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  1. #21
    Registered User scope's Avatar
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    Found this below regarding the trail I was asking about, guess I should have just walked a bit further and would have known what was there. If I had a dollar for every time that's happened to me...

    "Whitley Gap Trail is about 1.1 miles long; if the visitor wants to visit Adams Bald [Fig. 26(5)], another .5 mile is added to the trip. The best part of the trail, however, is to the top of Wildcat Mountain, which is only about .5 mile. The climb up the north slope is about 300 feet."
    "I wonder if anyone else has an ear so tuned and sharpened as I have, to detect the music, not of the spheres, but of earth, subtleties of major and minor chord that the wind strikes upon the tree branches. Have you ever heard the earth breathe... ?"
    - Kate Chopin

  2. #22
    Registered User Gary62's Avatar
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    My son and I stayed here 7-16-2012. Its a long haul down but worth it. Pristene surroundings. Beautiful sunrise through the trees. Best water I found from Unicoi to Neels.
    No bears this night. No mice either. A 5 star hotel in the woods. Nothing like a good uphill to star your day. A big thank you to the hikers who reccomended it to us.

  3. #23
    Registered User hobby's Avatar
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    As others have mentioned, there are large campsites for a distance out in front of the shelter, and I noticed that from those sites is a trail leading further out that appears to be somewhat frequently used. I followed in for about a quarter mile and turned around when I saw no obvious destination. Anybody know of this trail and where is goes? Seems to go in the general direction of the Raven Cliffs area and wonder if in fact it does go there.

    We have used this 'trail' from the camping area as a starting point to practice 'off trail' orienteering to prepare scouts for Philmont. You can indeed reach Raven Cliffs from here, but there is no trail leading there.

  4. #24
    Registered User LN33's Avatar
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    10-16-2012
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    southwest Ohio
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    My group stayed here a few days ago. It is indeed a long way off the trail. It's a beautiful hike to an awesome area though and the climb out didn't seem all that hard. We all tented outside the shelter and some other people we met hammocked a little further out. It was very quiet aside from the crazy winds. No bear activity. I agree that the cables are really too close to the shelter, as in right behind it. Water source is great and the privy isn't too bad either. A side note: at the top of (I guess it's Wildcat) the mountain there's a big fire ring next to which someone has left a large garbage bag full of nails. Someone saw fit to toss a lot of those nails into the fire ring. We all thought this was very strange.

  5. #25
    Registered User cneill13's Avatar
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    It has been quite a while since the tread to the Whitley Gap shelter has been updated so I thought I would included a trip I made there just last month in early February.

    I wanted to test out some new winter camping equipment so I made an overnight trip to Whitley Gap shelter parking at the Hogpen Gap parking lot just off the Richard Russell scenic highway.

    parking lot.JPGhogpen.jpg

    Hiking south on the AT from Hogpen Gap parking lot, it is a quick 1/2 mile to the top of Wildcat Mountain. Once on top of the mountain, there is a trail sign directing you to turn left or east onto Whitley Gap Trail. The hike from this point down to the shelter is 1.2 miles.

    whitley.jpg

    Upon reaching the sign, the turn left is to the shelter. But if you turn right at the sign and continue hiking south on the AT, you will come to one of my favorite views in all of Georgia on the AT. I have taken many a nap on this outcropping.

    view.JPG

    Hiking north on the AT back to the start of the Whitley Gap Trail, I did some bushwhacking and came upon this stone set in the earth. It definitely wasn't natural. It was put there by man. I don't know if it was a point marking the peak of the mountain or an old grave site. It was interesting nevertheless. There were several other rocks lying nearby.

    rock.jpg

    Hiking down the Whitley Gap Trail toward the shelter, the beginning of the trail is a tunnel of mountain laurel crossing over the crest line of Wildcat Mountain.

    blue blaze.JPG

    The trail across the top of the mountain v's around beautiful nests of moss and lichen.

    v.JPG

    The views and campsites on top of Wildcat Mountain are really nice. No water though.

    campsite.JPG

    Carl
    Last edited by cneill13; 03-15-2016 at 11:56.

  6. #26
    Registered User cneill13's Avatar
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    sorry, couldn't get pictures to download correctly.

  7. #27
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    I'm wondering about Hogpen Gap about .2 miles north of the path Whitley Gap Shelter. Is there camping right there off the road? I don't see anything listed in the 2014 Data Book. However, about 25 miles south at Cooper Gap there was pretty clear tent sites right at the bend in the road. If they were "stealth" sites and illegal, they were pretty blatant. In any case, does anybody know of anything like that to Hogpen Gap?

  8. #28

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    Quote Originally Posted by LN33 View Post
    My group stayed here a few days ago. It is indeed a long way off the trail. It's a beautiful hike to an awesome area though and the climb out didn't seem all that hard. We all tented outside the shelter and some other people we met hammocked a little further out. It was very quiet aside from the crazy winds. No bear activity. I agree that the cables are really too close to the shelter, as in right behind it. Water source is great and the privy isn't too bad either. A side note: at the top of (I guess it's Wildcat) the mountain there's a big fire ring next to which someone has left a large garbage bag full of nails. Someone saw fit to toss a lot of those nails into the fire ring. We all thought this was very strange.
    I did some turkey hunting this past weekend and spent Saturday night at the shelter in my hammock. The water is flowing strong out of the pipe and Surprisingly I did not see another hiker. The nails found around the fire ring on top of Wildcat are all that remain after some of the local college kids burn pallets in what must be a huge bonfire. There was at least 1000 nails on the ground a few weeks ago after one of the recent bonfires. Can't believe that folks would carry so many wooden pallets so far from the road.

  9. #29
    Registered User FatMan's Avatar
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    01-28-2004
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    Quote Originally Posted by blazercoach View Post
    I'm wondering about Hogpen Gap about .2 miles north of the path Whitley Gap Shelter. Is there camping right there off the road? I don't see anything listed in the 2014 Data Book. However, about 25 miles south at Cooper Gap there was pretty clear tent sites right at the bend in the road. If they were "stealth" sites and illegal, they were pretty blatant. In any case, does anybody know of anything like that to Hogpen Gap?
    First, there are no illegal sites in Georgia. Those sites at Cooper Gap are heavily used.

    Second, at Hogpen Gap you can find some sites down the footpath that leads to water on the south side of the roadway. Just be aware of where you set up your tent because during rain the water funnels down that way.

  10. #30
    Leonidas
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    Spent the night here on 2016/07/11. Terrible thunderstorm rolled in when we were climbing out of Tesnatee, so we kicked it into high gear trying to make it to Whitley Gap Shelter. By the time we got to the top of Wildcat there was intense lightning and the temperature had drastically dropped. We pretty much ran the rest of the way to the shelter and both Stumblelina and I had a nice heel blister or two by the time we hit the shelter. We arrived to find 2 waterproof roll top bags hung but no one in sight. We decided to setup our tent in the shelter since no one else was around(or so we thought). Like all intelligent people, I had sent my sleeping clothes home as I had only wore them once. So I had no dry clothes to change into except a pair of darn toughs. Stripped down and put on my rain kilt and rain jacket. Setup the tent, pulled out our food bags and ate something quick. We were both cold so I hung the food bags. This was our first night without our OutSak as it had fallen out of Stumblelina's pack somewhere after Blood Mountain Shelter. The storm raged on for a couple of hours then finally settled down around midnight. Around 01:00, I awoke to the sounds of multiple coyotes talking near the water source. The rain picked up again and they wandered off after about 30-45 minutes. Slept off and on until around 06:00, got out to visit the privy and get breakfast going. Mice had attacked every bag that had almonds in it... Picked all the visited food out and placed it in a bag that now had a nice hole chewed in it for disposal at the next trash receptacle. Checked the log and apparently, the mice were known to have an affinity for almonds. Around 07:30, we heard laughter and a female popped out of a tent we had not noticed 50-75 feet in front of the shelter. Turns out that a couple from France had zeroed there the prior day and were eating dinner when the storm hit. Had a nice breakfast with them and went and watered up. Water was flowing pretty good and was nice and cold. The hike out was a bit of a pain but we dried out pretty quickly. Views on the ridge coming out where spectacular.
    AT: 695.7 mi
    Benton MacKaye Trail '20
    Pinhoti Trail '18-19'
    @leonidasonthetrail https://www.youtube.com/c/LeonidasontheTrail

  11. #31

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    I was hunting today about a mile beyond the shelter. Hoped to refill my water bottles on my way out at the shelter, but the pipe was not flowing at all. The bear on the hillside just on the other side of the spring looked like he was wanting a drink as well. It was flowing strong just 2 1/2 weeks ago. Things can change fast this time of year.

  12. #32

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    Was at the shelter yesterday. No water. No bears. Nice spot though

    I did find that unmarked trail very interesting. Anyone have info on it?? We followed it for a quarter mile or so but turned around to get back home...

  13. #33
    Registered User cneill13's Avatar
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    I think the trail you are referencing goes to the top of Adam's Bald. It is about a mile to the top from the shelter.

    I found an abandoned lean to up there earlier this year. Someone tried to start a fire with Bibles. You never know what you will find in those mountains.

    Another time at Gooch Gap, I found a totally clean and empty campsite. Except for one thing sitting on a log. It turned out to be an urn for holding a deceased person's ashes. I had to open it up. And guess what it was filled with?

    Yep, ashes. Hopefully from the fire? Again. You never know what you will find in those mountains.

    Carl

  14. #34

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    As of mid-October 2016 the trail to Whitley Gap is closed by order of the Forest Service, as is Raven Cliff Falls trail, due to fire activity in the area. The trails will remain closed until further notice - likely after the mountains get some serious rain. The National Weather Service predicts that might happen in February.

    Cheers,
    Drala Hiker

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