Summary
Distance: 13.3 miles
Elevation gain: 3,530 feet
Type: One way with shuttle
Start: Dirt road passenger car accessible. (map)
End: Dirt road passenger car accessible (map)
AllTrails map (here)
We’re working on hiking the Georgia part of the Benton MacKaye Trail (BMT) and hiked section 8 today from Bushy Head Gap to Dyer Gap. We had intended to hike this section as part of a backpacking trip, but life intervened and so we did a day hike instead. That meant the we left out the two and a half mile road walk from where the trail hits Boardtown Road to Bushy Head Gap. Anne was strong and determined to knock that out too, so we added those miles to the end of our day.
I think that I’ll remember two things about this hike. The first is the spectacular display of wildflowers, especially the trillium. The second is the really interesting old oak on top of Flat Top Mountain.
The day started out completely overcast, very windy, and surprisingly cool. Thankfully, we both added long sleeve shirts to our hiking gear before leaving home. Once we got a little bit away from Bushy Head Gap, the trail felt remote even though we could see a forest service road every once in a while. That feeling of remoteness continued for the whole day. We didn’t pass another hiker on the trail all day, but there was a tent at the Halloway Gap campsite.
I managed to get a few shots of trillium between gusts of wind.
Despite the overcast skies, the greens of Spring still managed to amaze us.
We were near McKenny Gap when we came across what may have been the most spectacular wildflowers I’ve ever seen. The hillsides were virtually covered in trillium.
As we made our way up to Fowler Mountain, the clouds started to break, and we could look through the trees to see the various shades of green on the trees in the valley.
We stopped at two Leave-No-Trace campsites during the day for lunch and second lunch. The Hatley Gap site was quite small, right on the trail, and very exposed to the strong wind out of the north. Halloway Gap had a much nicer site with a stream.. Both sites had cell coverage with our Verizon phones. There was another nice, but small, site near Double Hogpen Gap that was also close to a stream.
Flat Top Mountain was a very memorable location. According to the BMT guide, there was a small community on top of Flat Top Mountain. There is a marker in Dyer Gap that mentions the Dovie Allison homesite, occupied from 1865 to 1895. There is a foundation and concrete slab just off the trail that is in between two huge trees. There are also some footings for a fire tower nearby too.
Today was one of the best days for Spring wildflowers so far this season. Here’s a sampling of other interesting wildflowers from the day.
Steve's Outdoor Life 