Art Leob to Cold Mountain Then Back Through East Fork
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From Shining Rock 09
We wanted to accept advantage of the boys' summertime suspension and make it a longer hike to jumpstart our Philmont preparations. It was not an official "shakedown hike" merely information technology was a great pre-season prep for our Philmont adventure. We spent the Thursday nighttime at the Daniel Boone Scout Camp and on Friday forenoon nosotros started our hike upward the Art Leob trail to Shining Rock. It had a lot of elevation gain and at 7 miles was the longest backpacking day that I have ever had. 2 leaders who had been to Philmont said that it was as tough every bit anything that they had washed there. Because Shining Stone is a wilderness surface area the trails are not marked and not maintained. A map and compass are a must and we worked hard with the boys on using them and orientating the map with the terrain. Thomas quickly picked upwards on what to do and seemed to enjoy the intellectual challenge of trying to figure out our location and which way to become adjacent. I was used to well marked and blazed trails and so we stopped at all trail junction.
The trails were almost overgrown with vegetation and we had to push our way through the growth. It made united states of america look forward to the well maintained trails at Philmont. Something new we did was to hike out of camp without eating breakfast. This allowed us to accept only one purpose in the morning--getting out of camp. Philmont provides a breakfast that does not crave cooking so you lot can hike for awhile so roll your first long pause into a breakfast balance cease. We arrived at the Shining Rock area early enough to find a nice grassy camping spot close to a spring with some of the sweetest h2o yous have ever tasted (afterwards being purified). Afterward we set up camp and pumped the water the boys wanted to hike up to Shining Rock. In one case again we had to push through vegetation and found our manner to the top. It was pretty bully to sit upwards on those shining rocks with some gorgeous vistas. After hiking back downwards it was time for supper. Mr. Brown gave a demonstration on how to use the Wisperlite backpacking stoves and the boys brainstorm to eddy up some h2o. Ane watch was item helpful during dinner--Drew made sure that no leader had to pack out any excess food. We went to bed fifty-fifty earlier than usual so that we could get to our destination early because it was the primo camping spot on the East Fork of the Dove River.
At 5:30 a.m. Sat morning I gave the group a rousing version of "I'm a Tar Heel Born" and we started the procedure of breaking army camp. Quickly information technology became evident that Mr. Wall had some experience at breaking camp equally he waited patiently for the residual of the states to accept down our dew drenched tents. Then we started down due south on the Fine art Loeb Trail and we stopped at all the trail crossings, as nosotros had before, pulling out the maps and compasses to directly us. This was much harder in this Wilderness area than any other trail I've always been on and I was impressed that the boys were able to work out the right choice each fourth dimension. The trail was somewhat overgrown and again we had to bushwack some to get through. There was a seasonal bonus on the trail--huckleberries, blueberries and blackberries. All of which were 100% organic and locally grown! This was also a gave us a piddling break because it slowed the boys down as they picked berries. The pb hiker was able to clear out some of the spider webs equally they walked but he did get his choice of the fruit. Everyone got drenched with the dew on the plants as we backpacked through the overgrowth.
We finally came to the cease of our part of the Art Loeb trail as information technology reached it junction with Ivestor Gap Trail and Greasy Cove trail. Best of all information technology was time for breakfast and we took our get-go long interruption of the day. After eating we took some pictures and left a written message on the trail for the other Treks who would be passing this style later in the twenty-four hours – the message was "T934". Then information technology was back to map and compass to make certain nosotros took Greasy Cove Trail to our camp site on the Due east Fork of the Pigeon Ridge.
We had been warned that at that place is just one army camp site that can hold a coiffure of our size at the rivers edge and then nosotros have to get to our camp fast. We busted information technology upwardly the trail and made a creek crossing right into a cute empty army camp site on the river bank. This is the place where Mr. Chocolate-brown has traditionally brought his camping merit badge students because of its beauty and the 2000 feet climb back to our leave spot. Quickly we prepare camp to keep away any poachers into our site. Then information technology was time for lunch on the rocks in the river. What could be meliorate than dejeuner on the river with your feet soaking in the absurd river water? The boys and Yours Truly started trout fishing after luncheon. Drew had a real trout fishing rod and he was making elegant casts that were worthy of the movies, just all we always got was some nibbles (well, I did grab a piece of wood). And so despite the weather condition forecast of just a 10% take chances of rain, we had a deluge of pelting for over an 60 minutes. We establish out after that our Troop'south other treks that were within v to seven miles of the states did not get a drop. While we huddled under the rain fly Philip regaled united states of america with stories of all his girlfriends. Finally the rain concluded and we investigated to see if our tents stayed dry. Things were dry inside and wet outside which is just what you want and before you know it, information technology'due south time for supper. A good hot repast and early to bed considering you can not have a burn down in a wilderness area, plus we had to become up at 6 a.m. to beginning our hike dorsum to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Information technology is and then different to be going to bed at twilight but after a difficult twenty-four hours of backpacking and an early on morning time wake up call it sure makes a lot of sense to me.
We woke up and started the process of breaking military camp. So Mr. Robertson discovered that he had set his pack downward on a spot where a previous backpacker had decided to …um, how can I say this delicately………..become #2……. and had not dug a "cat hole". This was a sign of selfishness considering the person had made his mess inside an established camping area and it was inside 100 anxiety of the river, plus it had gotten all over Mr. Robertson pack.
Subsequently Mr. Robertson cleaned up his pack we started our river crossing. Luckily the river had calmed downwardly later the downpour of yesterday and rocks that had been nether water were one time over again exposed. They made squeamish stepping stones across the river. Nosotros all successfully crossed the river and we started our journey UP to the Van on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Mr. Wall kept chanting "2000 anxiety, that ain't nothing", only I was not a believer. Mr. Brown had a beautiful spot picked out for our Sun Breakfast that was a mile from our camp equally we traversed the Bridge Army camp Gap Trail. We crossed a small bridge then sat down to consume breakfast next to a waterfall and a pool. This was much better than eating in camp. We pumped some water and ate our meal and and so it back to our hike. After awhile nosotros ran into the Mountain to Sea Trail (MST) so it was time for some "elevating". This is why the Troop uses this trail to get the elevation gain needed to consummate the Camping Merit Badge. Information technology was hard work but at the end nosotros had a great payoff when we were able to become to the summit and drop packs and go visit Second Falls. The boys used the h2o to cool off and everybody enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Then nosotros had to drag the boys away and so we could stop upward at the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Troop leaders had left our white van in the parking lot and a note telling u.s. that they were on their way home in Big Brown. Information technology was fourth dimension for u.s.a. to load up the van and head on downwards the highway.
Source: https://934highadventure.blogspot.com/2009/08/
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