Trails from GA to VA- Best Bang for Your Buck

[burgundy]

Hi all
I'm the new guy to whiteblaze; and though I've spent a countless amount of hours here within the past two weeks I'm just registering. Ya'll keep a great website running; I've been looking for such a forum for long enough and am I'm happy to have found WB! One step closer to thru-hiking!

So let's get to it:
A friend and I are planning a week around the AT during our Spring break (mid April). Our gear is all set and our college budgets have been adjusted appropriately; it's now my job to find the trail. I've spent enough time within NC and TN to be familiar with some of the AT and most of the parks, but this will be my friend's first time backpacking the East Coast and I'd appreciate some direction as to where we should start a 4-5 day hike.

We're coming from LA so any trail above NC would be possible but uncomfortable to drive within a day. We're looking for the basics: seclusion, beauty, challenge. A four day loop (or any deviation of one) would be incredible. A stop into a town would be perfect. Water to throw my flyrod into would be a godsend. If such a loop is a figment of my imagination, then are there any services that will shuttle us (X)miles to the trailhead?

Any other suggestions?


Thanks for the time guys, it's nice to meet ya'll.

Burgundy

[burgundy]

EDIT:

>2day hikes and scooting around the parks and trails are just as good of an option for us as well.


Burgundy

[Jeepocachers]

I'd look at the trails in the Smoky Mountains. There's lots of trails for loops that include the AT AND fishing. It's my favorite place for just those things.

[Papa D]

You simply can't find a more beautiful and remote wilderness area in the Southeast with virgin timber, cold fast creeks, and rugged challenging trails than the Joyce Kilmer Slickrock and Citico Creek Wilderness. It's a special place surrounded by many more thousands of acres of National Forest - it is located approximately between 3 towns: Robbinsville, NC (about 10 miles east of the AT at Stecoah Gap), Tellico Plains, TN., and Maryville, TN. You must have a map and a compass (unlike the AT) to travel properly in this forest and it is not for the all out "newbie" - it is remote, trails are sometimes hard to follow and there are very few people compared to the AT and the nearby (50 miles NE) Great Smokey Mountain National Park, but if you are looking for a unique and special experience in the SE, this is absolutely it. I have hiked every trail in the combined wilderness (some, many times). Feel free to PM me for more info. - the only person that I know that knows this area better on WB is Tipi Walter - you could PM him too. You can call Frost at Sunrift Adventures in Travelers Rest, SC - he can send you a JK Map. I also suggest the guidebook - it is written by Tim Homan - Frost has one on his shelf - I just saw it last week. If you go, don't miss the plunge into Wildcat Falls - maybe the best remote skinny dipping swimming hole in the South - might be a pretty chilly jump in April.

[burgundy]

Thanks to the both of you. I've only gotten so far as the Eastern side of GSMNP; but from what maps I can find we might've missed out. I can't wait to get back fishing into some water where the visibility is past 6 inches too (though come to LA and I'll show you fish bigger than you've dreamed)..

Papa D- I'll look into it and will PM youg soon. Thanks for the information, it was a great sell. Do you know anything on Pisgah? I know some good people around Brevard as well as nooks and crannies in PNF. Just fishing around for opinions.

burgundy

[Papa D]

Thanks to the both of you. I've only gotten so far as the Eastern side of GSMNP; but from what maps I can find we might've missed out. I can't wait to get back fishing into some water where the visibility is past 6 inches too (though come to LA and I'll show you fish bigger than you've dreamed)..

Papa D- I'll look into it and will PM youg soon. Thanks for the information, it was a great sell. Do you know anything on Pisgah? I know some good people around Brevard as well as nooks and crannies in PNF. Just fishing around for opinions.

burgundy

Yes, I pretty much know Pisgah Forest (I assume you mean the Pisgah Ranger District) like the back of my hand - The Art Loeb Trail runs S-N right through the middle of it. I've run this trail in a day -34 miles (whew) - to do the whole Art Loeb Trail, which is great, you have to do a real pain in the rear shuttle. The other option is one of many loops that you can do around Shining Rock Wilderness - which is pretty much the north end of the Rnager District. Areas around Cedar Rock and Looking Glass Rock are also pretty - there are lots of trails. This area is much different than Joyce Kilmer - you will probably see lots of people in the Ranger District as it is very popular and the Blue Ridge Parkway, highway 215, and highway 476 offer easy access. You will want this map to hike in Pisgah:

www.mapshop.com/Travel_Maps/Carolinas_maps/Pisgah_Ranger_District/Shining_Rock_Wilderness.htm

it's a great user friendly forest -- it is NOT much like Joyce Kilmer which is much more wild, less traveled, and full of mystery --- it is interesting to note that ALL of Pisgah Forest was logged (pretty much clear-cut) in the 1890s - 1950s -- it has recovered quite a bit but logging continues there today. A good bit of Citico Creek wilderness was logged but a whole bunch of Joyce Kilmer - due to good fortune, dams breaking, logging rails flooding, a war, a US President, and an obscure WW1 poet, was never logged - the largest trees (with a couple of small exceptions) - mostly poplars are thriving in Joyce Kilmer. There are 500 year old trees in there - there are also giant old sugar maples, buckeyes, carolina silver-bells, hemlocks (many with wooly adelgid), birch, 150' tall white pines, and even (if you know where to look) virgin black cherry -- there is a ton of wildlife and the streams run clear and deep. I'm not an angler, but there are Spec trout, browns, and of course rainbows in the Slickrock, Santeelah, and Little Citico Creeks.

Caution, if you don't take care of Joyce Kilmer (LNT and so forth) , Tipi Walter may find you and you will be haunted forever - he really does live in there - the unofficial caretaker

[BabySue]

I encourage you to take a look at Mount Mitchell & vicinity. It's not as secluded as Shining Rock or Joyce Kilmer, but it has certain advantages: 1) Close to Asheville (since you mention a stop into town). 2) The southern AT during April is crowded. To give you a timeline to think about, Trail Days in Damascus is mid-May (May18-20 this year), thus the main pelaton of thru-hikers is coming north in the month leading up to Trail Days. For this reason I would also recommend Mt. Rogers (beyond Damascus) if it weren't farther than you want to drive. 3) Another advantage of Mitchell over Rogers is weather. Both could be cold, of course, but Mitchell is 70 or so miles south of Rogers & thus statistically you've a few more points in favor of not freezing at night. It's also farther south of major balds such as Roan & Hump, though not as far of course. 4) Mitchell is a good mix of remote and popular. There's plenty of open space, but when you get to the top you can buy a Coke and use a flush toilet. Since you mention that your partner is a newbie (at least to the Southeast), a place like Mitchell (with its numerous rangers, for example) may provide peace of mind in terms of safety but also a sense or remoteness. The Smokies would provide the same balance, but again they are crowded with NOBO thru-hikers in April.
In any case, enjoy!

[Cuffs]

LA? Which one? Los Angeles? Lower Alabama? Louisiana?

If you want more trail time and less driving, go to the Pinhoti trail in Alabama or the Benton MacKaye trail in north Georgia...

[flemdawg1]

LA? Which one? Los Angeles? Lower Alabama? Louisiana?

If you want more trail time and less driving, go to the Pinhoti trail in Alabama or the Benton MacKaye trail in north Georgia...

The OP is from Louisiana.

[Cuffs]

The OP is from Louisiana.

That may be where he lives, however, he stayed he and his friends 'will be coming from LA'. That still could be Lower Alabama... Or Los Angeles... Why don't you let the OP answer for himself to clarify.

[Duramax22]

i would go to an outfitter near you buy a gsmnp trails illustrated map and plan a trip. the map show fishing spots and all sorts of other points. You can easily find a 4-5 day loop with some time and a calculator.

[burgundy]

The OP is living in the Sportsman's Paradise- Louisiana. I've made note to clarify each detail down to it's most minute, derived point.

Thanks for the opinions, all.

[Cuffs]

The OP is living in the Sportsman's Paradise- Louisiana. I've made note to clarify each detail down to it's most minute, derived point.

Thanks for the opinions, all.

It's third person Thursday? As for sportsmans paradise... I've seen better but it's nice here.

[ajwatson]

I would not recommend doing the entire Art Loeb trail. The southern half is nothing special. I would recommend the section from Black Balsam to Cold Mountain. This is far more spectacular than anything in the Smokies (in my opinion, obviously). If you don't want to do an out-and back, and you don't want to do the shuttle, you can go up to Shining Rock and then take some other combination of trails to loop back around.

Also, I've never been to Mount Mitchell, but I'm sure its quite spectacular. The Black Mountains have the highest peaks east of the Mississippi. Just sayin'