Hiking w/ Cabin Overnight : BMT

   Debbie Hayes has kindly volunteered to host the AOC for a weekend in her cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We will be completing an all day hike on Saturday and one on Sunday.  You will be required to participate in both events. 

   Dinner and Breakfast will be provided by the event organizers. We will be asking everyone (except Debbie) to chip in for groceries. Please bring $10 per person food money in addition to your carpool money.

You will need to bring your own trail lunches and trail snacks.

   There will be room for two two-person tents. Trees available for hanging hammocks.   If you are interested in camping please e-mail the event leaders when you register. Everyone else will be sleeping in the cabin. There are some beds, but you are not guaranteed a bed or a private room. Space should be adequate, though cozy.  The cabin is rustic but has a bathroom, shower, kitchen, decks, and other modern amenities. Cold spring well water is available for drinking and to fill your water bottles.

   Parking at the cabin is limited, so please carpool if you can. Also, low- rider cars may have difficulty with the driveway to Debbie's cabin. Directions to the cabin will be provided at the carpool.

   Lights out at 10:30PM, wherein quiet time begins.  It is cozy environment and voices travel. 

Itinerary:

Saturday Hike - The Benton MacKaye Trail is a long trail that goes from Georgia to the Smokies.  This section is a remote part of the trail south of the Cohuttas.   But the trailhead is only five miles from the divided highway in Cherry Log, so it is not a tough ride to get there.

We will be hiking along a ridge that is the rim of the Tennessee Valley Divide.  To our right, water flows to the Mississippi, to our left, water flows to Mobile. 

We will be going thru hardwood forest with some pine mixed in.  We should have some decent winter views on the ridge tops.  

Our low point is at 2,090 ft where we start and our high point is 2,940 ft on one of our ridges, so we have some ups and downs on this one.

Starting at Bushy Head Gap we cross or skirt the five peaks of Bear Den Mountain and then descend into Hudson Gap.  From there we go back up the ridge and then drop to McKenny Gap.  Then we go back up again and drop to Hatley Gap, where we turn around and come back the way we came.

We are going at a moderate pace.  There are some tricky turns on this, so nobody gets too far ahead or behind.  Thus, we have to ask that fast hikers not sign up.  That said, it is a D-4, so the trip leaders reserve the right to remove people without recent D-4 experience.

Saturday Evening - Dinner to be provided by event organizers. Games and chit-chat for the rest of the evening. Quiet hours will be from 10:30pm to 7am. If you wish to stay up later, you may, but you will need do this outside and an appropriate distance from the cabin or any tents, to allow others to sleep. 

Stargazing and optional campfire.

Sunday Morning -  

We plan to give a wake-up call around 7:30. Breakfast will provided around 8am, heading for the trail-head around 9am. We will hike 6 miles at Stanley Gap. 

About The Trail:

The Benton MacKaye Trail (BMT) is a footpath of nearly 300 miles (480 km) 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 BMT passes through some of the most remote backcountry in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina, including eight federally designated Wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas. Online trail guides can be found here:

http://www.bmta.org/FreeDownloads.h tm

Dinner Saturday night, breakfast Sunday morning.