On May 7, we summited Cold Mountain. What a beautiful hike. The total hike was 10 miles, round trip, with about 3,000 feet in elevation gain. It sounds like a pretty strenuous hike, but it wasn't too bad. The elevation change was gradual, and only steep in a few places. The views from the top were beautiful. We started from the Camp Daniel Boone boy scout camp, on the Art Leob trail to Deep Gap, where the Cold Mountain trail makes a left turn (at a really great camping spot) and climbs 1000 feet in the last 1.5 mile. There was only 1 good spot to refill on water along the hike, and that was at 2 miles in. So bring plenty of water for this hike.
I have to say, this was the prettiest wildflower hike I can remember. We saw Jack-in-the-Pulpit and Trillium. There were Mayapples and bluets. The azaleas were just starting to bloom, given another week they would have been beautiful.
Cold Mountain is part of the Shining Rock Wilderness area. "Congress considered the wild lands of America to be so precious—culturally and ecologically—that it legislated their protection with the 1964 Wilderness Act. This act and follow-up bills identified specific areas, such as Shining Rock, as worthy of special management requirements that are different from most other Federal lands. Wilderness is defined as “…an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” If a choice must be made between wilderness values and human use, preserving the wilderness resource is the overriding value. The guiding principle is to allow the natural processes to shape the environment. The act also required wilderness to retain “its primeval character and influence” and that it be protected and managed so it “appears to have been affected primarily by the force of nature.” You will find no trail markers along this hike, only the information board at the beginning of your hike. Also, there are no fires allowed in the wilderness area, so if you plan on camping overnight, keep this in mind.
I have to say, this was the prettiest wildflower hike I can remember. We saw Jack-in-the-Pulpit and Trillium. There were Mayapples and bluets. The azaleas were just starting to bloom, given another week they would have been beautiful.
Cold Mountain is part of the Shining Rock Wilderness area. "Congress considered the wild lands of America to be so precious—culturally and ecologically—that it legislated their protection with the 1964 Wilderness Act. This act and follow-up bills identified specific areas, such as Shining Rock, as worthy of special management requirements that are different from most other Federal lands. Wilderness is defined as “…an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” If a choice must be made between wilderness values and human use, preserving the wilderness resource is the overriding value. The guiding principle is to allow the natural processes to shape the environment. The act also required wilderness to retain “its primeval character and influence” and that it be protected and managed so it “appears to have been affected primarily by the force of nature.” You will find no trail markers along this hike, only the information board at the beginning of your hike. Also, there are no fires allowed in the wilderness area, so if you plan on camping overnight, keep this in mind.
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