Shining Rock Gap water source
Heading up to Shining Rock this week for the first time. Is the water source at Shining Rock Gap reliable?
"The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss all you are traveling for." - Louis L'Amour
Just a little ways past Flower Gap is a good spring,then a little closer to the campsites near Shining Rock Gap is another spring.IMO the 1st spring is better but you'll need a pump filter to suck the water out of the small pool where it comes out.Otherwise you will have to dip it out a cup or so at a time.BTW be sure to have a bear canister for your food as the Wilderness Ranger shows up often and the fine for not having one can be up to $500.Also no campfires are allowed too.
Sleep on the ground, rise with the sun and hike with the wind....
Thanks for the info! Yep, dusted off the old bear canister.
"The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss all you are traveling for." - Louis L'Amour
Several good water sources near SR Gap. Go past the big trail junction in the direction of Ivestor Gap and very shortly thereafter you'll see a piped spring about 10 feet down off the trail. That is one of the multiple springs that feed into Shining Rock Creek. Worst case scenario you could hike down SR Creek trail about .25-.5 mile and find water. With the two tropical systems that have been in our area in the past few weeks, water will most likely be plentiful and easy to find. +1 on the bear canister. Hate that it's extra weight but there were significant bear interactions at SR Gap last summer. I hiked up there this past December and spent the night in one of the gap camping areas and saw multiple hunters working the Graveyard Fields area. Was wondering if the rangers encouraged hunting for bears to see if hunters could solve the problem of the multiple bear reports from last summer. Beautiful area regardless -- Black Balsam Knob is such a cool place!
+1 on the bear canister. Hate that it's extra weight but there were significant bear interactions at SR Gap last summer
its also a requirement now in the shining rock wilderness to have a canister.....
rangers last year were handing out tickets to those who didnt have one.....
Black Dome in Asheville rents bear canisters for $5.00/day
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