Hi all - is there a trail that connects the AT at Bly Gap, NC to Bly Gap Road? Hard to tell on Google Satellite. I'm wondering how to get into Shooting Creek, NC from there. Thanks!
Hi all - is there a trail that connects the AT at Bly Gap, NC to Bly Gap Road? Hard to tell on Google Satellite. I'm wondering how to get into Shooting Creek, NC from there. Thanks!
Not as far as I could tell. Main problem is no where to leave a car unattended, you'd need to be dropped off. Go as far as you can via road, then follow the draw up to the ridge line and your bound to bisect the AT at some point. Bring GPS.
Wait. You want to leave from Bly Gap? At or near the gap, see if you can find what looks like a path leading down and to the West and that will take you in the right direction. Follow the drainage down hill. The correct path is the one with the least obstacles. Still better have GPS topo map.
Last edited by Slo-go'en; 04-01-2016 at 21:06.
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Blue Ridge Gap is barely passable by some vehicles.
But just back track to Dicks Creek.
The road to Deep Gap near Standing Indian just opened.
''Tennessee Viking'
Mountains to Sea Trail Hiker & Maintainer
Former TEHCC (AT) Maintainer
You could be dropped off where the gravel starts on Charlie's Creek Road (which crosses at Blue Ridge Gap) and save yourself some milage from Dick's Creek Gap.
They're is access to Bly Gap by the way of Shooting Creek but it is rough..Eagle Fork Rd. until the pavement ends, turn left until it becomes forest service property. Turn left on the gated forest service to the trail crossing at Bly Gap about 5 miles.
I was scouting Charlie's Creek Road near Hiawassee on April 2 as a possible pick-up site and it was pretty much unpassable in my lightweight truck. You would need 4WD with a good high suspension. It is poorly engineered and mostly washed out.
Ron,
Google shows Eagle Fork Rd and Blye Gap Rd forking at 35.011750, -83.627258. Blye Gap is the left fork. Are you saying there's a visible trail to the gap, or are you saying to follow Blye Gap Rd until it ends and then 'follow your nose' to the gap?
I'd like to make this trek. If there's a trail, I will hike it in green season. If it is a bushwhack after the road ends, I need to wait until winter. (I'm just not good enough to navigate through dense greenery.)
It's easier to go in to Bly Gap and hike south. The trail junction is not always clearly defined in the summer when foliage is heavy. It's about two miles from the gated FS road up to Bly Gap. I got a friend of mine to flag the trail junction at the AT but someone removed the flags. Last week I had to call S&R when my day hiker didn't come out at the gate. I hiked up looking for him until 9pm, but then decided he must have gotten lost and drove around on the other roads until about midnight and then made the call. He walked out the next morning.
Dyslexics Untie!
I had a long conversation with the guys at Outdoors 76 concerning getting dropped off at Bly Gap by a shuttle driver. We were told that the road had 2 locked fates and an unmarked trail to get to the AT. It was estimated the distance from the first locked gate to the AT was about 5 miles. This information was received about 2 weeks ago.
Hope this helps
TF
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one locked gate and about 2 miles. half FS road and half trail, blue blazed and ample evidence of horses.
Dyslexics Untie!
I hiked up today from Shooting Creek with a GPS and can perhaps update this thread.
Forest Service road that gives access was gated 2.9 miles from Bly Gap. It was 1.3 fairly level miles from the gate to the trail referred to as #81 on the National Geographic maps. The remaining 1.6 miles up the trail were pretty steep and a bit rough.
Trail was well marked with turquoise blue blazes.
The trail hits the AT just north of the gnarly oak.