Bartram trail georgia/nc

[ippon]

Has anyone hiked this trail recently? Wondering how easy it is to follow, we'll marked? Many blowdowns? Thinking of starting at buckeye branch ( to exclude the road walk, and do the rest of Nc section on another trip) and hiking south to the Georgia terminus.

[Tennessee Viking]

From the BTS website:
You can contact the NC Bartram Trail Society via email ([email protected]) or by using the following postal address:
NC Bartram Trail Society
P. O. Box 968
Highlands, NC 28741

[Tipi Walter]

I just finished a trip on the new Western Extension of the Bartram Trail which travels up Snowbird Creek in the Snowbird backcountry (near Robbinsville NC) and tops out near Hogjaw Gap and reaches Big Junction on the Cherohala Skyway and then scoots up Haw Knob at 5,500 feet to descend to Whiggs Meadow and junctions with the Benton MacKaye trail at a dead-end Tee.

[The Solemates]

i havent hiked it recently, but the bartram is well marked and easy to follow

[Dogwood]

Haven't done all the Bartram Tr but most of it mainly on 2-4 day section/loop hikes. At the behest, and with the shuttle assistance from the owner of Outdoor76 Hiking Shop in Franklin NC, in late Aug/early Oct hiked the BT from Wallace Branch TH(near Franklin NC) west up over Wayah Bald( up up up) past Nanthala Lake to Cheoah Bald(to the AT junction) instead of hitching to Robbinsville from Franklin(I had to leave off right in the middle of a Benton Mckaye Tr thru-hike where it crosses Cherohala Skway because of a family medical emergency, was trying to get back where I had left off). Hitched from where I got off the AT near Cheoah Bald to Cherohala Skway(BMT crossing). Anyway, the BT was overgrown at that time of the yr in some places that are lesser used. Major trail easy as any other easy trail in other places. Great solitude though. Don't expect the social super hiker highway character of the AT w/ all its amenities and wealth of over analysis. The BT IMO compares in solitude to the BMT. Although, without having the elev profiles in front of me I would say the BT is more strenuous then the BMT. The BT is agenerally at a higher elv and with more elev change than the BMT. That was my perception.

[Falcon]

I hiked the Bartram from Rabun Bald by way of Sky Valley south to SC Hwy 28 (Chatooga River) which is about 31 miles. It is a well marked and maintained trail. I spent 2 nights camping along the trail and 2 1/2 days hiking. Very good section, plenty of water available.

[royalusa]

Has anyone hiked this trail recently? Wondering how easy it is to follow, we'll marked? Many blowdowns? Thinking of starting at buckeye branch ( to exclude the road walk, and do the rest of Nc section on another trip) and hiking south to the Georgia terminus.

Have not hiked it recently, but we did a yo-yo of the trail (including the road walk) in 2011 and posted it on Trailjournals.

Here's a portion of our final thoughts on that journal:

"The Bartram Trail is very well marked and maintained, except for the number of blow downs, which perhaps have just not been cleared yet for this year. I believe we counted around 100 blow downs in less than 95-miles of actual trail (i.e., not roads). Yes, we counted them. Some areas of trail are getting to the point of needing a little grooming maintenance, but not much.
We loved the remoteness [feel] of the trail. We had camp to ourselves every night and saw very few backpackers during the day. Actually, we only saw one backpacker on the entire trip, excluding the last day.


There are some stretches where the water sources are about 9 or 10 miles apart, so you do need to pay attention to the location of future water sources.
...
Final overall thought? We loved the trail and would highly recommend it!"



For more complete coverage of our final thoughts as well as the daily journal, see:
http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=349088

[Dogwood]

Ippon, since I know you're interested in the Foothills Tr(FT), if you don't yet realize it, the FT connects with the Bartram Tr, which connects to the AT, which connects to the............ which connects to the...........! Not all that difficult starting in southern/central Alabama on the Pinhoti Tr connecting to the Benton Mckaye Tr, connecting to the Appalachian Tr, connecting to the Bartram Tr, connecting to the Foothills Tr......

Most of us probably have heard about the Great Western Loop. WELL, with some ingenuity a clever and out of the box thinking long distance hiker could come up with a Great Eastern Loop!

[Gonecampn]

Good info. I'm interested in this trail also. ....... After I complete the BMT next spring :)

Sent from somewhere in the woods.

[ippon]

Thanks for the comments. It was very well marked and maintained. Beautiful vistas. I planned to extend the hike along the chattooga to the foothills trail, but the chattooga trail was extremely overgrown, I had to turn back after fifteen minutes. That portion is in dire need of trail crew with lots of chainsaws. Im guessing neither foothills or bartram committee help fund that section ?

[Mountain Dog]

Thanks for the comments. It was very well marked and maintained. Beautiful vistas. I planned to extend the hike along the chattooga to the foothills trail, but the chattooga trail was extremely overgrown, I had to turn back after fifteen minutes. That portion is in dire need of trail crew with lots of chainsaws. Im guessing neither foothills or bartram committee help fund that section ?
This is very surprising to me. I hiked that section about 2 years ago and it was almost too beaten down. Looked to be very popular for day hikers. There was another, alternate, high water trail which was really really bad. A sign on the eastern end just west of the highway 76 identified the trail with some type notation about it being hard. That trail was in really bad shape. Do any of you know if Ippon could have seen the "hard" trail and not the more commonly hiked part of the Chattooga?

[ippon]

Any readers please disregard my previous comment. I was not on the chattooga river trail, but was following a large tributary upstream so it felt like the right trail.