PT7 - Heflin, Al to Porter Gap

[Gambit McCrae]

What a trip! Over the 3 day holiday I set out on a 53 mile walk from Heflin south bound. What a great and challenging section of the Pinhoti. Here are the high points
1- No road walking! The longest was about a 200 yard walk over the interstate a few miles south of Heflin.
2- Lots of water! Every source on farout was flowing, a lot of these sources are running due to the rain we got last week but I didn't complain.
3- One creek crossing that required wet feet however I didnt not recall the name of the crossing.
4- Tenting spots were great this trip! Lots of options and I was able to tent one night on Cheaha at an overlook

The ride home was the hardest part as I had trouble in the snow storm. 4 hour ride turned into a 6.5 hour drive!
60 miles to the finish line!

[Crossbar]

Nice. I’ve got about 90mi left to finish the BMT and thinking about the Pinhoti for my next.

[Gambit McCrae]

Nice. I’ve got about 90mi left to finish the BMT and thinking about the Pinhoti for my next.

We are backwards, I have 60 left and then I am on to finish the BMT. The BMT miles I have done were back in 2012 when a friend of mine thru hiked it. I went out on a couple trips with him. I did from Jacks river to thunder rock campground and then I did from 20 mile ranger station to the tunnel on another trip.

I have really enjoyed the Pinhoti, it has had plenty of water, views, waterfalls, great campsites. My only complaint with the trail is the road walking. Which if you would like I can share an excel sheet with you that dissects the trail by dirt or road walking. The major ones are thru dalton ga and cave springs ga. They are both 20+ mile continuous road miles.

I also experienced a considerable amount of pointless up and downs on this section. It was a challenging stretch, although it did go over Alabama’s high point.

I would do the Pinhoti again however I would not redo the road walking portions. I would also strongly discourage others from doing the 2 big road portions as they are extremely dangerous. A-lot of times no shoulder.

[LittleRock]

I would do the Pinhoti again however I would not redo the road walking portions. I would also strongly discourage others from doing the 2 big road portions as they are extremely dangerous. A-lot of times no shoulder.

Sometimes road walks can be avoided. For example, the NC MST near where I live has a dangerous 4 mile road walk along highway 70 between Durham and Hillsborough. It made no sense to me as there is a lot of state park land along the Eno River there and it looks like it should be really easy to build a trail there. Last year I talked to a local trail maintainer about it and he showed me a fairly well established "bushwhack" route that local hikers use as an alternative. He said they've wanted to make it part of the official trail for years, but they are waiting for NC DOT to replace a road bridge across the river (and add a pedestrian walkway to make it safe for hikers), so they can connect to the existing trailhead. I've taken the alternative route twice now and it's very nice and quiet since most people don't know about it.

TLDR version: Contact the trail association, they may know of "unofficial" alternatives to the long road walks.

[Gambit McCrae]

Sometimes road walks can be avoided. For example, the NC MST near where I live has a dangerous 4 mile road walk along highway 70 between Durham and Hillsborough. It made no sense to me as there is a lot of state park land along the Eno River there and it looks like it should be really easy to build a trail there. Last year I talked to a local trail maintainer about it and he showed me a fairly well established "bushwhack" route that local hikers use as an alternative. He said they've wanted to make it part of the official trail for years, but they are waiting for NC DOT to replace a road bridge across the river (and add a pedestrian walkway to make it safe for hikers), so they can connect to the existing trailhead. I've taken the alternative route twice now and it's very nice and quiet since most people don't know about it.

TLDR version: Contact the trail association, they may know of "unofficial" alternatives to the long road walks.

I don't think the BMT has any long road walks to speak of, I bring it up because its the next trail on my list...but if it does have one, I will at the least save the road walks for very last. I should have done this on the Pinhoti, do all the trail portions first, and do the road walks if I just have to when its complete....There is a purist gremlin inside of me that will not allow me to skip portions of trail, even the road walks...

[Slugg]

This stretch was probably my favorite section of the whole Pinhoti, the next section you’re going to do is sweet too

I’m with you on the roadwalk/purist mentality. A lot of folks on FB skip the roadwalks but claim to section hike or thru hike the trail. That’s disingenuous imo. I wouldn’t feel right to me saying I’ve completed an entire trail skipping road-walks when the road is “official” trail. (For example the Palmetto Trail has several “gaps” between sections where they simply say there is no trail. I wouldn’t walk that.)

You’re correct in that the BMT doesn’t have any significant roadwalks, just a couple miles here and there.