Betty Creek gap?

[liteweight]

I've read that there is no longer legal camping at betty creek gap. Is this true? I thought I saw a thread here awhile back but I can't seem to find it.

[soumodeler]

Nothing indicated that it was not legal last year when I camped there. I have not heard anything about it.

[goatee]

Haunted just plain and simple.

[soumodeler]

Haunted just plain and simple.

Care to elaborate? Sounds like a good story

[capehiker]

When I passed through there a few months ago, there was a sign discouraging camping there as it is undergoing a restoration project (similar to Lance Creek). There is camping there but it is suggested to camp further down the path.

[daddytwosticks]

These types of "restricted areas" are starting to pop up down here in heavily used campsite areas of the trail. There was a similar posting just north of Albert Mtn. where the old shelter used to stand. It basically said to move on north to the new Long Branch shelter.

[Gambit McCrae]

I don't remember a lot of other camping options other then Bettys, it is on an old logging/ ATV path as I remember. Good creek flow but not far from a road at all. (thru the woods past the creek). As far as the next nice spot, seems like the next shelter south of there was nice and flat, lots of tenting options

[SteelCut]

It is too close to the dirt road and when I camped there last summer there were a couple of trees near that someone with an axe had attempted to cut down.

It did have a creepy feeling. Several times during the night I heard someone setting up a tent close to me and when I got up to investigate there was no one there.

[Puddlefish]

When I passed through in April it was being restored, with no tenting. Some people moved 30 feet from the sign and camped anyway because they were special. I moved a mile down the trail, it was steep and not suitable for camping. I was too tired to climb the next big slope, so I hiked the mile back to the Betty Creek area and camped legally a few hundred feet from the trail and creek.

If you need water the creek is to the west, it's not that mud puddle to the east.

Edit: Zero paranormal activity. I carried my Ghostboy 2000 paranormal detector with at all times.

[capehiker]

It did have a creepy feeling. Several times during the night I heard someone setting up a tent close to me and when I got up to investigate there was no one there.

I felt the same thing when we stopped. We had it as a potential stopping point but it felt very weird so we pushed on past there.

[u.w.]

I felt the same thing when we stopped. We had it as a potential stopping point but it felt very weird so we pushed on past there.

Hmmm... Interesting.
I too had "that feeling" when I went through there last year. I did stop for water (I got mine out of that mud seep puddle to the east, lol. Not so great, but it worked), and kept hiking after I got water - which was my plan anyway.

u.w.

[daddytwosticks]

Hmmm... Interesting.
I too had "that feeling" when I went through there last year. I did stop for water (I got mine out of that mud seep puddle to the east, lol. Not so great, but it worked), and kept hiking after I got water - which was my plan anyway.

u.w.

When hiking in that area and I need water, I just continue up the trail a ways to Mooney Gap and fetch water from the culvert. I think it's only about a mile north. The water source is right there on the trail.

[Ankle Bone]

When I passed through in April it was being restored, with no tenting. Some people moved 30 feet from the sign and camped anyway because they were special. I moved a mile down the trail, it was steep and not suitable for camping. I was too tired to climb the next big slope, so I hiked the mile back to the Betty Creek area and camped legally a few hundred feet from the trail and creek.

If you need water the creek is to the west, it's not that mud puddle to the east.

Edit: Zero paranormal activity. I carried my Ghostboy 2000 paranormal detector with at all times.

We camped there with another group prior to the restrictions. I had a Ghostboy 1000, a little older and heavier than the 2000 model, but I also got a zero reading for activity.

[u.w.]

When hiking in that area and I need water, I just continue up the trail a ways to Mooney Gap and fetch water from the culvert. I think it's only about a mile north. The water source is right there on the trail.

LMAO... totally agreed. That is a far better option for water.
'Course when I was walking north there last year, I had no idea one was any better or worse than the other. I'd stayed at the creek just up (north) from Deep Gap, but south of Standing Indian shelter, the night prior - and hiked from there (just south of Standing Indian shelter) to Winding Stair gap/Franklin that day. I just saw it was a water spot on my guide and stopped there as I got to it first. Imagine my thoughts when I got to that big ole gushing culvert just up the trail and before Albert, lol.
Had I known, I would've waited until I got to the culvert. Having not known, I stopped at the one I got to first - and as I said - though not great, it did indeed work just fine.

u.w.