Tag: Benton MacKaye

One night backpack from Amicalola Falls

~ steve houghton ~ Leave a comment

Summary
Distance: 25.7 miles
Elevation gain:5,580 feet
Type: Out and back
Start: Dirt road, passenger car accessible. (map)
AllTrails Day 1: map 10.3 miles
AllTrails Day 2: map 15.4 miles

It’s thru hiker season on the Appalachian Trail and I always enjoy staying at a shelter on the AT so I can meet and talk to the folks who are just starting their hike northward. This year an overnight stay at a shelter was not a good idea due to norovirus. According to the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club, the virus is very widespread on the trail throughout the Georgia section. To make matters worse, hand sanitizer doesn’t kill the virus, only diligent hand washing will protect you from the awful stomach bug. Of course, running water on the trail is difficult to find, making proper cleanliness all but impossible.

There is a really pretty campsite that I’ve seen before that was a prefect distance for me, so I decided to give that site a try instead of staying at a shelter. The site was great, right next to a small stream and somewhat protected from the strong winds that blew overnight.

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Georgia Loop 3-day Backpacking Trip

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Summary
Day 1: 18.8 miles / 4,843 feet elevation gain AllTrails map
Day 2: 19.9 miles / 4,656 feet elevation gain AllTrails map
Day 3: 22.2 miles / 4,616 feet elevation gain AllTrails map
Total: 60.9 miles / 14,115 feet elevation gain
Type: Loop
Start/End: Paved lot. (map)

The Georgia Loop is a hike that combines parts of three trails, the Appalachian Trail, Duncan Ridge Trail and Benton MacKaye Trail, to make a loop. The terrain is rugged in places, water can be scarce in certain sections and campsites can be hard to find too. In other words, perfect for an adventure, and one that I’ve wanted to do for a while.

We hiked the loop in a counter-clockwise direction over Memorial Day weekend. By starting at Woody Gap and hiking counter-clockwise, we would be Duncan Ridge out of the way while we were fresh.

One of the more interesting aspects of the hike was how I came about hiking with a partner. I answered a question on a Reddit post and my answer mentioned that I was scouting Duncan Ridge for a future Georgia Loop hike. Someone replied to my post asking when I planned to hike and suggested Memorial Day weekend. After a few emails, we decided to do the hike together in four days. I didn’t know it at the time I started emailing them, but my hiking partner turned out to be a woman. My father-in-law had the best question about my plan to hike with a woman I had never met in person — “Does Anne know?”. As it turned out, our hiking preferences matched perfectly. We both liked to start hiking early, stop rarely and briefly when we do, and we hike at the same speed.

We did two things to make the hike easier. First, we left a car near the mid point of the loop, the spot where Benton MacKaye crosses Hwy 60. This allowed us to keep two days of food in the car making our packs lighter. Secondly, we stashed 10 liters of water in Mulky Gap a week before the hike in case water has hard to get. As it turned out, the water source was flowing at that location, but it was still easier to get water from our containers. It was very comforting to have certainty about water when hiking a long first day.

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Benton MacKaye Trail – 2 Day Backpacking

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Watson Gap to Thunder Rock Campground

Summary
Distance: 18.6 miles
Elevation gain: 3,527 feet
Type: One way with shuttle
Start: Dirt road, passenger car accessible. (map)
End: Dirt road, passenger car accessible. (map)

This hike completed our springtime goal of hiking all of the Benton MacKaye trail in Georgia, about 82 miles worth. We even chalked up a bonus 11 miles or so of trail in Tennessee. The Benton MacKaye was a big change from last week’s trip on the Appalachian Trail, we only passed one hiker on the trail during our two days. That solitude is a big appeal to the trail. As we got closer to the Tennessee end and the Tanasi trails, we did see a few mountain bikers and two trail runners, though.

Day 1
Watson Gap to Double Spring Gap
Distance: 8.3 miles
Elevation gain: 1,788 feet
AllTrails map (here)

Day 2
Double Spring Gap to Thunder Rock Campground
Distance: 10.3 miles
Elevation gain: 1,739 feet
AllTrails map (here)

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Benton MacKaye Trail Dyer Gap to Watson Gap

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Summary
Distance: 12.1 miles
Elevation gain: 1,970 feet
Type: Loop
Trailhead: Watson Gap. Dirt road, passenger car accessible (map)
AllTrails map (here)

We wanted to finish this part of the Benton MacKaye Trail (BMT), which is only 4.5 miles, to set up a 20 mile BMT backpacking trip that will take us to the Ocoee River in Tennessee. So, we put together a loop hike that used the South Fork Trail and the Pinhoti Trail as well as about 4 miles of Forest Service roads.

Overall, we both enjoyed the hike. It was a beautiful sunny Spring day, wildflowers were great, we found an intriguing historical marker, there are nice waterfalls on the South Fork of Jacks River, and we even took a quick dip in the river to cool off. Another plus is that we saw very few other people on the trail — a group of 3 horseback riders on Pinhoti, a group of 3 hikers on BMT near Dyer Gap, and a single hiker on South Fork.

But, you need to balance that against the rest of the hike. The Forest Service roads were pretty lightly traveled, but there was an occasional car or truck that passed. I think the biggest consideration about our loop is that the South Fork Trail and Pinhoti trails are old roads that see a fair amount of horse use. It was a dry day for our hike, but there were areas where the trails would have had a lot of mud on a wet day.

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Benton MacKaye Trail section 8

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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.

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Benton MacKaye Section 1 and Appalachian Trail Loop

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Summary
Distance: 9.7 miles
Elevation gain: 1,980 feet
Type: Loop
Trailhead: gravel road, passenger car accessible (map)
AllTrails map (here)

Today’s hike was unusual in that we were able to hike in a loop while completing a Benton MacKaye section. We started from the AT parking lot on FS 42. Springer Mountain is where the Appalachian Trail starts, so the parking lot was mostly full. There are two other good starting points. The “Alternate Start” on the map is a Benton MacKaye trailhead with a small parking area. Three Forks on FS 58 is also a good alternative. If you start at Three Forks, just park along the road. FS 42 and FS 58 are both dirt roads, but are passenger car accessible. The other road that climbs to Winding Stair Gap, FS 77, has gotten very rough and should probably be avoided in a car.

Our hike was great fun even though we didn’t include the Springer Mountain summit to avoid other people due to Covid concerns. There are two shorter loops possible as well. I think that the Southern loop that includes Owen’s Overlook is the better of the two due to the great views and the Springer Mountain summit coolness factor.

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Benton MacKaye Trail- Stanley Creek to Boardtown Rd

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Summary
Distance: 12.55 miles
Elevation gain: 2,590 feet
Type: One way – shuttle
Start: Dirt road, passenger car accessible. (map)
End: Paved road, small dirt pull out. (map)
AllTrails map (here)

We’re still working on section hiking the Benton MacKaye Trail (BMT) northbound, and covered miles 40.8 to 53.5 today. Today was very interesting and varied, the first half of the day was on Forest Service land, while the second half was all private property. Given that it’s spring time in Georgia, we were also treated to spectacular wild flowers.

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Benton MacKaye Sections 5 and 6a

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Summary
Distance: 11.4 miles
Elevation gain: 2,090 feet
Type: One way, shuttle
Start: Dirt parking off paved road (map)
End: Dirt road, passenger car accessible. (map)
AllTrails map: here

This is my second day of working on my goal to section hike the Benton MacKaye trail from its start on Springer Mountain to the Tennessee state line. This hike continues from where we left off last time, Wilscot Gap on Hwy 60. As expected, the trail is well maintained and easy to follow. Heading out of the gap, the trail climbs steadily to the summit of Tipton Mountain where you can see glimpses of Lake Blue Ridge through the trees. After a descent into a saddle, the next climb is the to summit of Brawley Mountain which has an old fire tower. Eventually, the trail comes down to the Toccoa River, and then continues along paved roads to the Fall Creek Falls trailhead, the end on this hike.

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Benton MacKaye Sections 3 and 4

~ steve houghton ~ 1 Comment

Summary
Distance: 11.1 miles
Elevation gain: 3,291 feet
Type: One way, shuttle
Start: Gravel pull off from paved road. (map)
End: Gravel pull off from paved road. (map)

The Benton MacKaye trail (https://bmta.org/) starts near the summit of Springer Mountain and extends around 300 miles to Davenport Gap on the northeast side of the Smoky Mountains. I plan to section hike the trail in Georgia, a distance of almost 90 miles. I’ll day hike some sections of the trail and backpack others. This was day one.

This was a fairly difficult hike with a lot of elevation change. The trail was easy to follow with its signature white diamond blazes and well used tread. AllTrails map here.

Benton MacKaye sections 3 and 4
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