Thing is, not all mountain hikes require driving high into the mountains to reach. Below are five of our favorite winter mountain hikes that offer the thrill of a winter in the mountains minus the angst of driving there.

Doughton Park

Roaring Gap

Think of Doughton Park and its 30 miles of hiking trail and you think of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is often closed by ice for long stretches in winter. Not if you enter from the Longbottom Road access, which sits more than 1,800 feet below the summit. From the trailhead you can pickup three trails to the park’s mountaintop meadow: Cedar Ridge (our pick), Grassy Gap Road and Flat Rock Ridge. Using those trails plus the Mountains-to-Sea Trail/Bluff Mountain Trail at the top, you can create loop hikes of up to 18 miles. And because you’re hiking up the Blue Ridge escarpment’s steep northern and eastern exposure, snow tends to stick around a bit.

More info here

Mount Mitchell Trail

Burnsville

Not even the highest peak east of the Black Hills is immune to a winter assault. Although Mount Mitchell State Park, named for 6,684-foot Mount Mitchell, is frequently closed because it’s accessible via the Blue Ridge Parkway, the 5.5-mile Mount Mitchell Trail remains open to the hardiest — and best prepared — of explorers. The trailhead off the Toe River is below 3,000 feet, meaning it can be dry and pleasant at the base, as wintry as it gets 3,700 feet up on the summit. The first 3 miles or so of this trail are surprisingly mellow, a climb to be sure but eased by switchbacks. Then, it hits some troughs that are not only steep but can fill with ice. Be exceptionally cautious and well prepared for this hike.

More info here

Linville Gorge, Shortoff Mountain

Nebo/Lake James

From the well-known gorge’s West Rim, the trails all descend into the gorge, offering little in the way of views (not to mention that access via the “Kistler Memorial Highway,” a gravel pothole-fest is sketchy in the best of weather). The main access on the East Rim is Tablerock Mountain, which closes in winter. That leaves the 2-mile hike up to Shortoff Mountain on the East Rim’s south side as your best option. Note: this is not a 2-mile cakewalk: it’s steep in spots and gets rutted. But it’s southern exposure keeps it mostly clear of snow and ice, and the reward — another couple miles of hiking along Shortoff’s rocky, pine-pocked plateau is well worth the effort.

Learn more here

Rich Mountain Loop

Hot Springs

What could be better than beginning and ending a hike in Hot Springs, elevation 1,500 feet? The first 8 miles, on the Appalachian Trail, is a steady climb, and includes an awesome view of the French Broad River and the town of Hot Springs (see photo). Continue climbing through a mature hardwood forest and mountain clearings. Pass Tanyard Gap and continue to the spur to the fire tower atop 3,700-foot Rich Mountain for more great views on a clear day. There’s a slight retreat on the AT before picking up Roundtrip Ridge Trail for the mellow hike back to town. Twice on this hike we’ve encountered a well-defined snow line at about 2,500 feet. 12.3 miles roundtrip.

Learn more here.

Art Loeb Trail: North End to Shining Rock Ledge

Canton

Consider this a backdoor entrance into the Shining Rock Wilderness in winter. Most of us are used to entering Shining Rock via the Black Balsam access off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Alas, this is the highest run of the parkway, generally above 5,000 feet in elevation, and it’s closed by snow and ice much of the winter. Enter via the north entrance, at the Daniel Boone Boy Scout Camp and the low elevation road is generally clear. You begin to make up elevation quickly once on the trail, gaining nearly 2,000 vertical feet in the first 3.5 miles up to Deep Gap — and nearly 1,000 more vertical feet if you continue the mile or so to the summit of 5,968-foot Cold Mountain. At Deep Gap, you also have the option of hiking south of the Art Loeb Trail along the Shining Rock Ledge (it’s 2.5 miles along the Ledge to Shining Rock).

Learn more here.

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“I wasn’t weepy or mopey or sad,” recalls Charles West of his bonk near the end of the epic trail run he did September 11 with Mike Walsh and Mike Day. “I just didn’t feel well.” Unwell enough that he couldn’t figure out how to operate his CamelBak for a simple drink of water. Unwell enough that Day, the senior runner of the three, immediately identified West’s problem and prescribed the ultimate horror of any parent of a 3-year-old: Do as much sugar as you can in the next hour. Enough sugar to hopefully get him to the finish four miles down the ridgeline in the Davidson River Campground.

Invoking the philosophy of the founder and director of the Umstead 100-Mile Endurance Run, West notes, “As Blake Norwood says, ultra running is a series of problems to solve.”

* * *

At lunch with Mike Walsh this summer we were talking about a backpacking book I was wrapping up when the topic turned to a popular trip in the book: the 31-mile Art Loeb. I mentioned that I had half-heartedly toyed with the idea of hiking the entire trail in one day.

“That’s funny,” Walsh replied. “I’ve thought about running the whole thing at once.” Less than two months later, he did.

Running the Art Loeb in a day would strike anyone familiar with the trail, respected as much for its elevation as its duration, as daft. Anyone familiar with Mike Walsh would hear the plan and simply say, “Yeah, I can see that.”

Walsh, who is 43 and lives in Apex, is a past president of the North Carolina Road Runners Club and boasts a running resume a marathon long. Make that a double marathon, closer to the length of the trail races he logs regularly, from the nighttime Boogie 50 Mile Run to the Landsford Canal 50K to the Hinson Lake 24-Hour Ultra Classic to the upcoming Mountain Masochist (part of The Beast Series). Since 2001, Walsh has run 47 races of marathon length (26.2 miles) or longer. Comparatively, the 31-mile Art Loeb, even though it’s in the mountainous Pisgah National Forest (including a long stretch in the Shining Rock Wilderness) and the trail’s elevation ranges from 2,200 feet to over 6,000 feet, is a stroll in the park.

Shortly after our lunch, Walsh began looking for runners to share the experience. (Of running, he says, “I love the social side, and have membership in NCRC, Godiva, Mangum Track Club, Runner From Hell and Team Slug.”) Initially, nearly everyone he asked was game. As the September 11 run date neared, only two remained committed: Charles West, 42 of Cary, and Mike Day. West is a relative newcomer to running, taking his first steps in 2006 to lose weight (he has since dropped 60 pounds). The habit stuck: Among his race credits are the Midnight Boogie Marathon and a 35-mile FatAss race. Day is the veteran of the group.

Over the next two months — but mostly over the week leading up to September 11 (there was no scheduling significance to the date) — the team worked on logistics. At 6:20 a.m. on the 11th, from a surreptitious campsite near the north end of the Art Loeb, Walsh, West and Day began their 31-mile day with a stout three-mile, nearly 3,000-vertical-foot climb to the spine of the Shining Rock ledge.

“We were running sort of a pitter-patter,” says Walsh. “It was more of a power hike.”

It was a planned strategy, to not burn out on those first three, challenging miles. The climb took about an hour and 15 minutes, a 25-minute-per-mile pace. The three were content with the pace and confident they could work it down to about 15 minutes per mile once the trail leveled some. In fact, says Walsh, once on the ridgeline the three settled into a pace that ranged from 20- to 22-minute miles.

The six miles across the ledge to Shining Rock passed uneventfully. West’s lone observation: “You have to wear eye protection. I kept getting hit with branches.” Adds Walsh: “I’m short. I go under the branches.”

The lull would end as the three exited the Shining Rock Wilderness and neared Ivestor Gap. Between the Shining Rock Wilderness and the Blue Ridge Parkway, a distance of roughly four miles, is an area unique in North Carolina’s high country. Severe fires in 1925 and again in 1942 burned so deep into the soil that plant life has been slow to return. As a result, the area surrounding Ivestor Gap is one of the few exposed mountaintops in the state. As such, the views are great. But in the summer, the exposure also leaves hikers (and trail runners) exposed to afternoon thunderstorms. On September 11, those storms would come early.

Saturday: Running through the rain, running through low blood sugar, running for a Mountain Dew and a Moon Pie.

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