Advice on hike from Sam's gap to Erwin

[deadhorsejoe]

A friend and I are planning a two or two and one half day hike starting from Sams Gap and ending at Little Johnny's. What is the water situation along the way and if we start mid afternoon on a Friday are there good campsites available 4 or 5 miles from Sam's Gap that would be good for the first night. Thanks in advance for your help. Any other advice about this section would also be appreciated.

[deadhorsejoe]

In the previous post I meant to say Uncle Johnny's. Sorry.

[Tennessee Viking]

A friend and I are planning a two or two and one half day hike starting from Sams Gap and ending at Little Johnny's. What is the water situation along the way and if we start mid afternoon on a Friday are there good campsites available 4 or 5 miles from Sam's Gap that would be good for the first night. Thanks in advance for your help. Any other advice about this section would also be appreciated.I wouldn't push past the Wolf Laurel Blue Blaze if you are starting mid afternoon. The Big Bald summit is about 5.5 to 6 miles in with a lot of rocky trail before that. There is a large campsite in a saddle with a spring (maybe dry) just south of the blue blaze.

Water sources will be fairly dry. Bald Mtn Shelter (don't stop at the first wet area, go all the down), the campsite north of it, and Spivey Gap have the heaviest flow.

[deadhorsejoe]

I wouldn't push past the Wolf Laurel Blue Blaze if you are starting mid afternoon. The Big Bald summit is about 5.5 to 6 miles in with a lot of rocky trail before that. There is a large campsite in a saddle with a spring (maybe dry) just south of the blue blaze.

Water sources will be fairly dry. Bald Mtn Shelter (don't stop at the first wet area, go all the down), the campsite north of it, and Spivey Gap have the heaviest flow.

Thanks for the info buliwyf.

[Gray Blazer]

Hey, Grayjoe, how's them Tigers? T-bow's got them gators fired up.

We just did that trip about two months ago. Camel up when you can. If you start early enough in the afternoon try to camp on the summit or on the flat place beyond the summit. We had an 8 yr old out for his first time and he made it (I believe it's 7 or 8 miles) to the summit the first day. We pumped water out of the stream at Spivey Gap and then my son watched in horror as some horses stopped and peed in it. (We lived). There is a nice stream coming down from No Business on the other side of the highway.
We camped on the summit of Big Bald and at Spivey Gap and the last 11 miles were extremely easy and fun into little Uncle Johnny's. Have fun.