Two Days of Backpacking in the Shining Rock Wilderness

Well, this weekend was an overnight backpack with members of the Harvey Brooms Group of the Sierra Club to the Shining Rock Wilderness.
This was basically the same hike that Will led last August. On Saturday we went across Black Balsam Knob and Tennent Mountain then down to Investor Gap on the Art Loeb Trail, which is part of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. From there it was a short trip up the Investor Gap Trail to the junction with the Fork Mountain Trail. 

We hiked that to the open area we camped at last year Will named Kim's Gap. It was a great evening that concluded with an amazing view of the stars, we even saw the Milky Way and some shooting stars as part of annual Perseid Meteor Shower. What was just as amazing was we weren't supposed to be able to see anything. The weather forecast was for an 80 percent chance of storms Saturday, but we got great weather both days. 

Just like last year, we hiked back to the Investor Gap Trail and back to its trailhead. We finished the outing at Bocelli's Italian Eatery in Waynesville for lunch. It was another great overnight with some great people (Group photo by Will Shelton).