First Day Hike on Art Loeb

Sunday, I had breakfast at the hotel and headed to Gloucester Gap to continue hiking Art Loeb Trail.  The trail started off steep and climbed up, crossing Pilot Mountain Road after about 3/4 mile and again shortly thereafter.  The trail got really steep from here with tight switchbacks all the way up Pilot Mountain.  Some joggers passed and I was impressed anyone could run up such a steep slope.

I took a short break at the top then descended to Deep Gap.  The shelter was just before the trail climbed up Sassafras Knob.

After the knob, which had no view whatsoever, I descended back down to Farlow Gap and a steady climb further up to the parkway along Shuck Ridge.  After crossing,the trail got super steep again climbing up Silvermine Bald.  At the top, it joined the Mountains-to-Sea Trail and finally leveled off for a bit.

The high elevation forest was very pretty.  In another mile or so, the trail crossed Black Balsam Road to complete section 2.

This part of the trail was open and had spectacular views.

The trail was very different than the green tunnel leading up to this point.

I continued a little further to the summit of Black Balsam Knob with more amazing view above 6000 feet.

I had the entire area to myself with the parkway closed, which is very unusual for such a popular location.

It was very windy so I didn't linger long.

The hike back was long but at least it was almost all downhill.  At Farlow Gap, I took the forest roads back to Gloucester Gap to avoid the steepness of Art Loeb.

Driving back to Brevard, I had dinner at Twin Dragons China Buffet and then stopped at the Pisgah Ranger District Office.  Before heading back to the hotel, I wanted to go for another short walk on Andy Cove Nature Trail.  The trail headed up and crossed some boardwalks.

Then I crossed a suspension bridge that reminded me of the one at Eno.

The trail then looped back through Andy Cove.

I took Exercise Trail back to the parking area.