View Full Version : Duncan Ridge Trail updates?
ytsuejam
01-25-2009, 13:35
Has anyone been on the trail recently? Are the water levels good? Is that one section still un-walkable?
I'm heading out this coming weekend,hopefully everyone will be watching the big game and I'll have my favorite trail all to myself:p
Patrick
Has anyone been on the trail recently? Are the water levels good? Is that one section still un-walkable?
I'm heading out this coming weekend,hopefully everyone will be watching the big game and I'll have my favorite trail all to myself:p
Patrick
Water is good as can be expected. The entire trail can be hiked.
Dances with Mice
01-25-2009, 20:35
Has anyone been on the trail recently? Are the water levels good? Is that one section still un-walkable?
I'm heading out this coming weekend,hopefully everyone will be watching the big game and I'll have my favorite trail all to myself:p
PatrickVery cool. I'd like to be out there also but next weekend MegaBig Corporation is sending me on an all expense paid trip to Wis-freezin'-consin.
That may not be how I usually say it.
Take a pen and paper. Note any big blowdowns and either PM me or post a trip report back here. Please?
Dances with Mice
01-25-2009, 20:40
Take a pen and paper. Note any big blowdowns and either PM me or post a trip report back here. Please?Oh, I forgot to add....
Fairly soon a W-B member (but not me) will be leading a group from Mulky Gap west to the intersection of the BMT then the BMT north to the next road crossing whose name I forget. Anyway, there are folk here who would be very interested in trip reports from the DRT.
Fairly soon a W-B member (but not me) will be leading a group from Mulky Gap west to the intersection of the BMT then the BMT north to the next road crossing whose name I forget. .
Skeenah Gap:D
ytsuejam
01-25-2009, 22:09
Will do.Even though right now I feel a cold or something coming on...I don't care, I will not miss this weekend.I've had to postpone the last two weekends:( I will even try and snap a few pics.
Patrick
CBSSTony
01-28-2009, 13:39
The DRT on the North sides of the hills by Buckeye and Bryant Gaps are tricky. Narrow and slippery. I was through there last weekend.
omegaman13
03-07-2009, 13:42
I need some updates on the trail. Water report and trail conditions would be awesome. Probably heading up there Monday sometime.
no water shortages. It rained 4 inches last weekend and the creeks were more full than I've seen in years. Trail is really easy to follow. Expect a few blowdowns; However, DWM, worked on a few recently.
omegaman13
03-07-2009, 16:05
Awesome, so as long as I stick to DWM trail guides and updates as well as his water sources I should be fine?
Awesome, so as long as I stick to DWM trail guides and updates as well as his water sources I should be fine?
I said the trail is really easy to follow; I didn't say it's easy to hike.
omegaman13
03-08-2009, 02:54
I know its reputation. Don't really know what I am in for until I get there though. I've hiked the Art Loeb(S to N), can't be much worse than that. I'll probably eat those words later though
Ox97GaMe
03-08-2009, 11:45
Suggestion when noting blowdowns (on any trail)... I carry a small notepad for such things. The things that are important to a person who will be going in to clear blowdowns (or fix any other problems) are as follows:
a) approx size of blowdown
b) approx distance from a key landmark (road, shelter, trial junction, stream crossing)
c) if trail repair needed after clearing blowdown
What I do is note the time that I leave the trialhead, arrive at key landmark, any breaks taken, and exit from trailhead.
Dances with Mice
03-08-2009, 12:17
The DRT on the North sides of the hills by Buckeye and Bryant Gaps are tricky. Narrow and slippery. I was through there last weekend.Yep! Exactly right.
The DRT has suffered years of "Leave No Trace" maintenance. Last year's push was to make sure the trail was open, blazed, cleared of old blowdowns and to have water sources marked. This year's goal is to re-widen the section immediately east of Bryant Gap, a bonus would be to put a few steps in that wet, slippery section on the north slope of Buckeye. So this spring we'll be doing the first trail maintenance in many years on the 'pure' DRT - in other words on a section where the DRT doesn't share the trailbed with another trail. So be careful east of Bryant - the trail is only 6 inches wide at most, soft, and on a steep side hill. Then on the north side of Buckeye there's a water seep on the trail just above an old blowdown that took out a chunk of trail.
The Forest Service has used their auto trail making machine to cut new trail on the Coosa & Benton Mac sections and the Benton Mac has maintainers who do a great job. Their marking of the water source at Licklog Gap was a little over-enthusiastic, but it's an important source that used to be easy to miss. Can't miss it anymore.
Blowdowns - reporting the locations and estimated size is really appreciated. I hauled a 5 foot crosscut saw 4 miles last year to clear a reported blowdown on my AT section then I wound up just picking it up and sliding it off the trail.
All water sources should be useable right now.
Dances with Mice
03-14-2009, 22:30
I need some updates on the trail. Water report and trail conditions would be awesome. Probably heading up there Monday sometime.Omegaman to the Courtesy Phone, please. Paging Omegaman.
Your DRT report is overdue.
omegaman13
03-16-2009, 02:27
Ended up just trying to get from Springer to Neels, but things went bad. We had a guy with us that this was going to be his first hike, so we didn't want to take him on the DRT. I got very sick the first day and couldn't go on(Strep, upper respiratory infection, and a double ear infection all at the same time) on top of some other things that happened that made us cancel on day 2. All in all a bad trip experience and glad we didn't try to do the DRT. Aiming to get back out there ASAP but do not know when that will be(summer at latest).
MoBill122
03-17-2009, 15:51
Was planning a trip up the BMT to Hwy 76 crossing at Blue Ridge, but wasn't having much luck with finding a place to park a vehicle south of Blue Ridge. Any ideas ?
After looking at this Georgia Loop on the BMT > DRT > AT, I might just decided to do this and not worry about another vehicle. Any thoughts ?
Dances with Mice
03-17-2009, 16:30
Was planning a trip up the BMT to Hwy 76 crossing at Blue Ridge, but wasn't having much luck with finding a place to park a vehicle south of Blue Ridge. Any ideas ?
After looking at this Georgia Loop on the BMT > DRT > AT, I might just decided to do this and not worry about another vehicle. Any thoughts ?Shuttle yourself not the car. That plan works quite well. I've done it a couple of times. It's a nice hike.
There's even a resupply point available at the GA-60 BMT/DRT crossing - a store a quarter mile or so on the road. In the spring you get into the thru-hike crowd between Long Creek Falls and Blood Mtn then you probably won't see another person on the DRT & BMT until you reconnect with the AT.
I've left vehicles at Springer, Winfield Scott Park, and the Blood Mtn parking area at various times. I felt safest leaving it a Goose Creek Cabins just west of Neel Gap and getting him to shuttle me to the trail.
I've done both directions but I prefer to hike the loop counterclockwise. That puts you into the flow of hikers on the AT rather than going against the flow. I liked hiking with the same people for a few days.
The loop has a bit of everything - crowds, solitude, well developed campsites on one portion and hardly ever used on the other, well worn trail and some stretches where you wonder if you're still on the path. Dry stretches and a riverside campsite. Like I said, it's a nice hike.