Benton Mackaye Trail - Cohuttas Section

This is an advanced backpack and requires prior backpacking experience! If you do not have a history of D5 backpacks with the club, you will be contacted to confirm you experience. Trip leadership reserves the right to remove anyone that they feel may not be able to complete the trip.

 About the trip:

    This will be a point-to-point backpack on a section of the Benton Mackaye trail through the Cohutta Wilderness. The hike will begin at Bush Head Gap.

   Saturday (13 miles): We will start early to make maximum use of the short daylight hours. The majority of the group will be dropped at Bush-head gap. The drivers will then shuttle all but one car up to our finish point at ThunderRock campground, which has secure parking. The other car will then be driven back to Ellijay, where Blue Ridge Mtn Outfitters will give the drivers a shuttle back to the trail-head.  The trail heads up and follows a ridgeline westard, before taking a sharp right on Fowler mountain and heading north. We will camp just past Dryer gap, where there is a stream with a good campground.

   Sunday (13 miles): We will hit the trail at dawn, following Jack's creek north, making three stream crossings, before heading right up a dirt road. We will pass Mill branch with ruins of an old clearing and farm-house site. Will will cross over Jack's river trail on the way up to Hemp Top, which has a side trail leading to an old fire tower site. We will camp in Double Springs gap, which has springs to the right and left.

   Monday (11 miles): We will start early once more in order to complete the final 11 miles, and get back to Atlanta in a timely fashion. We will ascend 1200' to Big Frog mountain which should have views, the descending 2000' down the other side. There will be four stream crossings before the finish point at Thunder Rock campground.

Please plan on bringing an additional $10 to help pay our shuttle drivers. This is in addition to gas money for the carpool.

About The Trail:

The Benton MacKaye Trail (BMT) is a footpath of nearly 300 miles through the Appalachian mountains of the southeastern United States. It is designed for foot travel in the tradition of the Appalachian Trail (AT).

Running from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Big Creek Campground on the northern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (the Smokies), the BMT passes through some of the most remote backcountry in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina, including eight federally designated Wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas.