The Dirty 30: Backpacking The Art Loeb Trail with My Best Friend

9/22/2020

💬 UNREAD MESSAGE (1): I received a text one evening from my best friend since the third grade that read something like, "We should go on a road trip somewhere next week like that one time in high school when we told our parents we were sleeping over at each other's houses and snuck off to the beach."

BY: ALLIE BYNUM

Girls Just wanna have fun.

We mulled it over and thought about road tripping the East Coast, as neither of us had been up to visit Acadia National Park before. However, with the ongoing pandemic and less than a full week's visit, a 15-hour each way road trip seemed like a stretch.

This is the last year of our twenties, and we will both hit The Dirty 30 mark in early 2021. We have been friends for nearly a lifetime, and Meg insisted we do something spontaneous to celebrate the ending of one decade and beginning of another.

💬 I messaged her back,
"What if we hike The Art Loeb Trail?"

The Art Loeb Trail had been on my bucket list for almost 10 years and was falling further down the list collecting dust. My best friend was hungry for a 20-something adventure, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity and person to embark on 30-some miles with. And thus, we set out on a mission to complete 30 miles before we turn 30.

Just a Couple Ladies & Their Packs

Photo By: Megan Burnette

"We loaded up our packs with three days of food and opted to keep it simple with all dry stock- Clif Bars, protein shakes, gummies, energy packs, and peanut butter. Meg brought a water filter and CamelBak, and I started out with three and a half full Nalgene water bottles (I borrowed my daughter's mini bottle which was handy to carabiner for quick access).

DAY ONE: Davidson Campground to Cedar Rock Mountain

We juggled which direction we wanted to trek Art Loeb, North to South or South to North. The weather indicated it was going to begin raining around 2:00 pm on Day One. We headed out the door around 6:30 am with a few hours drive and dropped the vehicles off at each location. We decided to hike the trail South to North, saving the best views for last.

Meg got a rental car, and we dropped my truck off at the Daniel Boone Boy Scout Camp after swinging by a drive thru for coffees and donuts. She had mentioned getting a map a couple weeks before our adventure and I, with my last minute planning, realized we definitely needed one the night before. After reading up on the wilderness section of the trail, I knew Meg was right about a map and hoped we'd be able to find one in the morning near the Davidson River Campground trailhead, where we would begin our journey.

DETOUR

From the parking lot, we snapped pics with the trailhead sign and almost embarked down a fishing trail with my early signs of misdirection kicking in- ha!

We met head to head with locals who were stoked about our journey to trek Art Loeb before even walking two steps from the rental car. A local woman was so excited for our girl's backpacking trip and notified us about the bears being especially active recently. The next fellow was so thrilled that he couldn't stop talking about the trail, and we nudged away from the conversation in hopes to beat the rain.

After crossing a bridge, we were met with a detour sign immediately leading us up a forest service road that ran parallel to Art Loeb. Meg was tracking our journey on the AllTrails map and saw that we were still close to the actual trail but winding up and around the mountain following the detour signs.

Photo By: Megan Burnette

We hiked a few miles on the forest service road and found the official trail. Shortly after, the rain found us and the stoke was high! We broke out our emergency ponchos and rain gear and kept on hiking further into the woods with pep in our step. We had gotten a later start than anticipated after stopping into The Hub earlier to grab a Nat Geo Pisgah Ranger District Map- which I would say was essential for this trip. The mileage was catching up to us as dusk was setting in. We came up on something large, white, and shiny. I studied the mysterious object camouflaged by the woods, and Meg suggested it could be a hidden waste plant or some kind of underground facility. Then we thought it was like a large, actually humongous stretch of plastic preventing trail erosion or something. As we got closer, the object that came into view was in fact a massive wet rock face that turned out to be Cedar Rock Mountain- our magical basecamp on Night One in the Pisgah National Forest.

Day One
EST MILEAGE: 10 Miles
BASECAMP: Cedar Rock Mountain

DAY TWO: CEDAR RocK Mountain to Pilot Mountain

Pilot Mountain stands out most vividly from this leg of the journey. In this blog entry from a Brevard outdoor retailer, I read this quote that accurately describes the ascent up Pilot Mountain.

If you are a glutton for punishment you will enjoy every steep step up Pilot Mountain.

We stocked up on water which was a mini adventure on its own and made sure our reserves were filled. With all of the rain, the creeks were flowin'! We crossed through Butter Gap and up and over Chesnut Mountain. After coming down from what I believe was Rich Mountain, the trail started with a mini staircase that lead right into the climb up Pilot. We hiked over the first section, eyeing down potential camps for the night. The climb surrendered at a faux summit where there was an ideal camping spot tucked away in the trees.

It looked like the perfect place to pitch a tent for the night nestled in the comfort of the forest, but I felt a strong pull to ascend the remainder of the trail and see what views may lie ahead. Rain clouds lurked in the background of our hike on Day Two, and we hadn't seen any views beyond the trees since we started. We committed to starting the second half of climbing up Pilot and searched for a camp spot along the way. The trail jumped right into steep and short switchbacks turning up the mountain.

Photo By: Megan Burnette

I toted my slightly overstocked pack up the treacherous inclines. As we neared the top, we caught a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains through the trees. I couldn't help the smile from spreading across my cheeks and sang the rest of the way to the top. The switchbacks, thigh burns, and big rocks were worth every step for the reward of this climb. I thoroughly enjoyed the steep rocky near scramble to summit and reckon I'd go back and make a day hike out of it! We were truly earning our turns (and our protein bars)! This climb had become my favorite section of our trip thus far, and we trekked to the top of Pilot Mountain to pitch a tent so we could stick around for sunrise.

Photo By: Megan Burnette

We tucked ourselves into our sleeping bags before nightfall just in time to fall asleep to the rain. It sounded like it piss poured most of the night, as we tossed and turned to thoughts of bears lurking around the mountaintop. We woke up in time to catch the sunrise and floated among a sea of clouds laced around the surrounding peaks. As the clouds passed, we were able to point out the direction we were headed for the day and prep for another day out on the trail.

Stopping to appreciate the spider who built his web atop Pilot Mountain.

DAY TWO
EST MILEAGE: 8.7 MILES
BASECAMP: PILOT MOUNTAIN

DAY THREE: PILOT MOUNTAIN to FLOWER GAP

On Day Three, the scenery changed drastically. We hopped across the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the forest went from green and bushy to red, cedary, and quartzy! As we trekked up the short and sweet Silver Mountain, we appreciated the beauty of the trail we were climbing. We were pushing for miles, because we were kind of confused on how far we had actually been hiking up to this point. It felt like reverse-squatting, as I climbed up 4 foot rock ledges and tangled roots zigzagging up the way. The subtle mica and quartz that lay beneath my feet seemed to evolve into thicker chunks of mostly quartz the closer we got to Black Balsam Knob and onward. The environment shifted through a rocky meadow forest, and we picked up the pace along the flats to play catch up on our miles.

Photo By: Megan Burnette

I would say this was our most emotional day of the trip. We were nearly halfway finished and caught between reminiscing on the journey thus far and keeping motivation to move forward. We crossed a lot of ups and downs since walking over the Blue Ridge Parkway, and now it was time to hike up Black Balsam where we would catch some of the best views along the trail.

Photo By: Megan Burnette

Black Balsam Knob is the highest point of The Art Loeb trail peaking at 6,214 ft and also where the plaque commemorating Art Loeb sits. Arthur J. Loeb (1914-1968) was a man and hiker who "deeply loved these mountains." He was a conservationist and former activist from the Carolina Mountain Club.

We chilled on Black Balsam for a half hour, taking in the views and indulging a Clif Bar luncheon. We were not sure how long we would be hiking for throughout the day and faced the fact that we would not be completing the trail in three days as planned. Looking religiously at the Pisgah Ranger District map, it did not seem likely that we would make it to the Daniel Boone Boy Scout Camp in our ill-estimated 10 miles for the day. We were likely somewhere around 5 miles in with around 11 to go and feeling the mileage catching up to us.

Tennent Mountain

At 6,040 ft elevation, we arrived atop Tennent Mountain. The descent from Black Balsam was rocky and winding, and my trekking poles were a delight to have on hand both here and back at Pilot. The clouds were rolling in quick and caught up to us at the top!

Tennent Mountain is named after Dr. Gaillard Stoney Tennent (1872-1953) "who in love of these mountains" created organized hiking throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains. At summit, we passed a thru-hiker who warned us about getting lost near Flower Gap. He said that if it weren't for using his AllTrails map, he would have probably still been wandering around out there. We trekked down Tennent until we arrived in a meadow. The wind was picking up speed, as we took a small snack break and got our bearings. The map showed that we were not too far off from crossing into wilderness.

SHINING ROCK WILDERNESS

I saw the Shining Rock Wilderness sign and squealed with excitement! This feeling was my second favorite on the journey to the punishing climb up Pilot Mountain. We had read many posts of other thru-hiker's experiences getting lost due to lack of signage in the wilderness. We had also noticed a trend of bear sightings primarily within wilderness boundaries. Meg was preserving her cellphone battery in case we needed to use the map to stay on course, though it was already dwindling down pretty low. We studied the Pisgah Ranger District map thoroughly before embarking into the wilderness and got semi-lost right off the bat. We tried the first trail which led us to a sign that read "Trail Closed due to Erosion." We followed the second trail a ways in and realized it was leading us to the summit before turning around after a half mile or so. Lucky trail number three was the winner, and we found ourselves back on track hiking Flower Gap.

We hiked through the dense wet shrubs of Flower Gap around Flower Gap Mountain. It felt very "beary" to say the least, and we were winding down in need of a camping spot for the night. We agreed to trek a bit further to shave some miles off of the following day where we would hope to reach the end of the trail at the boy scout camp. There are not many pics from this leg of the trip, but we have a whole head full of memories that I'll save for Meg & myself the next time we catch up over a hot, steamy cup of coffee and warm, dry jammies.

DAY THREE
EST MILEAGE: 8.7 MILES
BASECAMP: Flower Gap

DAY FOUR: Flower Gap TO Camp Daniel Boone

Meg woke up before sunrise and asked if I was awake. "I am laying in a puddle," she said. She noted that her hip was in water and the rest of her bag was mostly dry. We had two emergency blankets on hand just in case, but she said that she was holding in warmth. We decided to wait until sunrise to hustle on our next move. I had estimated we had 11 miles left to go from Black Balsam, and we really weren't sure how far we had hiked from that point. We tossed the idea of going back to Black Balsam and calling the remainder of the trip off, since everything was soaked. Four days earlier, the forecast had called for non-stop rain and scattered thunderstorms for the rest of the week. The thought of ending the trip early tugged hard at my heartstrings, and I couldn't bear the thought. I assessed our gear: 2 plastic ponchos, 2 emergency blankets, 3 headlamps with fresh batteries, 1 flashlight, 1 hunting knife, 1 pocket knife, 1 Clif Bar, compass, map, First-Aid kit, plenty of blister bandages, Meg's few snacks and protein bar, and an unlimited supply of water that just kept on pouring down. We silently agreed to keep going, and I may have pushed our limits a bit. However, I thought that we had all of the supplies necessary to safely hike the last leg of the journey with just enough cellular juice to use in case of emergency/ getting lost. It was game on.

We trudged through creek beds, and everything about us was soaking wet- even our souls, ha! We hiked passed trail volunteers who were lobbing away at overgrowth in the piss pouring rain (thank your local trail volunteers, they choose to do this at their own will!). One hard hat fellow said, "There are many lakes ahead!" For several miles hiking in the rain, I pondered if he meant "many" or "mini," because there were indeed many, mini lakes that we hiked in throughout the Shining Rock Wilderness!

Photo By: Megan Burnette

Somewhere along the trail, we stumbled into a crytal forest made up of huge quartz rocks! They were everywhere in all shapes and sizes, and I had never seen anything like it. I am continually amazed at the hidden wonders that lie in my backyard within hours of where I grew up exploring in these mountains. I would have never guessed something like this place existed in my wildest dreams. It turned out that we were lost off the trail about a half mile or so and would have never stumbled into this amazing crystal forest otherwise. You never know what you're going to find when you find yourself lost off the beaten path in life, can I get an AMEN?! Anyways, we used Meg's last drops of phone juice to help navigate us back to the Art Loeb Trail and onward we went towards Stairs Mountain.

Photo By: Megan Burnette

Fast-forward through a better than anticipated climb up Stairs Mountain, an interestingly risky descent through the narrows, skipping past the "bonus hike" to Cold Mountain, and 3.8 miles down to Camp Daniel Boone that felt like 20, and we arrived back at the truck completing our sporadic 30-ish mile hike before we turn 30. It was real, and it was good- it was really freakin' amazing, and I can't wait to tell my daughter about it one day.

DAY FOUR
EST MILEAGE: 9+ MILES
BASECAMP: Daniel Boone