone...
20210414_065329_resized.jpg
Hit the intersection with the Ivestor Gap trail as the sun rose.
20210414_071135_resized.jpg
They crunked it out and we hit the trailhead at 0900, a few minutes before my wife rolled up with the van. Five fairly rough miles in just under 3hrs and still in great spirits and ready for more. Great hike.