Activities
The trail sees many hikers taking advantage of the trail's proximity to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Asheville, in addition to literary enthusiasts exploring Cold Mountain. Hikers around in the northern part of the trail in the Shining Rock Wilderness should be prepared, as the trails are not marked, and there are no signs.
South of Ivestor Gap the trail is outside of the Shining Rock Wilderness, and contains blazes and signs to help with navigation. The trail also shares with the Mountains-to-Sea Trail for a short stretch in the Silvermine Bald area. There are also several side trails that connect to the Art Loeb, including the optional climb up Cold Mountain.
Challenges for the hiker include steep ascents and descents, exposed hiking on high Appalachian Balds, and few water supply points.
To complete the entire trail, most guides recommend either three or four days. There are several backcountry camp spots throughout the trail, with primitive shelters at Deep Gap and Butter Gap.
Starting in 2001, an adventure run of the entire trail is held on the Winter Solstice.
Read more about this topic: Art Loeb Trail
Famous quotes containing the word activities:
“The old, subjective, stagnant, indolent and wretched life for woman has gone. She has as many resources as men, as many activities beckon her on. As large possibilities swell and inspire her heart.”
—Anna Julia Cooper (1859–1964)
“Both at-home and working mothers can overmeet their mothering responsibilities. In order to justify their jobs, working mothers can overnurture, overconnect with, and overschedule their children into activities and classes. Similarly, some at-home mothers,... can make at- home mothering into a bigger deal than it is, over stimulating, overeducating, and overwhelming their children with purposeful attention.”
—Jean Marzollo (20th century)
“Juggling produces both practical and psychological benefits.... A woman’s involvement in one role can enhance her functioning in another. Being a wife can make it easier to work outside the home. Being a mother can facilitate the activities and foster the skills of the efficient wife or of the effective worker. And employment outside the home can contribute in substantial, practical ways to how one works within the home, as a spouse and as a parent.”
—Faye J. Crosby (20th century)