Agile Trekker: Cold Mountain, Shining Rock Wilderness

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
5/18/2022	12.7 miles	7 hours 57 minutes	2,775'	1.9	419.7

Parking:

Camp Daniel Boone, north end of Art Loeb Trail

Maps:

100 Favorite Trails of the Smokies and the Carolina Blue Ridge (for directions)
Pisgah Map Co, Shining Rock and Middle Prong Wilderness Areas (for navigation)

Directions:

See 100 Favorite Trails map

Carolina Mountain Club Challenges:

South Beyond 6,000 - Cold Mountain
100 Favorite Trails - #47 Cold Mountain
Pisgah 400 Challenge - #141 Cold Mountain Trail
Pisgah 400 Challenge - #146 Art Loeb Trail from Daniel Boone to Cold Mountain Trail

We joined the Carolina Mountain Club for a hike up to Cold Mountain via the Art Loeb trail. This was a challenging but nice hike. The elevation gain was doable for my fitness level. But the footing was challenging with lots of roots and rocks. Going downhill was also challenging - my knees were a bit achy by the end. There is a large landslide from tropical storm Fred that goes across the trail. We were able to cross it slightly below where the original trail would have been. It was doable, but on the way back I had to partially go down an embankment on my rear end.

We encountered several types of wildflowers. Pink azaleas were blooming. We saw several jack-in-the-pulpits. Our group took a break at Deep Gap, where the Cold Mountain trail leaves the Art Loeb Trail. We continued up more steeply to a rock outcrop, a little below the summit, and had our lunch there. We had a great view and could see the Art Loeb following a ridge below us. We took a short walk to the summit, which had an even better view. This is a wilderness area, so the trails aren't blazed. There was a sign at Deep Gap however.