I'm planning on hiking the Art Loeb trail this weekend, southbound to Davidson River Campground and wondering about campsite availability.
Is the Art Loeb trail usually crowded with day hikers or backpackers? Should I plan to camp early to get a campsite near Black Balsam or is there enough space to camp even if it gets crowded?
Thanks.
I just don't want to setup camp way too early to get spot. Camping on a bald is not a must. Will check out the side trails.
You're camping two nights? The spots I suggested are perfect for that itinerary. You'll definitely find a spot without much trouble, even in the areas where it can get crowded. If you're making good time, you can hike completely past black balsam too and get a dope spot anywhere in the pine forest section just after crossing black balsam Rd, no matter when you rolled in. There'd be nobody camped there. But Flower Gap has always served me well. Beautiful spot, and you get a nice sunset and sunrise. It's about a mile past shining rock gap, headed south towards Balsam.
Yeah, camping 2 nights. Plan to take a 7AM shuttle to Camp Daniel Boone; so have the entire day to hike. Probably gonna go to Cold Mountain, Shining Rock, & maybe Old Butt Knob. I think Flower Gap would be a good location for night 1 and then Butter Gap for night 2. Thanks!
Can skip Old Butt
Looks like it's gonna be raining all day Saturday; so planning on doing it nobo instead and save the northern section for Monday when it's hopefully clear.
How's the parking situation in CDB? Any problems with vandalism? Thinking I'll leave my car there Saturday AM & get a shuttle back to Davidson River Campground to start the hike.
It gets very crowded. I would plan on heading out early in the day to be able to get to a campsite in the early to mid afternoon. All of the established spots like Black Balsam and Shining Rock campgrounds can fill up.
Early to mid afternoon? Crap, that's way too early for me. Probably need to change my plans.
You can just wing it. There are other spots to camp nearby. It'll work out. The Art Loeb is awesome.
That's probably what I'm gong to do. Checkout adjoining trails; worst case, push it to Deep Gap shelter.
You’d find something on the other side of black balsam road before deep gap, if you needed it. Also several dispersed spots coming down from the BRP before deep gap
Black Balsam is loaded with car campers. Like people with Coleman tents and styrofoam coolers ignoring the no campfires and bear canister requirements. It’s also frankly a pretty crappy spot to camp unless the weather is perfect. We had some serious wind whip up one night and it flattened some of the car camping tents on the bald. I’d rather camp somewhere north or south of there and come up to the bald for views around sunrise and sunset so I could choose a more protected site unless the weather was perfect. Once you get away from that area though the trail is pretty quiet.
Camp at Shining Rock Gap imo...missing that peak would be a travesty (it's a side trail) and is an excellent sunset spot. Or Flower Gap if you must camp on a bald. You'll have a water source nearby and won't be potentially inundated with a massive weekend crew on Balsam. Southern half of the trail, you'll likely be camping alone. Deep Gap, Butter Gap or the spot where trail meets the base of the Cedar Rock wall are the obvious spots.