Hog Camp Gag Parking

[jcb]

Hey guys, doing a two nighter this weekend and was wondering about the availibility of parking at Hog Camp Gap in GWNF. My PATC map shows parking, just wanted to hear from someone who has been there. Thanks.

[RevLee]

There is quite a bit of parking there. Several spots are just east of the AT crossing, and more a quarter mile east at the trail head for the Mount Pleasant/Old Hotel loops. They can fill up quickly as that is a popular camping spot for scout troops.

[Creek Dancer]

Ditto what RevLee said.

If you hike the Old Hotel Trail, look for the old stone walls built perpendicular to the slope of the mountain. As I recall, farmers from Amherst County built the walls to keep their livestock from wandering sideways as they drove them up and down the mountain. Freakin' lucky cows got to graze all summer on top of Cold Mountain! Back then cows kept the mountain top bald. Today there are controlled burns to keep down the growth.

[Chester Copperpot]

parking is ample at hog camp gap, but darnit--that FS road that head up there gets worse every year.

best drive in is from the BRP at Irish Gap. head past some nice falls and hit Wiggins Spring FS road from the back way.

have fun, and remember, it's illegal to summit camp Cold Mtn, however, Mt Pleasant has GREAT camping at the summit and in the saddle.

[Blissful]

Huge campsite at the gap

[GoldenBear]

Did an overnight two days ago that included about an hour at Hog Camp Gap on Wiggins Spring Road. Info on this area seems to be sparse and years-old, so I thought I could give more up-to-date info.

First issue is how to drive there. An ongoing problem of directions is what is the "correct" name for a road. Is it the local name, the official name, the state highway number, or the forest service number? I decided to bypass this problem by posting what you see when you get to an intersection. It makes no sense to tell someone to turn onto a road of a specific identity if there is no sign identifying the road in that way.

ANYWAY, the road to Hog Camp Gap goes north from U.S. Highway 60, east of that highway's intersection with Blue Ridge Parkway, which is east of the city of Buena Vista. More precisely, it's 8.7 miles east of the intersection of U.S. Highway 501 and Highway 60. The intersection is also west of the highway's intersection with the A.T. at Long Mountain Wayside. Some online maps will show the town of Oronco at the intersection, so it wouldn't hurt to try that as a locator. Or you can use coordinates latitude 37.737, longitude -79.254. However you get to this place, you'll see this
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59942
which is the view for those heading west on U.S. Highway 60. You can only go north when you get to this road.

About 1.6 miles north of where you left Highway 60, you come to this intersection:
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59941
Once again, you can only turn one way - right, or east -- to head for Hog Camp Gap.
I read one description of this road as a "jeep road," but my guess is that, given good weather, most passenger cars could drive it. The official Forest Service description of the area
http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/gwj/r...79493&actid=50
fails to note a need even for AWD. Note also, however, of the name of the road this URL gives to get to this area.

This paved road becomes a gravel to dirt road as it enters the national forest, and it soon reaches the well-marked intersection with the A.T.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59940
where there is parking for five to six cars.

The 2013 Thru-Hikers' Companion states there is a campground and water here, and the undeveloped camp sites are easy to spot just north of the road. The water site, however, COULD be a little tricky.
The sign at the intersection clearly states that Wiggins Spring is .5 miles west of the Trail -- but that is NOT where you want to go for water. Instead, just north of the road, in the camping area, is this sign:
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59939
which points toward an easy to follow, somewhat downhill trail.
How far is this water? You soon come to this sign
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59938
and, just because of my OCD, I counted my steps from this sign to the spring. 323, to be exact, which would make one of my paces about 2.5 feet. I then counted 297 of my steps from this sign back to the Trail, meaning the distance between the Trail and the spring is about .3 mile.
As you continue along, you come to a left turn,
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59937
where there is a pretty good camping site (IMHO) -- well-shaded, places to sit, and pine needles on the ground.
Just past this sign is the spring, which was flowing well.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59936

A couple other minor things to know:
1) The kiosk at the Long Mountain Wayside has an excellent, although outdated, topo map of the area.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59943
This map shows "Wiggins Spring Shelter" near Hog Camp Gap. My guess is that this shelter has been gone for years.
2) The Old Hotel Trail also meets at Hog Camp Gap. Follow this blue-blazed trail back to the A.T. at Cow Camp Gap, passing the shelter along the way. This might make a nice loop for someone not certain if back-country hiking is an activity to undertake.
3) Many people refer to the bald area between Cow Camp Gap and Hog Camp Gap as "Cold Mountain." As best I can tell, the official name is ColE Mountain.

[Namtrag]

We saw a lot of non AWD cars parked there a month ago, I have no idea how they got up that road in the mud!

Great car camping site for a weekend trip...just camp next to the parking lot, then on Saturday morning you can backpack the Cold Mountain circuit, or hike north on an out and back on the AT to tar jacket ridge. I can't recall the name of the shelter but I believe it's about 6 miles each way.

[Deer Hunter]

[QUOTE=GoldenBear;1887966]Did an overnight two days ago that included about an hour at Hog Camp Gap on Wiggins Spring Road. Info on this area seems to be sparse and years-old, so I thought I could give more up-to-date info.

First issue is how to drive there. An ongoing problem of directions is what is the "correct" name for a road. Is it the local name, the official name, the state highway number, or the forest service number? I decided to bypass this problem by posting what you see when you get to an intersection. It makes no sense to tell someone to turn onto a road of a specific identity if there is no sign identifying the road in that way.

ANYWAY, the road to Hog Camp Gap goes north from U.S. Highway 60, east of that highway's intersection with Blue Ridge Parkway, which is east of the city of Buena Vista. More precisely, it's 8.7 miles west of the intersection of U.S. Highway 501 and Highway 60. The intersection is also west of the highway's intersection with the A.T. at Long Mountain Wayside. Some online maps will show the town of Oronco at the intersection, so it wouldn't hurt to try that as a locator. Or you can use coordinates latitude 37.737, longitude -79.254. However you get to this place, you'll see this
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59942
which is the view for those heading west on U.S. Highway 60. You can only go north when you get to this road.

About 1.6 miles north of where you left Highway 60, you come to this intersection:
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59941
Once again, you can only turn one way - right, or east -- to head for Hog Camp Gap.
I read one description of this road as a "jeep road," but my guess is that, given good weather, most passenger cars could drive it. The official Forest Service description of the area
http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/gwj/r...79493&actid=50
fails to note a need even for AWD. Note also, however, of the name of the road this URL gives to get to this area.

This paved road becomes a gravel to dirt road as it enters the national forest, and it soon reaches the well-marked intersection with the A.T.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59940
where there parking for five to six cars.

The 2013 Thru-Hikers' Companion states there is a campground and water here, and the undeveloped camp sites are easy to spot just north of the road. The water site, however, COULD be a little tricky.
The sign at the intersection clearly states that Wiggins Spring is .5 miles west of the Trail -- but that is NOT where you want to go for water. Instead, just north of the road, in the camping area, is this sign:
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59939
which points toward an easy to follow, somewhat downhill trail.
How far is this water? You soon come to this sign
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59938
and, just because I'm OCD, I counted my steps from this sign to the spring. 323, to be exact, which would make one of my paces about 2.5 feet. I then counted 297 of my steps from this sign back to the Trail, meaning the distance between the Trail and the spring is about .3 mile.
As you continue along, you come to a left turn,
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59937
where there is a pretty good camping site (IMHO) -- well-shaded, places to sit, and pine needles on the ground.
Just past this sign is the spring, which was flowing well.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59936

A couple other minor things to know:
1) The kiosk at the Long Mountain Wayside has an excellent, although outdated, topo map of the area.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=59943
This map shows "Wiggins Spring Shelter" near Hog Camp Gap. My guess is that this shelter has been gone for years.
2) The Old Hotel Trail also meets at Hog Camp Gap. Follow this blue-blazed trail back to the A.T. at Cow Camp Gap, passing the shelter along the way. This might make a nice loop for someone not certain if back-country hiking is an activity to undertake.
3) Many people refer to the bald area between Cow Camp Gap and Hog Camp Gap as "Cold Mountain." As best I can tell, the official name is ColE Mountain.[/QUOTE]



I have heard local people here call it Cole Mountain for years but it's Cold Mountain on the map.

[1234]

I have never found the road to be muddy, it is all rock, there is a big tree on the right and just past the tree is a hard rock that sticks up about 9 inches, be sure to go slow and avoid this rock as it has creased many an oil pan. I have seen oil trails going up and down after that rock, Past the parking lot the road is very wide making room for more than 25 cars. I have seen Scion xb's up there so that should say something about the road. I have also see entire scout troops loose all there tents in a single storm. The wind here can be very intense. Jets also run practice runs for the radar on top of apple orchard mtn. Should you be so lucky to have an F18 fly by at just above tree height in the we hours of the night it will rattle every bone in your body. In Sept they run bear dogs in this area and they will bay all night long. They treed a bear just behind the swing camp site one fall. NObody sleep.

[Berserker]

As of a month ago the road is in pretty bad shape, but there were still cars up there. I managed to get my '97 Camry up there and back down without damaging it...I just took it really slow.

[Mobius]

I was there this weekend (in my Forester) and didn't think it was too bad. It wasn't overly rutted out like I've seen it in the past. There are a couple low spots and some high rocks but given some careful sighting and slow speed a regular car should do fine right now. The minivan going up while I descended Sunday morning had made it past the couple of rough spots. It helped that it was fairly dry at the time. Definitely a road to take slow though. Passing other cars can be a nail biter since there isn't always a lot of room to move over.

[mak1277]

I was there in early June and didn't think the road was bad at all. Easily passable in my Ford Fusion. It's a great place and I'd highly recommend it. I enjoyed it more than anywhere I've been in SNP, for example.

[Namtrag]

It was really muddy when we went about 3 weeks ago, even my grand Cherokee was sliding a little. It appeared that they may have just re-graded with some fresh dirt, as it was not as rocky and rutted as I recall from 2013.

[Kaptainkriz]

Looking for the location of the swing...I've seen photos of it but unsure on where it is... Anyone know about where it is?

[scuddr]

There's a gap in the fence as you enter the field, hiking NOBO. Swing is visible from that spot , maybe 100 yds , left side of the trail. I hiked in the area last weekend, road was in good shape.

[JNI64]

Isn't this the shelter where a guy was murdered? I was through there a couple years ago on a section hike and saw the reward sign for the person or persons responsible. The guy was strangled to death they took his shoes and backpack and stuffed him under a tree about 50 yards from the shelter. It was exactly 1 year before I stayed there this happened I didn't want to stay but needed water and was tired and late , way off the trail. And yes the next morning eating breakfast and drinking coffee a f-18 flew by tree top level scared the craps out of me.....

[JNI64]

And does anybody know if they caught the person ( murderer).