Art Loeb and Ivestor

This hike started out as a boyscout hike, but one by one they all dropped out.  With plans changing, Randy and I changed our original hike plans and decided we would head up to the Art Loeb trail on the Blue Ridge Pkwy.  This is the hike that my family took a few weeks back on Black Balsm Knob.

Randy and I packed up our backpacks and headed our for his first backpacking adventure.  We stopped at the Pisgah ranger station for some maps and advice and the Park Ranger was glad to help.

Maps in hand, we hit the trail.  We would hike around three miles on the Art Loeb trail throughout the day on Saturday.  There was some elevation changes and some narrow areas to cross, but Randy was doing great.

We stopped briefly at Tennent mountain and took some photos.  Storm clouds were threatening our dry weather, but Randy promised me they would blow over.  With a 70% chance of rain, I was thrilled when Randy was right.

We hiked to the entrance of the Shining Rock Wilderness area and evaluated our options.  Most backpackers would set up camp at this spot from what the Ranger told us.  Going into the Wilderness area presented additional challenges.  There are no campfires allowed in the wilderness and the trails are not marked.  Without a map, we would be challenged to stay on course.

We chose to turn back and use a trail side camp site that we had passed earlier in the day.

Sitting in our camp after building our tent, it was time for a fire.  That's where things started falling apart.  Let's just say that it rained really hard the night before and everything was still wet.  Fifteen matches, two candles, and some burnt up toilet paper later, we still had no fire.

Instead we spent our evening eating wild blue berries and then going to bed in the dark.

The night time sounds of camping here are different than what I have been used to.  Most times I'm camped along the water somewhere and an army of insects sing through the night.  Up in the mountains and away from any streams I didn't hear any insects through the night.  Instead I heard only the sound of wind pushing its way through the nearby tree tops.  It was a great sound to listen to.

In this next picture, Randy is huddled up in the camo sleeping bag.  It was cold and the sun was just coming up.

We woke up at six to watch the sun rise above the mountains in front of our camp.  It was cold, maybe sixty degrees, and the wind chilled both of us.  After the sun was fully in the air we felt a noticeable warming.   By seven thirty we were packed up and hitting the trail back to the car.   We took an old road that is the Ivestor trail back to the car.  There wasn't much elevation change and it was a bit shorter.

In total, we hiked approximately five miles.  Randy did great and he's already talking about doing it again.  Next time we bring a lighter and some other fire making supplies with us.