Shining Rock

First off, a warning to the beginner hiker, the Shining Rock Wilderness Area is a true wilderness area. There are no blazes - only the occassional Tarma. Either a map, which you should never hike without, and/or a book with a good trail discription is absolutely madatory if you have never hiked this area. Also, don't expect to see the view of Shining Rock in the picture above along the Shining Rock Creek Trail or the Old Butt Knob Trail. This picture of Shining Rock was taken from Tennants Mountain along the Art Loeb Trail. Again, another hike - another blog entry.

Now that a disclaimer has been given and the picture situation has been cleared up I can get on with the hike. On 11/7/09, me and two friends, Jay and Ashleigh, decided to do the 9.5 mile loop to Shining Rock in the Shining Rock Wilderness Area. The drive to the trailhead was an easy one, but that's where the easiness of the trip ended. We parked at the Big East Fork Parking Area off of Highway 276. The plan was to take the Old Butt Knob Trail over to Shining Rock and take Shining Rock Creek Trail back to the car. Well, as they say, the first casualty in battle is always the plan.



As we headed along the Shining Rock Creek Trail, the unblazed Old Butt Knob Trail shrouded itself in a mountain laurel patch and we walked right by it. Therefore, we continued along the Shining Rock Creek Trail, leaving and rejoining Shining Rock Creek several times. This was a fairly gradual ascent headed towards Shining Rock. The trail was sometimes lost in the leaves and hard to determine where the trail actually went. Nonetheless we always seemed to find way back on to the trail. As we began our steepest ascent nearing the Art Loeb Trail, the trail was only designated by the strategically placed Cairn. Finally, the Shining Rock Creek Trail came to an end as it dead ended into the Art Loeb Trail.



We followed the Art Loeb Trail directly to the top of Shining Rock. Along the Art Loeb Trail are several designated camping areas, which apparently are popular camp sites as they were all full. From where the Shining Rock Creek Trail dead ends into the Art Loeb Trail is but a couple hundred yards to the summit of Shining Rock (5,940 feet). The views from atop the summit are limited because there is not a 360 view; however, the views are rewarding looking towards Tennants Mountain, Black Balsam and Mount Pisgah. After summiting this peak we used a books description along with input from other hikers and we finally stumbled upon the allusive Old Butt Knob Trail.



The Old Butt Knob Trail was a fairly easy trail to begin with as it crossed Dog Loser Knob and Old Butt Knob. There were a couple of places to pull off for vistas looking across the Shining Rock Wilderness Area; however, after crossing Old Butt Knob it was completely down hill. The combination of a slick dry leaves and a steep decent combined to make this an almost miserable downhill trek. We all encountered our own stumbles and falls, some more than others, but all found it equally miserable. We finally rejoined the Shining Rock Creek Trail, where we should have picked up the Old Butt Knob Trail to begin with, and hiked back out to the Big East Fork Parking Area.

I can't say that this is one of my favorite hikes as it was not blazed, it had a pretty tough ending, and the reward in the end wasn't what I thought that it would be. However, at least I can say that I hiked it now.

Until the next hike!