View Full Version : Bmt
rhapsody98
04-01-2011, 08:59
I am totally in love with the idea of this trail. Does it have blazes like the AT?
Tennessee Viking
04-01-2011, 09:08
The BMT is white diamond blazed for the most part. There are few areas where it is not blazed.
Sgt Rock and Tipi Walter are a couple resident experts on the BMT
The BMT is white diamond blazed for the most part. There are few areas where it is not blazed.
Sgt Rock and Tipi Walter are a couple resident experts on the BMT
Get Sgt. Rock's guide book on it... Its awesome!!! Planning to loop it(AT/BMT/AT) right from my front door "ala" Brakeman and Grasshopper...
http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=10946
SGT Rock
04-01-2011, 09:53
I am totally in love with the idea of this trail. Does it have blazes like the AT?
Blazes in GA are quite numerous, easy to find. In the Wilderness Areas in TN there are no markers except at intersections, it pays to know where you are going before you get there. In the Smokies they follow that same sort of plan since the park doesn't blaze any trail except the AT.
FWIW I just got an e-mail this week about a hiker that got lost on the BMT. He wasn't carrying a map or guidebook, got separated from his group which were the ones that had these things. He came to a section of the trail where it was blazed decades ago (before it was the BMT) with white blazes just like the AT has - but now it is wilderness area so we cannot add diamonds. So anyway, he followed the AT style blazes and took a wrong turn at an intersection: went left when he should have gone right. He walked the wrong way a few miles and then realized he was off course. He went back through the intersection and back up the BMT several miles and ended up spending the nigh separated from the rest of his group.
Three things could have prevented this:
1. Guidebook. Mine or the BMTA guidebook both point out we have not blazed this section. Then the guidebooks would have told him which trail he should have been on.
2. A map. It would have shown him which way to go.
3. Read the sign at the intersection he went through twice. It is marked with the way he should go.
This is a person that is very experienced. He has thru-hiked the AT. On my thru of the BMT I got off track once, and I know a couple of other very experienced hikers that have gotten off track a little. I guess the reason I bring this all up is to let you know that it ain't as easy to follow as the AT where you follow blazes the entire time. You have to be aware of your place on the trail and where you should be going next when you hike the BMT. But it is still a great hike.
This is a person that is very experienced. He has thru-hiked the AT. On my thru of the BMT I got off track once, and I know a couple of other very experienced hikers that have gotten off track a little.
Unfortunately , doing a thru-hike does not prepare many hikers for the BMT if they 'only' have hiked the AT. Not taking a map and guidebooks works pretty much just on the AT. Curious how the hiker dealt with the whole 'no shelter' thing...
Heck, when I did the BMT, I got off track a little bit because I missed an obscure turn-off. (Though where I ended up 15 minutes later was rather nice!)
A big reason why I loved the BMT is because it was NOT the AT. Hope it keeps its character...
Ox97GaMe
04-01-2011, 18:33
I sometimes get lost on the BMT, but it is usually on purpose. :) I hiked it in sections, as it was completed. GA, then TN/NC, then through the Smokies. That was before the guidebooks came out and before it was marked the National Geographic waterproofed map. If you take a compass, or have a pretty keen sense of direction, it isnt too hard to figure out which way you need to go when you are at trail junctions.
I think it also depends on what time of year you hike. The BMT is getting more maintainers, which means better maintained trail. There were a couple of summers when the trail was a little harder to find due to the vegetation growth. But I think that problem has been addresed. :)
royalusa
04-01-2011, 18:49
I just updated our journal (http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=10946) to include the navigational items we used on our BMT-AT Loop Hike:
Navigational Aids Used:
1. Sgt Rock's Guidebook (http://bmtguide.com/)
2. National Geographic #781 Cherokee National Forest Map
3. Great Smoky Mountains $1 Trail Map
4. Compass
This limited selection of navigational aids worked fine for us. Others prefer more maps, but I guess we just aren't map people to that degree. For example, we did not use the maps on the AT where others swear by them. HYOH.
As Ox97GaMe (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/member.php?u=813) mentions above, the time of the year may determine trail conditions. We hiked in June and shortly after we finished the maintainers got out there and cleared the chest high vegetation we plowed through. Apparently our journal entries about the bush whacking spurred on some of the maintenance, so no telling which summer month might have the best cleared trails in the future.
I just hope I don't wind up in Kansas!
I've got the maps and compass (and know how to use them) as well as the guidebook - but I'm really planning on consulting my GPS 99% of the time - I have the entire BMT on it.
:)
10-k, Where did you get the gps tracks for the BMT?
10-k, Where did you get the gps tracks for the BMT?
I used Mr. Parkay's google earth file http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showthreaded&Number=670580&site_id=1#import.
I then downloaded the "My Trails" transparent map from gpsfiledepot.com and compared the 2 to make sure that they were more or less in agreement.
They are, with 1 exception where Mr. Parkay went one way and the BMT goes another in GSMNP.
The Benton MacKaye is a wonderful experience. It is a different experience than the AT, but isn't that what it is all about? 10-K I hope and feel confident you will have a great hike on the BMT.