Camping/Stargazing/Sunset&Rise/Backpacking-Ish

OVERVIEW

Cold Mountain and Mount Pleasant form a easy to moderate figure 8 hike about an hour south of C-ville.

We’ll meet at 9:30am Saturday and start the trip by hiking the Cold Mountain loop (5.8miles) as a day hike. When we get back to the parking lot we’ll grab our packs from the car and hike about 3 miles to the Mount Pleasant summit (same trailhead).

Mount Pleasant has 2 viewpoints, one west (sunset) and one east (sunrise) and will be a good stargazing location, especially with it being dark by 6:00 and near new moon. There are several nice group campsites with fire rings near the summit. In the morning, we’ll hike out about 3 miles in the morning completing the second loop. We will return to C-ville in the early afternoon leaving plenty of time for schoolwork. Being that we are only going a few miles with our packs, I am not sure whether to flat out call it just camping or backpacking. Either way it’ll rock!

So, it will be cold! Expect below freezing temperature but it will still be a lot of fun. We’ll have a campfire, hot chocolate, etc. Being a short but cold hike, the menu will be hearty and weight will not be a large concern.

Basics of what to bring (more details to come):
Lots of non-cotton layers
Hat and gloves
Water
Camera
A bit of cash in case we stop somewhere

Club will provide:
Warm sleeping bags/pads
Tents
Backpacking packs (if you don’t know why this is different than your school bag, then you will need one)
Stoves
Food
Carpooling/gas money

I’ll start with 4 people and increase the numbers when if there is another driver.
Lets go camping!!