BMT GPS coords [Archive]

Cuffs

11-02-2006, 12:01

I have searched, but cannot find any info (if it even exists) for the gps coords for the BMT. Does anyone out there have this info or know where I can get it?

MOWGLI

11-02-2006, 12:17

I have the segment between the Ocoee River & GSMNP. But that's probably not what you're looking for.

Cuffs

11-02-2006, 12:21

I have the segment between the Ocoee River & GSMNP. But that's probably not what you're looking for.

Getting there~

Looking for the BMT from Springer to... Well, will take any and all GA info I can get!

Mr. Parkay

12-04-2006, 03:50

Hey ALHikerGal,

The (rough) GPS coordinates for the BMT can be derived from my google earth plot of the BMT located here: http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/697893/page/0/vc/1
I'm not sure if it is accurate enough for your needs, but feel free to try it out if your interested. I'm planning on doing a winter hike of the BMT starting in a couple of days actually. (Hopefully Dec 5 or 6). I would like to bring a GPS Device with me to plot the whole trail and test the accuracy of this data, but I'm not sure if I can bring myself to buy one at the moment. Anyhow, in order to use the Google earth data in a GPS device the format would need to be changed. I'll try to explain the process here below, although if you are interested in using this data and are able to email or send me a private message before I leave on the hike than I would be happy to do the conversion and email it to you. Same goes for anyone else who is interested. Also, I've never tried this before so I can't really guaranty that it will work.

Converting Google earth file for use on GPS Device:

The google earth file is in .kmz format. In order to use it on a gps device you will first have to convert it to a .kml file then use GPS Babel to convert the .Kml file to .gpx (or whatever file format your gps device uses). GPS babel can be downloaded for free from GPS www.gpsBabel.org and its super easy to use.

First, make sure that you download the GE file WITHOUT placemarks. Then there are two ways to convert the .KMZ file to .KML. For the first method all you have to do is open the .kmz file in google earth ... go to SAVE AS then save the file as .KML instead of .KMZ. For the second method you just save the .KMZ file on your desktop. Then manually change the file name from "Mackaye Plot.kmz" to "Mackaye Plot.zip". Then unzip the file. It will contain a file called "doc.kml". Drag it onto your desktop and use this as your kml file to use with GPS Babel.

Hope this is useful to someone, let me know if anyone has questions.

--Mr. Parkay

generoll

12-04-2006, 07:00

where do you plan to be the week before Christmas? I've got that week off and am planning on hiking part of the week with my daughter and son in law. They can't take the whole week so if there is a bailout position somewhere along the route where they could leave a car, I'd enjoy spending the week tagging along if you don't mind the company. I do tend to hike at a more leisurely pace, so that might be an issue. Guess we ought to move this over to PM and discuss it a bit if you're interested.

Mr. Parkay

12-04-2006, 20:59

Tipi Walter

12-18-2006, 11:08

Hey Generoll,

I definitely wouldn't mind hiking with you guys for part of the trail. My plan is to start the hike on December 6th from Davenport Gap and finish on December 31st, so that I can celebrate new years with everyone on top of Springer. I'm not sure how feasable it will be to meet up, but I'll send you a private message with my cell phone number and where I might possibly during the week before Christmas. Maybe we can work something out. -- Mr. Parkay

Hey, I got on the B Mac at Beech Gap on December 6 for another long backpacking trip and I was hoping to run into you somewhere on the trail from Snow Camp on the Fodderstack to Slickrock Creek. My trip lasted 12 days but dangit I missed ye though I was not entirely on the B Mac that whole time. On December 8, Thursday, I was at Naked Ground and it got very cold and snowy with the single digit midgets at around 2 or 3 degrees and 2 inches of snow. How cold was it for you in the Smokies? I saw 2 backpackers come up from the Kilmer Loops and as soon as they saw the conditions at Naked they immediately walked BACK DOWN to their car! Fools. They missed the best winter camping Grandpa Nature has to offer. I thought of the Mt Hood guys alot on this trip, in high wind and terrible conditions.

After I left the high ground I followed the B Mac to Crowders, Farr Gap, Stiffknee, and along Slickrock to camp by the Ike Branch junction. This was on December 9-10-11 and on the 12th I left the B Mac and crossed the very cold Slickrock 10 times to climb back up to Naked Ground. My ride was gonna meet me at Bald River Wilderness so I finished the trip by going over Whiggs Meadow and down to the Tellico River and up over Sugar Mt where I got off the B Mac at Brookshire Creek and got into the Bald River area from the back by the Holly Flats campground.

Anyway, just know a fellow Whiteblazer was looking out for you!

jlb2012

12-18-2006, 11:22

Tipi Walter

12-18-2006, 11:37

Tipi Walter - how was the section from Stiffknee to Ike Branch? Blowdowns? Trash? I am planning on being in that area between Christmas and New Years for some blowdown work on Ike Branch Tr. and if needed I could probably do a trash run also.

I gotta say, and I know this won't concern you but WILL concern Robert of the BMTA, that the section between Crowders and Farr Gap is a blowdown piney mess plus there's alot of litter, too. The section down Stiffknee was not bad, in fact I don't remember a single bad blowdown although there might be one between Farr Gap to Cut Log Gap(you know, where the trail turns right in a gap and down into the Little Slickrock watershed). At this gap I found some litter but nothing bad.

When I was heading down I ran into a tearful young woman looking for her and her husdand's two lost dogs, she was doing the Stiffknee route and he was doing the Ike Branch loop. I never did see those two little animals.

jlb2012

12-18-2006, 11:59

Thanks for the info - much appreciated

Mr. Parkay

12-27-2006, 23:16

H
I finished the trip by going over Whiggs Meadow and down to the Tellico River and up over Sugar Mt where I got off the B Mac at Brookshire Creek and got into the Bald River area from the back by the Holly Flats campground.

Anyway, just know a fellow Whiteblazer was looking out for you!

Hey Tipi Walter, its good to hear that another White Blazer was out on the BMT this winter... and I feel like a great mystery has just been solved (for me personnally).... I hiked from around Cherry Log Gap to a little after the Tellico river on December 15th. At some point I began to see foot prints (2 pairs of shoes I think), plus diamonds and Tipi's in the dirt every once in a while. I was extremely excited since the footprints seemed fresh. And, I hadn't seen any other hikers at all so far during the trip. I hiked as fast as I could all day long to catch up with this mysterious hiker or hikers... but never caught up. Glad I finally found out who it was! So were you there on the 15th? or a day or two before? Wish we could have met up!

Oh...by the way I'm all finished with the BMT now. I summited Springer on Christmas day a little after dark (6:30pm). I was originally planning to finish new years... but ended up hiking faster than I had anticipated. During the whole hike (20 days) I didn't see any other hikers. That's why I was so excited about the footprints.. they were pretty much the only ones I saw on the BMT the whole time! Although, I saw hunters and fishermen near road crossings a couple of times.

Mr. Parkay

12-27-2006, 23:31

December 8, Thursday, I was at Naked Ground and it got very cold and snowy with the single digit midgets at around 2 or 3 degrees and 2 inches of snow. How cold was it for you in the Smokies? I saw 2 backpackers come up from the Kilmer Loops and as soon as they saw the conditions at Naked they immediately walked BACK DOWN to their car! Fools. They missed the best winter camping Grandpa Nature has to offer. I thought of the Mt Hood guys alot on this trip, in high wind and terrible conditions.

Hey Tipi, I remember this cold weather very well! on 12-7 I was in the Smokies and hiked from Laural gap shelter to Campsite 48 There were some snow flurries in the day but the snow really started to come down after dark, while I was night hiking. Luckily I camped at a fairly low elevation (3300 feet), so it wasn't as cold as it must have been in other parts of the Smokies. Still it was pretty darn cold so I slept with all my cloths on. The next couple of days were spent trudging through the snow... but with only an inch or two it wasn't such a big deal.... except for part about having wet shoes all day then frozen shoes in the morning.

After the snow melted in the Smokies, I didn't see any more until December 26 on Springer Mountain. The morning after summiting.

Mr. Parkay

12-27-2006, 23:58

I gotta say, and I know this won't concern you but WILL concern Robert of the BMTA, that the section between Crowders and Farr Gap is a blowdown piney mess plus there's alot of litter, too. The section down Stiffknee was not bad, in fact I don't remember a single bad blowdown although there might be one between Farr Gap to Cut Log Gap(you know, where the trail turns right in a gap and down into the Little Slickrock watershed). At this gap I found some litter but nothing bad.

In regards to litter, the section from Farr Gap to Yellowhammer Gap definitley had trash all over the place. Much more litter than any other section of the BMT or the AT (other than road crossings/road walks). It was surprising how much garbage was strewn around. Any idea who is leaving all this trash? More than one or two people could be responsible for. Looks like a group of 20 came through, all of whom tossed their trash on the side of the trail as they walked.

I would like to re-hike this section with some big garbage bags to clean the place up a little. Guess I'll post something here on WB when I get the time and motivation to go out there.

In regards to blow-downs in the area, I can't remember very much specifically. However, I there were definitely lots of blow-downs on the Fodderstack Horse Trail South of Farr Gap. Taking an actual horse on the fodderstack horse trail would probably be impossible right now... unless you were carrying a chainsaw and lots of fuel.

Tipi Walter

12-28-2006, 10:04

Hey Tipi Walter, its good to hear that another White Blazer was out on the BMT this winter... and I feel like a great mystery has just been solved (for me personnally).... I hiked from around Cherry Log Gap to a little after the Tellico river on December 15th. At some point I began to see foot prints (2 pairs of shoes I think), plus diamonds and Tipi's in the dirt every once in a while. I was extremely excited since the footprints seemed fresh. And, I hadn't seen any other hikers at all so far during the trip. I hiked as fast as I could all day long to catch up with this mysterious hiker or hikers... but never caught up. Glad I finally found out who it was! So were you there on the 15th? or a day or two before? Wish we could have met up!

Oh...by the way I'm all finished with the BMT now. I summited Springer on Christmas day a little after dark (6:30pm). I was originally planning to finish new years... but ended up hiking faster than I had anticipated. During the whole hike (20 days) I didn't see any other hikers. That's why I was so excited about the footprints.. they were pretty much the only ones I saw on the BMT the whole time! Although, I saw hunters and fishermen near road crossings a couple of times.

That's really cool that you saw my little tipis in the dirt and stuff. After the cold snap and the snow I left the high ground around Bob Bald on the 10th and got back on the BMT and passed Cherry Log Gap where I saw footprints in the snow coming UP from the North Fork Citico trail but they could not have been yours. Did you stay at Cherry Log Gap? Right past Cherry Log(going south)is a big open campsite I call Snow Camp and it's where the BMT veers right and around the mountain side on its way to the old Cold Spring Gap trail and eventually Beech Gap.

Around the 16th I got off the BMT at Brookshire Creek and hooked into the Bald River Gorge Wilderness for a couple of nights. Before that though I crossed the paved Skyway and spent a wonderful night on Whiggs Meadow and then camped on the lower part of Sycamore Creek the next night. I crossed Tellico River and then did the steep and long climb up and over Sugar Mt and then got off the trail at the Brookshire crossing.

All the litter on the Fodderstack section was due I think to hunters as hunting season started when we were out. How was it crossing the ice cold Slickrock creek? I spent one night by the creek near the Ike Branch junction on the BMT and the next day decided to walk up the Slickrock trail where I had to do 10 icey crossings in my Crocs and it was rough.

Anyway, tell me more about your trip! I would like to hear your impression of the section between Sled Runner Gap south to Unicoi Gap. I did this part recently as it passes along State Line Ridge, Sandy Gap, Six Mile Gap, Peels High Top and down to the parking area at Unicoi Gap. And how about thru Coker Creek to Hiwassee River and the John Muir trail? I talked to Ken Jones and he said there's a new long relocation by Hiwassee and Reliance thereby avoiding crossing under the swinging footbridge by the powerplant.

AND how is the section between the Reliance road bridge and Cohutta? That part has me really interested.

Mr. Parkay

12-29-2006, 13:01

Did you stay at Cherry Log Gap? Right past Cherry Log(going south)is a big open campsite I call Snow Camp

Anyway, tell me more about your trip! I would like to hear your impression of the section between Sled Runner Gap south to Unicoi Gap. I did this part recently as it passes along State Line Ridge, Sandy Gap, Six Mile Gap, Peels High Top and down to the parking area at Unicoi Gap. And how about thru Coker Creek to Hiwassee River and the John Muir trail? I talked to Ken Jones and he said there's a new long relocation by Hiwassee and Reliance thereby avoiding crossing under the swinging footbridge by the powerplant.

AND how is the section between the Reliance road bridge and Cohutta? That part has me really interested.

Snow Camp: Well I was running out of water when I got to Cherry log gap and that big open campsite. I wanted to camp there but ended up going on about a half mile further to where there was a spring... then camped at a campsite on the side of the trail a little past this.

Sled Runner Gap to Unicoi Gap: I really enjoyed this section actually since it was on the ridge line for much of the time. However, as I mentioned in another thread, this area was really dry for me. Luckily I met some hunters at Sandy Gap who were able to give me a ride down the mountain to a water source. The section between sandy gap and Sixmile gap didn't seem to have any blazes, so I was concerned that I was on the wrong trail for much of that hike... I made it to sixmile eventually so I guess I was on the right trial. One of the hunting dogs followed me all that night then slept near my tent. It had a radio coller, so I hope the hunters found it the next day.

Coker Creek to Hiawassee River: I was really glad to see coker creek since it was the first good water that I had seen in a while. (I didn't go to the supposed water source near US 68). Then the section beween coker creek to the power plant was somewhat unusual. For some of the time you are on a rugged trail on the side of steep cliffs on the side of the river... then you go down and walk on the side of the swampy and unhealthy looking drained river. This was not the most scenic section, but I found it to be interesting. I definitely went under the footbridge near the power plant, and didn't see any relocation, but It was getting dark so I may have missed it if it was there. After the power plant the scenery changes completely: the swampy river turns into a full scale raging river with public campgrounds all over the place. Then there is some road walking on the side of the river and you go through some of the campgrounds.

Reliance road bridge and Cohutta: Well I'm not exactly sure which section this is. I think the Reliance road bridge is the one that goes over the Hiawassee and Cohutta is near the TN/GA state border. Anyhow, I really enjoyed the section between the Hiawassee River and the Lost Creek Campground. Seemed like this section followed a nice brook for much of the time.... then I stayed at Lost Creek Campground... which is free. This was the only night when I slept near other people, since there were some car campers there. I honestly cant remember the section between lost creek and the Occoee very well... except that most of the little frog signs seemed to be missing or tore up real bad. At the Occoee I went to the Olympic Whitewater center, which was closed, then resupplyed in Ducktown. Then soon afterwards, climbed Big Frog. Which I think is one of the biggest climbs on the BMT. Good Times!

Sly

12-29-2006, 13:15

ed bell

12-29-2006, 13:37

Mr. Parkay

12-29-2006, 14:04

Mr Parkay, You recently thru-hiked the trail? How difficult was it to follow? In what areas, mileage marks can I expect to have trouble. I'll be going south to north.

Beides the GA AT map, the Tellico/Ocoee River Trails Map and the Smokies map, will I need any others?

Hey Sly,

Yeah, I just finished thu-hiking the BMT Southbound.... from Dec 6 to Dec 20. In general, I found the trail was very easy to follow, even while night hiking, which I did frequently. As long as you have some maps, it's really not much harder to follow than the AT in my opinion. I didn't get seriously lost anywhere, and never needed to use a compass. It sounds like you have all the maps necessary. I used the National Geographic Trail Illustrated Map for the Smokies and for the Tellico/Ocoee River area. (combined, these 2 maps cover about 250 miles of the BMT). The Smokey's map didn't have the BMT route on it, so I traced its path onto the map based on info from the BMT website. For the Georgia section I used the maps and elevation profiles contained in the book "Long Trails of the Southeast" by Johnny Molloy... which I downloaded from Trails.com. THis was useful to me since I didn't have any other maps for the area.... I lent my Georgia AT map to someone unfortunately.

Since I went Southbound and you will be going North, its hard for me to say which spots will be hard to follow. There were some places where I made some stone arrows in the dirt, since it would be hard for a sobo to know where to go in those spots, but I don't think that would affect you much. The only thing I can say is to be careful about water in the spots that I talk about above.... its pretty dry in some spots.

Also, if you are thinking about hiking this trail sometime soon... in the winter, be aware that many of the resupply spots are closed around now. The following places were closed that I saw: Webb Brothers Store and Hiawassee Outfitters (Mile 108.6), Everything Near the Bridge at Cheoh Dam (mile 182.7) and the Gas Station on NC28 (mile 188.4)

Mr. Parkay

12-29-2006, 14:10

Mr. Parkay, I downloaded the BMT route to Googe Earth and stumbled across your GA. AT download for Google Earth. Nice work. I'm new to Google Earth, and I gotta say it's an amazing program to play around with. Adding the AT and BMT routes has taken it to another level. Thanks.:sun

Thanks for the comments ED. Someone else traced out the AT Route on GE and added the shelters before me, but I've been trying to add some other things to it... just takes alot of time. Fun to play around with though.

I would like to get the BMT traced out more accurately on GE but need to get a GPS device first... however, I noticed some mistakes that I made on my GE BMT route while hiking the trail... So my plan is to correct those mistakes here in the next couple of days. If anyone else notices mistakes definitely let me know.

Sly

12-29-2006, 14:13

Thanks Mr. P. If my plans stay the same, I plan on starting around March 1, perhaps as early as late February.

Mr. Parkay

01-11-2007, 23:13

Hello,

In regard to the BMT GPS coordinates, I finally purchased a GPS device of my own and managed to upload the BMT track onto it. So it definitely works, however, the data still hasn't been field tested.

The process for transferring the google earth file to your GPS, which I described in post #4 above, worked for me.... although I first had to make some changes to the BMT GE track file (note: I have updated this file on the Keyhole forum so that other people won't have the same problem).

Another issue is that most GPS devices can't handle track files as large as the BMT. The BMT track file has about 10,000 data points, but my GPS device can only handle 2,000 points. Basically, I had to split the File into 5 segments (I split the file by converting the .kml file to .gpx, then manually editing the .gpx file with a text editor).

Let me know if anyone has questions about these things

--Mr. Parkay

Phreak

01-14-2007, 22:08

Thanks Mr. P. If my plans stay the same, I plan on starting around March 1, perhaps as early as late February.

Sly,
I'm hiking the BMT South to North starting on 2/2. I'll let ya know if I run into any area(s) that are tricky to navigate.

Mr. Parkay

01-15-2007, 22:23

Sly,
I'm hiking the BMT South to North starting on 2/2. I'll let ya know if I run into any area(s) that are tricky to navigate.

Awesome, good luck on the hike! I'll definitely check out your website with the pictures after you're done. I'll be out hiking too... on the Pinhote though.

by the way, I just recenly found a more accurate track of the BMT Georgia Section. I got it from "MapXchange" on the National Geographic Topo! website. Here is the link, hopefully it will work:
http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/topo/file.cfm?fileid=31

The file is in mapxchange (.tpo) format.. so you have to convert it to a differtent format with gpsbabel if you want to view it on google earth. Kind of a pain, but the track appears to be exremely accurate... since it was done by a BMT trail maintainer. Definitely check this out if anyone is interested.