Haunted?
In 1984 a hiker died of hypothermia at the shelter. Some people -- not me, unfortunately -- claim to sense the presence of a ghost here.
I hike this section quite a bit in the summer. Unicoi Gap is less than 20 miles frrom my house. I don't camp there much, it is usually my turn around for the in and out. I'll remember to leave a broom up there next time. I occaisonally gather wood and put it under the shelter to dry for the campers, and sometimes leave a roll of toilet paper in a Ziploc, sometimes tea light candles and disposable lighters. The real local crowd rarely climbs the mountain. I've lived here going on 5 years, and have never driven to that parking area at the base of the mountain.
The elevations on this in and out are challenging, with three big climbs and three long drops. I've done in with a day pack in 4 hours. Last time I was there (seeing a friend off for a week with his son), I was coming down Rocky to Unicoi Gap so fast my ears were popping. And yes, the boars will charge you. They are very territorial, but will not persue you for long if you run. They just want you out of their space. Be sure to hang your bag, a boar can seriously mess you up. If you get in an area you can't run away from one, get a tree between you and the boar. They attack on the run, and are not very agile. It will get frustrated shortly and leave you alone.
The town you see off to the west is Helen. It's about 8-10 miles south of Unicoi Gap. Actually, you have to go thru Robertstown first, but that's really just a village, and doesn't throw much light. The town to the south west is Cleveland, where I live. If anyone is in the area and wants to take a night off, let me know. My wife works at a hotel in Helen, and can get discounted rates for hikers. Helen is a cool little Bavarian village tucked away in a valley, and is really something to see. Lot's of great places to eat and drink, lot's of little shops, during the summer and thru Oktoberfest it's a biker's paradise. Check out the International Cafe. The best Reuben you ever had, 24 ounce drafts, and a covered deck overlooking the Chattahoochie river. You can catch a 2 hour tube ride down the river for $3, including the bus ride up the river to your starting point. I love living here.Originally Posted by Rain Man
Directional information corrections from Tray Mt.
Helen is mostly due south of Tray. "South-southwest" approx. 200 degrees.
It is Blairsville that is due west.
Cleveland is more west than Helen from Tray Mt., approx 215 degrees.
here's a map http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...,0.688019&om=1
Tray Mt. is just north of the junction of Tray Mt. Rd. and Indian Grave Gap rd.
www.ridge2reef.org -Organic Tropical Farm, Farm Stays, Group Retreats.... Trail life in the Caribbean
Ghost?
I've never sensed the presence of a ghost in the shelter but one night as I tented close by I was awakened by someone hollering pretty loud. I got up to see what was going on and a hiker sleeping in the shelter got bit on the finger by a mouse. I told him before he went to sleep that the mice had been bad and he might want to tent, but he said the mice didn't bother him. Maybe it was the ghost that bit him.One hiker i know of was run in the shelter by a wild hog. I use to maintain this section from Tray Gap to the shelter and all the times I've been there I haven't incountered a hog, although seen lots of places where they had been rooting. Also the GATC will soon be redoing the shelter and I believe a picnic table and a new moldering privy.
Whoever made the decision to face this shelter in the direction it faces, is an idiot. This place is totally useless in wind and rain.
"If you don't know where you're going...any road will get you there."
"He who's not busy living is busy dying"
My highest dangerous wildlife count in a mile comes from this area: 2 very large rattlesnakes and 1 copperhead all directly on the trail within 3/4 of a mile of each other (spotted Aug '06).
You're not kidding! Kelly Knob is a butt kicker at the end of a day's hike!
...Kelly Knob
I love how it is not even mentioned in the Data book! one heck of a climb but love the shelter location for hammocking.
The wind does cut into this shelter- one of the reasons I didn't stay in there (besides using a hammock).
Beautiful Views from Tray. You aren't kidding about Kelly Knob. That is a difficult climb, it comes out of nowhere (with no warning from the data book).
I remember my first time at Tray Mtn. Shelter. `91.There was this weird middle aged dude called himself The Pilgrim , it was obvious he had been living there for several days, was very ecentric, had a HUGE Goblet for a drinking apparatus for ex., and I made the mistake of asking him about his trail name, that ended up into a 30 minute conversation where it became clear he was suffering some sort of mid-life crisis and wasnt the sharpest knife in the drawer, and was very paranoid about the weather. It was a lovely sunny day with onyl a few wispy white clouds, but he looked at those clouds with fear and did not want to leave. Granted it had been raining for two weeks straight already, but we eventually crowded in (5 of us in our gnarley family) and he apparently couldnt handle being around people so he moved on. Nice views indeed, pretty area to camp in. Climb up was fun. (of course I was 50 lbs lighter then lol)
RAT
Definately an interesting shelter with a good location. I remember a few years back, hiking out of Unicoi in April with a pretty good snowfall going on. Passed an old-timer in Frogg-Toggs huffing it up over Tray mountain. He finally pulled in the shelter about an hour later and proceeded to pull out his cooking gear. He pulled out the biggest canister of propane I have ever seen, must have weighed 15 pounds easy.
He was quite a character, believe he was from Massachusetts. Kinda hunchbacked and knomeish looking and quite a conversationalist. One of the ridgerunners out of Walasi-Yi had to catch up with him cause he had forgotten to sign his travelers checks for gear he had purchased.
Characters on the trail, really add to the enjoyment !
That is so true, from that day on we have always said "looks like a Pilgrim day, lets hike" !!! (in ref. to his having to be perfectly clear before he would hike !)
RAT
I was just up there the other day. I have slept there about a year back. There are some good improvements, moldering privy(wheelchair accessable), The shelter was painted gray and the floor had been replaced. (no more holes) Also the sides have picnic table style seats. So its better than it was, not like the old set up was that bad.
Ate lunch there 7-5-07.
Good water source. Lots of trash that we hiked out. Lots of flies and bumblebees during the day.
My first trip to the Tray Mountain Shelter wasn't that great. We were young, inexperienced section hikers and had planned to stay exclusively in shelters and only took ponchos in case we could't get into a shelter. We arrived at Tray Mountain to find it packed with "Rainbow People". I talked to one of them, and was informed that they'd been living there for two weeks! I kept hoping for a ranger to stop by so that he could clear them out, but of course that didn't happen. So I ended up sleeping on the ground under my poncho in a light rain.
In those days (early 70s) the shelter was new and was referred to as the Mont Tray Shelter.
I've stayed there since, and had it all to myself on one occasion.
I do not think there are ghosts there, but I saw a family of bigfoots.
They hogged the shelter, so I had to tent camp nearby.
Crazy Al
keep in mind the shelters are designed to be cool during the summer....
not exactly ideal camping locations in cold/windy/wet weather.
On my first thru hike I met a man trying to stick his hand in his mouth.I watched him for a while than I started acting as crazy as him.Soon he left and some other hikers seen him on the ground stairing at the ground,and the hikers asked me what was up with that dude.I said he didnt like my company.
Tray Mtn Shelter
Stayed there last weekend 12-2. I took my neice for her first backpacking trip. I wanted to give her a pretty good taste of how the trail could be and I certainly remembered the climbs up Rocky and Tray so I figured it would be good. There were a ton of people out, including some who drove an RV to the parking lot at the base of the Mtn and proceeded to drink themselves sick. Thankfully, they dared not venture up the hill.
Met a late teen-early twenties male with a giant red beard. Looked a little tweaked out and was dashing off to be picked up by friends at Indian Grave Gap to go to a party. As he turned to walk off, I noticed he had a 3-4 foot shiny metal sword strapped to the outside of his pack. He had signed the register "Sugar Blade". Kinda reminded me of the hare from Alice in Wonderland on drugs.
The shelter was too cold for my neice, who at 2am decided to join my other friend in her tent. The shelter was just fine for me. The bear cables are great and saved a ton of time hanging. Had a nice toasty fire courtesy of a giant dry dead tree about 20 feet from the shelter. easy pickins, and suprisingly no one else had thought to go for it.
There was about three gallon size ziplock bags of plastic and foil trash in the firepit that I packed out.
The spring was great. I was really worried about water levels but it was flowing just fine and the spring box under the pipe was about a foot deep.
Someone told me once that the concrete platform next to the spring was an old ranger's cabin. Found a glass jar not too far away from there with a rusted metal screw top that said "grapefruit TANG". Wonder how long that was there - but decided that it needed to be removed...
Big downside for me was the city lights from Blairsville and Helen. Clear skies were good for stars despite tree cover, but the lights just kinda took away from the great shelter location. Lots of good level campsites nearby. Good times. I asked the neice if she would be interested in hiking again - and she said yes, but would !like to stay out longer next time!
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