I'd been trying to get my younger sister Jan out hiking before, but never had any luck. A guy she works with had been picking blueberries at Black Balsam and she wanted to go. He had taken the Art Loeb Trail over Tennent Mountain and beyond then back, but I thought we'd try something a little different. We got a fairly early start and were greeted by fog on the Parkway. Not to worry - it'll burn off. Instead of stopping at the Art Loeb Trail, I continued out Black Balsam Rd and parked at the end. There were quite a few cars, but still some spaces left.

I thought we'd head out the Ivestor Gap Trail to Ivestor Gap, then continue on up the Art Loeb to where we wanted to pick - and we did, but the fog stayed so thick that I didn't get the camera out until we had finished picking and were almost back at Ivestor Gap. The fog was beginning to lift and here you can see several families camping just outside the Shining Rock Wilderness Area boundary. I hope they picked up all of their trash :(