Backpacking Cold Mountain to view meteor showers.

Are we nuts or what??? Who hikes Cold Mountain in the middle of November? People who are nuts. We are going to freeze our fannies off but will hopefully see a few meteors. Backpacking magazine has this listed as one of the three top night hikes.

The Leonids can be viewed November 13th-20th with the peak time being the 17th. We will be there on the 15th so it should be a decent viewing. The moon will be about four days from full so this could have some bearing though we should still see the ones at higher altitudes.

This is a very strenuous hike! Please do not sign up for this if you are not physically fit enough to handle serious elevation gain. Also, temperatures could drop to single digits so only experienced winter backpackers should sign up for this.

We will depart from Traveler's Rest at 8:30 and arrive at the Daniel Boone Campground at 10:00. I am hoping to get a site app. 1/2 mile from the summit. The plan is to get there early, set up camp, get to bed early, back up at midnight, and night hike to the summit to see the meteors. Optimum viewing will be between 1:00am and 2:00am. so hopefully we'll manage a few Z's before and after. The alternate plan will be to camp at Deep Gap which mean a longer, more difficult night hike to the summit.

Hike Distance: 5.5m one way.
Hike type: In and Out
Difficulty: Very Strenuous
Elevation gain: 2800'