Big Creek Campground, Laurel Gap Shelter

[illabelle]

36 and 37 are still closed due to bear activity, as is the Cosby Shelter. I have been checking every day for the last two weeks as I had reservations for 37 and 38 a few weeks ago and was going to do that loop and had to cancel my plans (went to Grayson Highlands and had a great time instead).

I'm thinking of getting reservations at 38 and just doing the Big Creek/Shallow Fork to Mount Sterling in one day. Looks like 11 or so miles. Just not sure about the climb to Mt Sterling at the end of the day.

What do you think?

We didn't hike Swallow Fork (not Shallow Fork - common mistake, I'll bet), so I can't comment on how hard it would be. I know there was a lot of elevation loss on Gunter Fork, so you'll almost certainly have to do some climbing. If it's overgrown like Gunter, it won't be fun. On second thought, Gunter Fork was one of the few trails in the area that is NOT open to horses, so that might account for it being so narrow and steep. Swallow Fork IS open to horses and just might be a real decent trail.

We met a group of 4 horsemen/women at the intersection of Swallow Fork and Mt Sterling Ridge trails. We showed them on our map which trails allowed horses. Saw horseshoe prints in the trail all the way to Laurel Gap.

[TNhiker]

for reference----36 is the first site you'l come to from gunter to big creek.............and it has the horse stalls..

37 is the bigger one that's down near swallow fork (first campsite one comes to after coming up from the big creek picnic area)......


at one point in time, before the new reservation system, 36 was a horseperson campsite only...........hikers had to stay in 37............apparently they have changed that with the new reservation system......

and 37-----its the most popular site in the park............not only with people but with mices....

[TNhiker]

If you do go up Swallow Fork, you've got a big decision to make regarding water. From that direction, the #38 water source is more than 1/3 of a mile BEYOND the camp site and 300' DOWN. So you'll have to add 2/3 of a mile to your hike and an extra 300' climb to the end of your hike... OR... carry water from Swallow Fork.

there's also a spring on mount sterling trail.................at the intersection with mount sterling ridge, take the right (going down to the gap and not fire tower) and its down that a little bit.......

not sure how well it runs----when i was there in may a few years ago, it was flowing good..............not sure about summer time flow though.....

[HooKooDooKu]

there's also a spring on mount sterling trail...

Do you have GPS coordinates for that spring?
Looking at Google Earth and Topo maps, I can't make our for sure where it might be located. It looks like it COULD be as little as 0.2 miles down the trail. But the terrain just doesn't look like it could support a spring that high on the mountain. There is another spot more than 0.45 miles from the intersection that looks promising because it's close to the head-waters for one of the forks shown on the topo maps. But that would make for almost a 1 mile round trip.

[TNhiker]

No I don't have coordinates as I don't carry gps ...

i just saw it when I passed it on the way up to the campsite...

[CamelMan]

Nice trip report, thanks. I did parts of this yesterday out of Cosby, but took Swallow Fork instead of going all the way to Gunter Creek. Swallow Fork is rocky, but mostly near the bottom IIRC. According to my Garmin, it gains (in my case, loses) 2090 ft over 3.8 miles. (Big Creek was about 1180 over 5.3.)

[illabelle]

Nice trip report, thanks. I did parts of this yesterday out of Cosby, but took Swallow Fork instead of going all the way to Gunter Creek. Swallow Fork is rocky, but mostly near the bottom IIRC. According to my Garmin, it gains (in my case, loses) 2090 ft over 3.8 miles. (Big Creek was about 1180 over 5.3.)

Since Swallow Fork is open to horses, I imagine it was much more open than Gunter Fork. Maybe we'll do Swallow Fork another time. Lots of trails, not enough lifetime!

[HooKooDooKu]

there's also a spring on mount sterling trail.................at the intersection with mount sterling ridge, take the right (going down to the gap and not fire tower) and its down that a little bit.......

not sure how well it runs----when i was there in may a few years ago, it was flowing good..............not sure about summer time flow though.....

It was NOT "flowing" this weekend.
In the general area you were talking about, the ground was wet will a little bit of ground flow... but there was no spot where you could expect to collect water.

[Hosh]

Nice trip report, thanks. I did parts of this yesterday out of Cosby, but took Swallow Fork instead of going all the way to Gunter Creek. Swallow Fork is rocky, but mostly near the bottom IIRC. According to my Garmin, it gains (in my case, loses) 2090 ft over 3.8 miles. (Big Creek was about 1180 over 5.3.)

We hiked out of BC site 37 up Swallow Fork to BC site 39 last April. I had the elevation gain at 2200 and the trail is pretty steady the whole way up. BC site 37 was full and fortunately we didn't have any mice issues, but we also hung our pack.

[TNhiker]

It was NOT "flowing" this weekend.
In the general area you were talking about, the ground was wet will a little bit of ground flow... but there was no spot where you could expect to collect water.

we collected water there when we went up in may a few years ago......

but, as i said earlier----i wasnt sure about the summertime flow........

[Ashepabst]

hey Tnhiker... your PM inbox is full