Black Balsam Knob to Cold Mountain

Shining Rock Wilderness is one of the few spots in the Southern Appalachians where open terrain and wide vistas are the norm, largely due to a 1925 wildfire that started at Black Balsam Knob and burned 25,000 acres in just 3 days.  (There was another fire in 1942.)  It is also home to the famous Cold Mountain, where we will setup camp for the night.

From the Black Balsam Knob trailhead parking lot, we will take the Art Loeb Spur for .6 miles until we connect with the Art Loeb Trail to begin a 5 mile ridge walk across grassy balds including Black Balsam Knob, Tennent Mountain, and Flower Knob.  At the trail junction near Shining Rock Gap, we will continue following the Art Loeb Trail for about 3 miles up Stairs Mountain and then scramble up and down the spine of a ridge called The Narrows until descending into Deep Gap.  From Deep Gap, we will climb up the Cold Mountain Trail for 1.4 miles and then setup camp near the summit.

The next morning, we will backtrack around 4 miles over the Cold Mountain and Art Loeb Trails until we reach the junction with the Ivestor Gap Trail near Shining Rock Gap.  Finally, we will follow the Ivestor Gap Trail for about 4 miles until we reach our cars.

This is NOT a beginners backpacking trip, so please be sure you are in good physical condition.  However, we will not be hiking at a fast or fitness hike pace.

(Thanks to Scott and Laura for the write-up and intinerary.)

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Here's a helpful link for weather on top of Black Balsam Knob you might want to check out:  http://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/Black-Balsam-Knob/forecasts/1894

(The following has been repurposed from Backpacker Magazine, September, 2009.)

The pastoral valleys, rhododendron-filled hillsides, and end-of-the-earth views may make you feel that all is well with the world, but don't be fooled. This range is notorious for thunderstorms, and even snow, any time of year. The movement of the clouds foretells the arrival of a storm-bearing frontal system if you know how to read it. Use this guide to help you decide whether to retreat to treeline or amble on.

1. Towering cumulus
When white, cotton ball-shaped clouds (fair weather indicators) gather, darken, and swell into towering anvils, rain and lightning are likely within 12 hours. Skip exposed highlands by taking the Ivestor Gap or Tennent Mountain Trails.

2. Cirrus and cirrocumulus
These wispy clouds indicate fair weather for the next 24 hours, perfect for shooting photos on a ridge traverse.

3. Stratus and nimbostratus
If you're not already wet, you will be soon. These long, gray, shallow clouds often bring several days of rain and drizzle–but no lightning. Throw on a shell and hike on.

Camp Chat
Black Balsam Knob, the 23rd highest peak in North Carolina, is part of a string of open summits within the Blue Ridge Mountains called the Balsam Range. The grassy, gently sloping summits are renowned for their sweeping views. But these mountaintops weren't always bald. Extensive clear-cut logging denuded some, and fires in 1925 and 1942 that burned so hot that they destroyed the mineral rich topsoil got the others. This slowed reforestation or stopped it altogether. Discuss: Would you support a reforestation effort to rebuild this area to its original condition, even it meant losing the incredible vistas?

See This
Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel
This two-ounce, endangered squirrel glides tree to tree in the cool highlands on flaps of skin that stretch between its front and back legs. It drops its hind end to brake and uses its tail to steer itself to soft landings. The squirrels make homes of shredded bark inside dead pine trunks or in abandoned woodpecker nests and are mainly nocturnal.