Two brothers attempted their first backpacking trip on North Carolina's Art Loeb Trail and had to bail after severe dehydration, navigation failures, and a cliff-edge trail mystery. Their detailed post-mortem offers a masterclass in how not to choose your first trail.
What went wrong
The trip unraveled within hours. After loading a route on onX Backcountry that took them directly up Cedar Rock Mountain instead of around it, they found themselves gasping at the summit with 21-25 lb packs. Then the trail vanished.
Standing at a cliff overlook, completely out of water, they assumed they'd hit a dead end. They retreated and hiked around the mountain instead—adding 2.5 miles and significant elevation. By the time they reached Butter Gap around 6 PM (after starting at 9 AM), both were severely dehydrated and cramping all over.
They spent a miserable night at camp, struggled to eat dinner due to exhaustion, and called for an emergency shuttle pickup the next morning. The remaining 3.5-4 miles to the pickup point were grueling despite no longer carrying full water weight.
The kicker? Their shuttle driver immediately identified their mistake: the trail does continue off that cliff—it drops onto a root scramble mostly used by rock climbers. It's passable with a backpack if you're expecting it, but invisible to newcomers.
The real mistake: trail selection
Experienced backpackers in the 46-comment thread didn't focus on the navigation error. They focused on trail selection.
The Art Loeb Trail features steep, constant elevation gain, long waterless sections, and technical navigation quirks. It's rated as moderate-to-difficult, which translates to "difficult for beginners" in trail rating inflation.
One commenter summed it up: "The Art Loeb is a fantastic trail, but recommending it to first-time backpackers is like recommending a black diamond ski run to someone who just learned to snowplow."
