Bartram Trail Thru Hike

[hailstreak]

Hi everyone,

I am thinking about thru hiking the Bartram Trail later this year and I am curious if anyone has hiked it recently. I hiked a small section south of Rabun Bald years ago, and I always thought it would be a nice hike. I really enjoyed my BMT thru hike last year and I am looking for something with similar solitude, but shorter in length as I don't have as much time to take off this year. Are there any good resources that I should look at for planning the hike? How difficult is the terrain? Any significant difference north or southbound? I imagine that transportation at the beginning and end may be a challenge. I'd appreciate any insights. Thanks!

[Ashepabst]

John Ray has a good guide on the Bartam, but I'm not sure if he's updated in awhile:
https://www.amazon.com/Bartram-Trail.../dp/B004BUZGFE

[royalusa]

Did a yo-yo of it in 2011. We decided to do a yo-yo after struggling to get a well-known shuttle guy in the area to return our call and email.

The guidebook we used was based on Johnny Malloy’s book Long Trails of the Southeast. We loved the trail and would highly recommend it! We loved the remoteness [feel] of the trail. We had camp to ourselves every night and saw very few backpackers during the day. Actually, we only saw one backpacker on the entire trip, excluding the last day. The Bartram Trail is very well marked and maintained, except for the number of blow downs, which perhaps had just not been cleared yet for the year. I believe we counted around 100 blow downs in less than 95-miles of actual trail (i.e., not roads).

Just a heads up - There's a 14-mile road walk that we did going both ways. We found some of the most memorable parts of our BMT and BT hike on the road walks. Sometimes it is all about your mental perspective.

Our journal details info about water (I think the longest stretch was 9-10 miles) and info on the road walk in case you decide to do it. http://www.trailjournals.com/journal/entry/349088

Have fun!

[Dogwood]

Thx everyone.

RoyalUSA: I think I have that Malloy book in storage. Does it cover the entire BMT? Maybe, it's Malloys SC book I'm confusing it with? Like that you detail the road walk. That's harder to find.

[royalusa]

Thx everyone.

RoyalUSA: I think I have that Malloy book in storage. Does it cover the entire BMT? Maybe, it's Malloys SC book I'm confusing it with? Like that you detail the road walk. That's harder to find.

This is the book we used: https://www.amazon.com/Long-Trails-S.../dp/0897325303
and yes, it did have the entire BMT. But it did not detail the road walk, so we did that in our journal, so that if you were to hit it in the middle or end of the day, it would give you some ideas as to what camping options may be.

[Dogwood]

TU for the prompt answer. Now, I have to get back to work.

[hailstreak]

That is great information, royalusa. I'll check out your journal and probably order a copy of Molloy's book just to get an overview of the trail. If the Bartram is well marked and water sources plentiful, I probably don't need a step by step guide. I've used some shuttlers in the area before, so I should at least be able arrange a ride to the trailhead. If the trail ends at Cheoah, I should be able to get down to the NOC and find or arrange a ride there. Still thinking about it, but I feel like it might be happening. Thanks!

[hailstreak]

Any suggestions for a good time to hike the trail? It would have to be summer or fall for me this year. I would prefer the fall to avoid the heat, but I don't like the idea of hiking during hunting season, especially solo. September or the first half of October look possible, as gun/deer season doesn't start until the second half of October, though archery season begins earlier.

[Dogwood]

The Long Trails of the Southeast by Malloy needs to be updated unless it recently has been. It was published in 2002.

"This guide covers 600 miles of trails in 6 states, including the 104-mile Pinhoti Trail, the 90-mile Benton Mackaye Trail,..." Those trails are currently much longer. Buying the book expecting it to cover these trails as they currently exist would be a mistake. And, I'm a Johnny Malloy fan. That's why I asked "does it cover the entire BMT?" For the BMT Royalusa said it does.

[royalusa]

The Long Trails of the Southeast by Malloy needs to be updated unless it recently has been. It was published in 2002.

"This guide covers 600 miles of trails in 6 states, including the 104-mile Pinhoti Trail, the 90-mile Benton Mackaye Trail,..." Those trails are currently much longer. Buying the book expecting it to cover these trails as they currently exist would be a mistake. And, I'm a Johnny Malloy fan. That's why I asked "does it cover the entire BMT?" For the BMT Royalusa said it does.

Ah, my mistake. You asked about the BMT and I read it as BT, since we were on a BT thread. The Long Trails of the Southeast by Malloy does cover the entire 110.7 BT trail, at least as we hiked it in 2011. When we did the BMT-AT loop hike in 2010 we used a pre-released version of Sgt Rock's BMT Guidebook (http://bmtguide.com/) along with National Geographic #781 Cherokee National Forest Map and the Great Smoky Mountains $1 Trail Map. Sorry for the misstatement and confusion.

[Dogwood]

I get all that abut the fig 8. I was simply stating about the book in regards to the title and publishing date. It's good to know the book covers all the BT though. Thx

[Dogwood]

Sorry for the confusion. Should have said does it cover the entire BT? For the BT RoyalUSA said it does.

[meat803]

This may be late but my 2 cents.......

I lived in GA for 12 years and the Bartram was my first trail. Section hiked 90% of it. It was pretty lack luster except for a few spots. A hiking friend of mine that sectioned all the local trails wasnt a fan at all. With my experience now, I wouldn't recommend thru hiking it unless you are dead set on doing it. You can hitch pretty reliably as the locals are nice and most that picked me up didnt even know about the trail. There was only a couple small sections in the GA section that were noteworthy like Rabun. The NC was much better but nothing to brag about.
If you are just looking for a trail in that area, you would be better served doing the Foothills trail as a thru hike. I have thru hiked the foothills twice and besides Burrels ford area, only saw a couple hikers the whole trek. The Foothills is better blazed, maintained, tons of waterfalls, better water access, better maps,views, easy to get shuttle from one end to the other, etc etc. I would recommend starting in Oconee and heading east to Table Rock. 77 miles. The Chatooga river section wasnt my favorite as it was beautiful but the miles seemed to drag. Lots of washed out roots and you swear the miles are twice what they are stated. Both times I didnt get my miles done for the day in that section when I wanted to. Rolled into camp hours after I thought I would be done and I am a 2000 miler. Burrells ford seemed 20 degrees colder than what expected and lots of loud campers. Probably the only people you will see on the thru hike are in that section.

[Ewker]

This guy has videos of his thru hike (plus other trails) on youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/AO2143/videos

[Uncle Joe]

I did the Pinnacle Knob section a couple of days ago. Getting ready to head out from Warwoman Dell two young ladies finished up a section from the NC line. I was actually impressed with them out there. I've seen others on the BT. Once a whole line of young people popped out onto Earl's Ford Road when me and some friends were up there doing a Jeep ride. I haven't done much of the BT but I would say if you like hiking for hiking's sake it might just be the ticket. And if you like minimal human interaction on the trail, then that's another tick in favor of it too.

[Dogwood]

Definitely greater likelihood overall of encountering more people pedestrians on a FHT thru than BT thru not that the FHT is crowded.

When thru hiking the FHT I intentionally do greater Chattooga River mileage to make me alter to a more moderated pace. FWIW, for wiser energy expenditure and better fatigue management I Iet the terrain dictate to me pace rather than expecting the trail conditions to suit a desired routine pace. I seek to cooperate with the conditions by adjusting my approaches rather than rigidly impose myself on a trail.