First backpacking trip of 2024 … February 2 – 4, 2024
Included … Mom, myself, and Sally
Day 1 … February 2, 2024
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The initial plan … Park at Daniel Ridge and take Lanning Ridge Road to see Toms Spring Falls & Upper Toms Spring Falls before taking Daniel Ridge Loop up to Farlow Gap trail to connect to the Art Loeb and make our way up to Black Balsam for the night.
With plenty of parking at the trailhead (we were the first ones) … we get our packs on and hit the trail!
Pretty quickly we arrive at Toms Spring Falls after a short uphill to warm up our legs. While we were enjoying the falls – the sunshine appeared over the ridge and we got to see a rainbow in the waterfall! I decided since there was an opening in the tree canopy – to fly the drone. It offered a great perspective on the falls and the surrounding area (including our upcoming climb!). After taking in the scenery (perhaps for a bit too long) we continued along Lanning Ridge Road past Upper Toms Spring Falls – unfortunately there’s a lot of deadfall – still a pretty waterfall but wish you could get a better view. A short ways after that we turned right onto Daniel Ridge Loop trail which was relatively moderate. However, once the loop is intersected by our intended trail – Farlow Gap trail – things got harder. I’ll preface that this trail is very difficult (especially with our winter 25+ lb packs on) … there’s 3 substantial water crossings – where I chose to walk through instead of trying to balance on wet rocks. The worst crossing is at Shuck Ridge Creek Falls – I can’t really explain it – other than it was deeper than the others and a pretty steep drop right at the crossing (especially coming from the south). And unfortunately, the sufferfest continued – with a relentless uphill that might possibly be worse than the notorious Pinch-In trail in Linville. It’s very steep most of the way and it got very rocky just below the actual gap (just past a beautiful campsite). And after we reached the gap and our junction with the Art Loeb … the sufferfest continued with continued uphill elevation gain. We were wiped out and made the decision to end our day about 0.6 mile from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Finding a nice campsite in some trees … with a decent enough fire ring to make a small fire to eat dinner by – before calling it a night and resting our weary feet & legs!
Things to note … this is a relentless uphill slog totaling about 3600’ of elevation gain over 8.2 miles. The scenery while gorgeous is very tough. I don’t recommend this for beginners – even if you’re just day hiking. The stream crossings have no bridges and if you’re short you may have issues rock hopping. If you’re not interested in seeing the falls – turn left onto the Daniel Ridge loop instead of staying on the Lanning Ridge Road.
Day 2 … February 3, 2024
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After a night's rest … we woke up to a cloud inversion – we didn’t have a clear view but it was still neat to see. Mom tried to finish her meal from the night before … she didn’t have much of an appetite due to being so tired – for breakfast. She said it wasn’t too bad … but she also shared it with Sally (so I don’t know that she actually enjoyed it all that much!). Afterwards, we hit the trail – knowing we had continued climbing to go. We make our way finally to the parkway and got a nice view of the mountains and valleys we’ve been climbing over the last day. After a short rest … we continue on the Art Loeb northbound doing more climbing. I will say … the improvements on this section of trail from the Parkway up to Silvermine Bald are much appreciated. We didn’t have to crawl our way up like I remember having to do the last time I was on this trail.
So, THANK YOU!! To the trail maintainers who work so diligently to make our trails better and safer!
We did encounter some ice and snow as we continued our climb but nothing too slippery or dangerous thankfully. Finally, we managed to make it to Silvermine Bald where we enjoyed a relatively flat hike out towards Black Balsam. Along the way, we found a nice sunny spot on a rock and we proceeded to just lay and enjoy the warmth while eating lunch. I will note that all along this section there were several patches of snow and ice – some we had to carefully walk on and some we had to find a way around when it was more ice than snow. We proceed onward toward our goal of Black Balsam – crossing FS816 – and making our last climb before camp! To most, this is a typically easy/moderate climb – but when you’re tired and have already climbed over 600’ for the day any uphill is daunting! The trail once above treeline was mostly snow and ice free – but where things had thawed with the day’s warmth – it got very muddy and soft. Which made things slower going. But we finally made it to the top and I threw my pack down to mark our camp spot. We enjoyed the view and more sun while setting up camp. At this point, we had to decide how we wanted to get water. We ended up taking the Art Loeb further north to Tennent Mountain before backtracking and taking the spur trail to Ivester Gap and retrieving water from a pipe just before we had to climb back up the Art Loeb spur trail. I’ll note that most of the descension from Black Balsam down to the spur was snow/ice covered and the spur trail had a lot of snow/ice along with unfrozen water that couldn’t be avoided. The view from Tennent was awesome and having extra water for camp was nice. We finally made it back up to camp and had dinner while enjoying sunset. We then made a small fire while we finished our desserts and then proceeded to bed as the wind decided to start blowing…
Things to note … the climb from the Parkway to Silvermine Bald is a relentless one that’s been much improved with the trail maintenance that’s happened – but it’s still a tough climb! Having Black Balsam to ourselves was an amazing experience. The water source on Ivester just past the spur trail junction is pretty dependable and not too bad to get to. This is a gorgeous area that’s an open bald … if you bring anything here – pack it out!! Also, this trail is really soft if it’s wet … and I could see this being very muddy and messy.
Day 3 … February 4, 2024
Good morning! What a night – it was windy all night. Sally wasn’t a fan and I ended up bringing her into my sleeping bag so she’d relax (the tent flapping had her stressed out). I think bringing her in also calmed me … even though I know I’d set my tent up correctly I just had worse case scenarios running through my head. Thankfully, at the first sight of daylight – we poked our head out into the bitterly cold wind and saw the beauty before us. So, I grabbed a foam sleeping pad threw it on the ground and brought my sleeping bag out and enjoyed sunrise and early morning from the comfort of my sleeping bag! Mom briefly poked her head out but then immediately retreated back into the tent … this is probably a normal reaction to windy and cold! After enjoying the view … mom & I sat in the tent together making tea/coffee and getting stuff organized for breaking camp. At this point, my mom was cold and was just ready to get moving. So, after a few minutes we got all packed up and left the mountaintop.
Thankfully, with the drop in temperatures the mud from the previous day was frozen hard – so the hiking down was a lot easier than the day before. Once we got to the forestry road … we took a left and walked the road to the Blue Ridge Parkway – where we continued our road walk up to the junction with the Art Loeb. Our main reason, was to avoid ice. Typically, I’m not one for road walks – but having the opportunity to walk on the Parkway was a unique experience. We made it to the Art Loeb and took it south to Farlow Gap where we decided to take the Deep Gap Road down the mountain instead of retracing our steps (we didn’t want to cross those streams again). The Deep Gap road was pleasant to walk and was more of a trail than a road with great winter time views of the valleys below and the mountains beyond – the only issue was just before Deep Gap the trail/road got really muddy and sloppy – thankfully we found a way around it. Just below Pilot Mountain we got back on the Art Loeb to connect up to FS475 and the final 2.1 mile to the car – which seemed endless. Especially with there being lots of cars and cyclists on the road. But there was a nice cascade along the road and what looked like a slide area. And after what seemed like forever, we saw the car through the trees and felt a wave of thankfulness that we survived and were soon to be in the comfort of heated seats! 😊
Things to note … I highly recommend summiting Pilot Mountain if you haven’t before – unfortunately I didn’t have the time or energy this trip. I would consider this a difficult loop … particularly all the climbing the first and second days. It’s worth the effort to get Black Balsam to yourself – but it does get windy up there. I would only walk the parkway portion when the parkway is closed. This is a dog friendly backpack … Sally had no issues at all other than the wind rattling the tent. You have multiple route options to make this as hard or moderate as you’d like…this was a blessing as we were able to adjust our plans according to how we felt.
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