Duncan Ridge Trail/AT Loop

[BrokenPaddle]

So, I've decided to hike this loop over Christmas. I've read Dances With Mices threads about it, and feel confident in my abilities to do the trail. How long should I put aside for this trail? I've searched for a good map of it, yet with sparingly results. If anyone has a copy of one, could you let me know where you got it? Any other pointers about this trail that I should think about before I head out?

[vaporjourney]

I too was thinking about doing this loop sometime this weekend, but will postpone it for another few weeks when I can plan a little better. Depending on how long you hike a day, and how light you pack, I think it could be done in 3, 20 mile days. This is my plan. Sure it's supposed to be a tough trail, but depending on your level of fitness, the sky is the limit.

I was able to find this map online: http://www.n2backpacking.com/maps/ge...tail%20Map.JPG

here is more info:

http://www.n2backpacking.com/long_trails/dt/dt_main.htm

Good luck.

[FatMan]

Completing the DRT/AT loop in three days would be a feat left to those in the best of shape and hiking condition. I consider it a five day hike, but I am not young like you guys.

[Almost There]

More power to you Vapor, with the shorter days...Now I did Springer to Neels Gap in 2 days, but I would gauge that as being the easiest part of the loop. The other part is much tougher, although your seven years younger and maybe your knees are better than mine. Either way good luck!

[BrokenPaddle]

my trip got postponed a couple of days, so I will leave in the morning, as close to dawn as possible. I'm going to take copious notes on the trail, for that I couldn't find much of any, anywhere. I'm not worried about the milage, just the whole getting lost, by myself, in the middle of the woods out there. But none the less, I don't think I can stray too far off my trail. Happy holidays to everyone, and look for an extravagent post in a few days...

[troglobil]

check out this thread
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...t=duncan+ridge

[troglobil]

or this one
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...t=duncan+ridge

[Dances with Mice]

or this one
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...t=duncan+ridge

Aargh! What happened to my photos? OK, so the guide needs updating. There's a few minor changes needed, since the merry-go-round at Hickory Flats has been dismantled. Looks like I need to do the Loop again this Spring, but I'm afraid I'll need more than 24 hours.

[ytsuejam]

Hey DWM...I'm hitting the DRT in March

[Dances with Mice]

Hey DWM...I'm hitting the DRT in March

I'll probably be out in mid-April. I'm trying to pull together the photos I used on the trail guide and repost it.

Take notes about trail conditions and I'll include them in the guide.

[Two Speed]

Hey DWM! Need any support or shuttles?

[Dances with Mice]

Hey DWM! Need any support or shuttles?

Might could. We'll talk later. Thanks!

[vaporjourney]

I will be hiking this loop, finally, starting tomorrow around 11 am. I plan to start and end at the parking Bryce Reece Memorial parking lot near Blood Mtn. 3.5 days later I hope to end it all with something tasty from Walasi-Yi.

[whitefoot_hp]

let us know how you liked it, vapor!

[vaporjourney]

well, what a strange weekend. I started around 2 pm after doing some car repairs. I began at the Blood Mtn trailhead, which turns out to be a fine spot to leave your car for 3 days. I hiked the .6 mi out of the trail head to get to the Freeman trail. I hiked this 1.8 miles to the AT. From the AT I had to go a half mile or so north to finally catch the DRT. This trail is sooo much better than the AT as far as tread was concerned. Whenever it was joined with the Coosa Backcountry things were a bit rugged, but never as nasty as the AT is in GA.

Somewhere around where I thought Mulky Gap was, around 11 mi in on the DRT, I got lost somehow. There were 2 or 3 unpaved roads that cut across the trail, and I didn't know which was the road I needed to hike down to find the water source. I tried up and down each of these roads but didn't find it. Hiked another mile or so up what I thought was Akin Mtn, and set up camp before darkness hit.

The next morning I woke up, planning to hike the 3 miles or so to the next water source listed in Dances with Mices guide. Well, this is where things got really screwed up. AFter hiking for less than a mile, I got to another road crossing, and found two trails across the street. To the right were trees with blue blazes, but there were trees placed across the trail obviously placed there by trail crews. The blazes looked like they had been rubbed off as well. So I decided to take the trail to the left. It started to POUR. My poncho kept me dry, but it was a stressful few minutes trying to get it all setup for the first time ever. Turns out a thunderstorm crept in and I was in the middle of it! I started to run further along the trail as it dipped in elevation. I didn't see a single blaze on this trail, but I assumed that it had to be the trail because the other had washed off blazes. I figure that this had just been opened and the crew hadn't had time to blaze it yet? The trail was in FANTASTIC condition and I could see chainsaw marks in trees to the side of the trail. Soon enough I find a blue blaze on a tree. Then a yellow blaze for the Coosa trail. I was supposed to be done with the Coosa! Then I get to the road crossing that is Wolf Pen gap. I crossed this road and got water here over 9 miles ago. I have no idea how I wound up there and was infuriated and just lost for an explanation. I looked at the rough map I had drawn up before leaving, read the trail guide, and didn't know how I wound up back here.

My first thought was that I had a mindless session and had been backtracking for a while after stopping at a previous water source. I discounted this because I would have remembered the really really steep sidehill trail in one section, as well as the overgrown thorny trail on the west side of Coosa Bald. I'm still confused and can't figure it out.

So, that was it on the DRT. I wound up just going from Wolf Pen gap the 2.3 miles back to the AT. I decided to stay out though, and went north on the AT past Blood Mtn, which was beautiful. This day and the next turned out to be completely ingulfed in clouds. It was really fun to hike in the mist. Blood Mtn was above the stratus clouds however, and it was beautiful to see the mountains poking thru them. I hiked another 11 miles or so and set up my tarp at Low Gap shelter. There were tons of hikers here, over 15. The shelter was packed and there were tents everywhere. It was threatening rain all day and night long, but never did. We were serenated with dripping water from the trees all night long. It was a lot of fun meeting a few thru-hikers and made me really excited for my PCT thru at the end of April. I had forgotten how fun it can be to hang out with other hikers.

So all in all, the trip was bittersweet. I didn't get to accomplish the goal that I set out to do, hike the whole loop. I proved to myself that I could hike pretty long distances and feel fine the next day. I hiked at least 17 miles each day, and felt relativily fine. I know that I could have finished this loop in 3 days and change, and am saddened that I didn't get to. Still, it was beautiful out there, and I"m glad I made it outdoors. It had been over 5 months since I'd gone backpacking, and this was really a treat. The mountains were more beautiful than I remember them on my thru-hike last year, and it was all enhanced by the moody, wet atmosphere of the weekend.

[Dances with Mice]

I don't know what happened there either, Vapor. The Mulkey Gap road, FS4, is a major gravel road in much better condition than FS39 paralleling the trail from Wolfpen to Bryant Gaps.

Let's go back to Bryant Gap - you'd be coming off a long sidehill and to the left you could see FS39 with a fairly new parking area. The trail takes a hard right there. Do you remember that turn? The next gravel road crossing should have been FS4 at Mulkey.

From Wolfpen you always stayed on the north side of the gravel road, right?

The old trail up Akin is visible but closed with a little debris barricade and the new trail turns left into a series of long switchbacks, so that makes sense. Arriving back on the Coosa doesn't. And, yes, you would definitely remember the steep sidehill portion.

I'll be on the DRT Wednesday helping clear blowdowns between Fish Gap & Rhodes.