AT route from Spivey Gap to Nolichucky River circa 1939

[10-K]

This is probably of interest to .... well... no one.. but figured I'd share it anyway..

I was looking at the USGS quads for my area last night and downloaded the 1939 topo that includes the area between Spivey Gap and the Nolichucky River here in Erwin and I was surprised to see that the AT at that time ran around the back side of No Business Knob, through the Granny Lewis Creek area, and down what is now the Temple Hill Trail.

At some point, a serious reroute was made to get it to todays current location. Here's a link to the topo if you want to have a look: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/..._24000_geo.pdf.

I wonder if there's a historical archive somewhere of AT reroutes? It's pretty interesting to me to see the evolution of the trail.

[SteelCut]

I find this interesting as well since it's in my neck of the woods. It looks to me like the entire trail is farther west at Spivey's Gap than it is today. On the southern side of Spivey's the trail take a 90* northerly turn at Whistling Gap rather than continuing over High Rocks. There is an unnamed trail in High Rocks area that eventually reaches where the AT crosses Spivey's Gap today. So the relocation affected portion of the trail as well. I'd be curious why this re-route was done.

[Gambit McCrae]

Reroutes: New land purchased by the Government, More traversable/scenic spots, to make it easier? Heck I dont know but a good one to ask is Bob Peoples, Great man dont get me wrong! But that dude LOVES to dig this is Bob Peoples on the trail rerouting in 1939 at 4:00 am >

And at 8pm that evening when the sun goes down>

Everyone hiking the switchback reroutes for years to come>

[rocketsocks]

Reroutes: New land purchased by the Government, More traversable/scenic spots, to make it easier? Heck I dont know but a good one to ask is Bob Peoples, Great man dont get me wrong! But that dude LOVES to dig this is Bob Peoples on the trail rerouting in 1939 at 4:00 am >

And at 8pm that evening when the sun goes down>

Everyone hiking the switchback reroutes for years to come>

That's actually kinda funny.

[The Cleaner]

My copy of the ATC giudebook from 1980 says that this relocation was done in 1963. Also prior to that many years earlier there was a long roadwalk from near Devil's Fork Gap to some point near Watauga lake. The old guidebooks give much detailed info and you may find interesting facts by reading these earlier editions published by the ATC when they started doing so.

[Gambit McCrae]

Devils Fork to Watauga Lake?! A continuos road walk or do you mean alot of road walk in and out of the woods? Cause thats a long way lol

[SteelCut]

My copy of the ATC giudebook from 1980 says that this relocation was done in 1963. Also prior to that many years earlier there was a long roadwalk from near Devil's Fork Gap to some point near Watauga lake. The old guidebooks give much detailed info and you may find interesting facts by reading these earlier editions published by the ATC when they started doing so.

Good call. I dug out my old ATC guidebook from the 70s. The text for relocation says:

This entire section was relocated in 1963 to include the interesting circuit of No Business Knob, leading through the upper elevations of the isolated Devils Creek watershed, and the unusual scenery from Cliff Ridge, close by the Nolichucky River.

My notes showed that I hiked that section in 1977 and I finally did it again in July. I had no memory of any of the landmarks nor the No Business Knob shelter. Getting old ...

[The Cleaner]

Devils Fork to Watauga Lake?! A continuos road walk or do you mean alot of road walk in and out of the woods? Cause thats a long way lol

I had an earlier copy of the ATC guidebook which told of this roadwalk but cannot find it. At that time this area was not very populated and the roadwalk was on several county and USFS roads. It took the formation of the ATC to start the process of land purchases with the help of the USFS to get the trail back into the woods. Up until the late 80's the trail did still follow many sections of private lands. The way some hikers litter and conduct themselves today would upset many of these landowners if they still had to follow the earlier routes....

[10-K]

Wow, thanks for passing on so much great info!

I know the trail was also routed differently over Unaka Mountain. A lot of the trail was walking up Unaka Mountain Road at Indian Grave Gap over to what is now the Stamping Ground Ridge Trail and down to Limestone Cove instead of going over Unaka Mountain via Beauty Spot to Iron Mountain Gap.

[Kerosene]

10-K, there is always someone else on the World Wide Web who shares an interest with you, no matter how arcane!

In this case, as a geography & computer science major, I just love to see how cities/landscapes/trails change over time. I think it would be very cool to be able to create a time-lapse map of how the AT has shifted over time, with notes as to the reasons for re-routes, how long it took, who did it, etc. It would be a great historical archive for the ATC. If the data exists in some form then I'd even volunteer to pull something together when I retire!

[The Cleaner]

I first hiked Allen Gap to Erwin in 1977. After the old Locust Ridge shelter( about 1 mile north of Flint Mtn shelter, which was burned down only a year or so after it's construction and replaced with the log shelter there now) the next shelter was No Business Knob shelter. This was almost 25 miles with no shelter . Somehow hikers made this hike without many problems. The shelters at HogBack Ridge and Big Bald were built in the late 1980's and are well used and a drop off point for litter and unwanted gear in the last few years. IMO the trail was much more isolated until the construction of I-26 and the plethora of services available in Erwin and Hot Springs. Then came cell phones and things haven't been the same since.....

[The Cleaner]

Under FWIW, the Locust Ridge shelter, which was dismantled after construction of the Flint Mtn shelter, was a small log shelter just like the ones on Spring Mtn, Deer Park Mtn and Walnut Mtn. These were built by the CCC in the 1930's I believe and gives one an idea of the 1st location of the AT. In later years as land was acquired and the trail relocated, sometimes as many as 3 times in the 19E to Hampton section, the trail has become the hiker super highway it is today. Even now relocation work continues around the Shelton Graves near Big Butt and should be completed soon. I like Kerosene's idea, a book about the trail, instead of more books written by thru hiker's about their individual hikes. I'm not criticizing any of the great books written by many just pointing out that simply put, a long or thru hike on the AT consists of PUDs, rain, snow, blisters, bad trail food and in between all this many still find enjoyment, new friends, adventure and more. Long live the AT and those who hike it.