Art Loeb Pics are posted!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2224403292950.2132749.1333779465

We're going to start posting public links to the Facebooks pics of every trip...just a little easier!

But wow, what a trip and what pictures! The Migrant Highlander consensus was this was our best trek yet! If you have a weekend in the Southeast to do some hiking, you can do a lot worse than the stretch of the Art Loeb trail in the Shining Rock Wilderness, about 35 minutes south of Asheville, NC. 360 degree views in every direction for about 4 miles straight, you can see for about 50 miles in both east and west directions on a clear day.

June 2011 Highlander Trek is Art Loeb!

We lead off with the new Migrant Highlander creed!
"In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, and in water, there is bacteria." -David Auerbach (2002)

More details to come, but we have now decided on our June 2011 Migrant Highlander trek....the Art Loeb Trail in the Pisgah National Forest about an hour south of Asheville!

We'll start with the somewhat obvious tour of the Highland Brewing Company in Asheville, NC...after all, they did name the beer after us, right?! And maybe we'll have to sample a few more of the local breweries just to make sure that our brewery is, in fact, the best as we suspect.

Then it's off to the Pisgah National Forest via the Blue Ridge Parkway out of Asheville, NC to our loop in what has been described as the greatest and most scenic group of balds east of the Mississippi.

Due to both logging and a series of wildfires more than a century ago, the Shining Rock Wilderness Area we're going through has multiple 360 degree vista views in every direction. We'll go ridge hopping through the Black Balsam Mountain Balds at 6000+ feet elevation and approach Cold Mountain (yes, that Cold Mountain...let the Come Back to Me Enman jokes begin!)

The Pisgah open camping rule will be a new experience for the Highlanders, as we've always been where there are designated campsites. About 20 miles of ridgelines and waterfalls...can't wait.

The Migrant Highlanders Know how to Paddle!

What a great trip canoeing on Fontana Lake and backpacking in the Smokies along Forney Creek! While more pictures and video are forthcoming, thanks to Google Earth we calculated a few interesting statistics from the weekend...

Migrant Highlander Canoeing Statistics
1st Day: 5.45 miles (2.5 hours)
2nd Day: 8.93 miles (3.5 hours)
3rd Day: 8.5 miles (2.5 hours)
Totals: 22.8 miles (8.5 hours)

That's averaging 2.7 miles per hour or 2.3 knots per hour! I ballparked that we would average about 5 miles per hour...so, boy, was I wrong! Good exercise though, some of us more than others...though I don't think it's right to mention the Jackal's name here, so I won't.

-Navi

Canoeing and Backpacking on Lake Fontana and Forney Creek (GSMNP)

The next Migrant Highlander trip is fast approaching!

(March 17-20th)

After celebrating St. Patty's Day Thursday night in Bryson City, NC, we'll begin our trip canoeing on Lake Fontana Friday to Double Island (BC 78...a true lake island accessible only by boat) where we'll hopefully catch and cook some fish, camp the first night, and wake up to lakeside views the next morning. Saturday morning we'll hike up the Forney Ridge Trail to Andrew's Bald which should have some fantastic 360 degree panoramic views, both on the ridgeline and at the highest bald in the Smokies. We'll nestle down in the backcountry Steel Trap campsite (BC 68) that night. Sunday, we'll hike back in a loop down the Forney Creek Trail (pictured) which should be a nice, downhill third day hike out back to our canoe on Lake Fontana. We'll have a short paddle back to our lake entry point where the truck should be waiting for us.

Round trip 23.0 miles on foot; about 12 miles in the canoe.

This is a picture taken of Forney Creek, but check out this guy's photography blog...pretty amazing photos from around the world, including a few from the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. http://www.wunderground.com/blog/HeyBoyHowdy/comment.html?entrynum=7&tstamp=200710

http://www.cumberlandtrail.org/new_river.html

here is this weekends trip, 2 days, one night, 17.2 miles, 20 degree nights!

going from Cove Lake to Norma road, staying at Greens Branch on Saturday night.