CANTON – It seemed like a good "let's-celebrate-spring" idea. Take a hike up Cold Mountain - the legendary peak made famous by novel and Hollywood film.

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Map of the Cold Mountain hike, credit: R. Bradley / CITIZEN-TIMES

But the morning of the spring hike in late March dawned like a mid-January joke with a 16-degree wind chill and the hovering threat of snow. The group of seven intrepid hikers put faith in their Carolina Mountain Club leader, 74-year-old veteran hiker Tom Sanders, and set off to conquer their own little Everest.

Sanders' first words at the start of the Art Loeb Trail - the main route from Camp Daniel Boone to the summit of the mythic mountain - wasn't exactly reassuring.

"Don't let the first 10 minutes scare you," he told the group, which included novice hikers Peter Billingsley, 44, a high school teacher, and Mohsin Mohammed, 38, an economics professor at the University of Tennessee, who both live in Asheville. "It's steep."

The group started at 9 a.m., and the first 10 minutes stretched into four hours of steep ascents. But the strenuous climbing helped to keep the hikers warm, and the absence of leaves gave way to sweeping views, taking the minds off the hill climbing.

"This is a good hike at any time of year," said Sanders, who has led the hike about 12 times. "We like hiking with snow."

The route, which starts out around 3,200 feet elevation and gains nearly 3,000 feet to the top, winds through a forest thick with rosebay rhododendron, mountain laurel and Carolina hemlock. The destination - a snowy Cold Mountain - is visible for much of the way through the bare trees. It all lies within the Shining Rock Wilderness, an 18,483-acre area within the Pisgah National Forest.

Being a wilderness area, there are more restrictions than apply to the surrounding forestland, Pisgah Ranger District volunteer Bruce Ryden said.

Motorized vehicles and equipment are prohibited, he said, so that means no chainsaws. The many downed trees that have fallen across the trail, which make the hike slow-going, must be removed by old-fashioned elbow grease and cross-cut saws.

Also, while camping is permitted, campfires are not. This is the place to practice Leave No Trace hiking and camping - treading as lightly on the land as possible. Groups are limited to 10 people and there are no blazes, or trail markers, so it's smart to go with someone who knows the way. The extreme elevation changes can mean cold weather at the top at any time of year - synthetic layers, hats, gloves and raingear, along with first aid kit, plenty of water, map and compass, are essential.

"When the book first came out (in 1997), I did the hike three times in one year because I thought there would be a high demand for it," Sanders said. "And there was."

While it's impossible to track the number of people climbing Cold Mountain, Ryden said that calls for information and interest in the mountain have increased since publication of the novel and release of the movie.

"A lot of people think they want to climb up there, but it's a strenuous hike," Ryden said. "And it's not a bald, so when you get up there, it's all in the trees."

And there's no McDonald's at the top, no bathroom and no phone service.

After about four miles, the group came to a large, level nook in the woods known as Deep Gap. Large logs made a good resting spot, but the cold kept the group from lingering long.

The next mile of climbing was the toughest - this time, it was all uphill, and all through blustering snow.

"I guess this is why they call it Cold Mountain," Mohammed said.

But none of the rime ice and snow, runny noses, sore legs or wind chill mattered once the group hit the top. For those familiar with the novel - a weighty saga of Inman, a Confederate soldier who has had enough of the war and treks back to Cold Mountain after a serious battle injury - they felt a kinship with Inman, the same rush of relief and excitement that he met after the harrowing walk across North Carolina.

For those who hadn't read the book, it was just as thrilling, a major feat accomplished and a great way to spend a snowy, early spring Wednesday away from the office.

"I'm ready to go tomorrow," said Billingsley, eating his lunch on a sunny, south facing rock near the summit, basking in the Shining Rock Wilderness glow. "This is invigorating. You see postcards like this, but this is really what they look like."