Bartram Trail: Wine Spring Gap to Appletree Campground

Bartram Trail: Wine Spring Gap to Appletree Campground – 11/4/23 – 12.5 Miles

Wind blew through the treetops all night. Falling leaves and acorns sounded like rain pitter-pattering on my tent. Around 2:00 am I heard a truck drive past our hideaway site (late night visitors to the fire tower?)

I heard Jeff stirring in his tent before 6:30 am and thought, well, we may as well get up. Daylight was a long way off but we could set up our shuttle, place my car at Appletree Campground, then eat breakfast and prepare for the hike there rather than up on this dark and windy mountainside.

Who cares about these details? A weird subset of folks in the hiking universe who like logistics. 

Appletree Campground closes for the season on October 31, but there is parking outside the gate. Once we got organized, we drove Jeff’s truck back up to our campsite/parking spot to start the day’s hike near the Bartram/AT intersection. 

Déjà vu except today we're turning left/west/northbound towards Sawmill Gap

Looks like it’s going to be another gorgeous day

Always wear orange so you'll show up in the photos (and the hunters will see you!)

For the first couple of miles the terrain was easy, moderate ups and downs. We passed through three open fields that until recently had been covered in tall grass and thickets of blackberry brambles. We appreciated the recent mowing, not taking for granted that volunteers and forest service staff maintain these public lands for us.

Prepared with a new peak bagging list for today, Jeff stepped off trail to summit McDonald Ridge. I took this opportunity to eat a snack and then kept going at a leisurely pace. He quickly caught up to me.

Hornets’ nest

Sawmill Gap – can you see the moon?

At Sawmill Gap we crossed Wine Springs Whiteoak Road and a large parking area where horse trailers unload. (This is a trailhead for the Wine Spring Loop Trail which also passes the Wine Spring horse campsites.) We hiked up towards Jarrett Bald, and Jeff went off-trail to the summit while I wandered ahead, lulled into a false sense of security by the moderate terrain, everything deafened by the ever-present sound of rustling leaves.

And then…the descent to Nantahala Lake. Two steep miles of slippery leaves, with a short stint of narrow ridge littered with boulders hidden by the slippery leaves, followed by even more downhill (is that possible?) on slippery leaves. I slid a hundred times, most often catching myself with my hiking poles. Jeff’s strategy was sliding his feet along the ground in order to stay on dirt, but that meant his boots catching every rock and root. Like the day before, I vowed I would never hike at this time of year again.

At Nantahala Lake we had a short walk on Wayah Road, around a sharp bend with guard rails and very little shoulder. We had to hustle while listening and watching for vehicles. 

At the small inlet at the curve, we sat for our lunch break. Judging from the shoreline, it appeared that this spot was normally underwater but the current water level was pretty low.

Break time is over: get back up, stretch those sore muscles, and get back on Wayah Road for about half a mile to where the trail turned left up an old paved road (seldom used, from the looks of the undisturbed leaf cover and the old truck). 

The trail undulated off and on old forest roads. Jeff headed off for his final peak of the day (unnamed?) and I had an hour to continue around the base of the mountain. Mercifully, the trail was well graded again, pleasant walking. At one point there were no trail signs at all at an obvious turn, so I plopped down, spread out my rain jacket and laid down to wait for Jeff. Just 20 minutes later, he showed up.

But...the last quarter mile of descent in this section was super steep (again!) and I fell hard, bouncing from my back to my front, trying to avoid hyperextending my knee. No serious injuries, but I was very sore for a few days afterwards.

We crossed the concrete ford where the Nantahala River flows out of the lake. The ford is not passable in high water but was very low today. (Note: as you’re planning to hike this section, research the current stage of the river in case you should take an alternative route.)

Two final boring miles on an unpaved road to the intersection of Junaluska Road and Old River Road, where Appletree Campground is located. 

Stats: 12.5 miles, 1.280 feet elevation gain, 3,652 feet elevation loss

Sore knees and a long drive home, but two days of fine weather walking in the woods with an adventurous friend – this is the life!

“The acoustics of this season are different
and all sounds, no matter how hushed,
 are as crisp as autumn air.”
 ~Eric Sloane

Bartram Trail: Wine Spring Bald to Wallace Branch

Bartram Trail: Wine Spring Bald to Wallace Branch – 11/3/23 – 14.5 Miles

A hiking adventure with my friend Jeff, long overdue! Finding something that’s new for both of us took some thinking, until we found that we have the Bartram Trail in common. Jeff has hiked the Georgia section and I’ve hiked some miles on the North Carolina end.

We settled on the 23-mile section in Nantahala National Forest between Wallace Branch and Appletree Campground in NC. Considering Jeff’s penchant for peak bagging, this stretch was especially enticing to him.

My plan: This could be a straightforward backpacking section, but since we will have two cars, I concocted a complicated scheme of shuttling, dayhiking and car camping. This involved more time moving vehicles, but it meant we could start from the high point both days (Wayah Bald) and hike downhill to the end points with light packs rather than killing ourselves (i.e. me) hauling a loaded backpack uphill.

Jeff’s extra plans: he wanted to summit six off-trail peaks on the first day’s hike. Also, starting from the Wayah Bald parking lot was too simple – let’s start from a more obscure point where the AT crosses Wayah Road and climbs northbound to intersect the Bartram Trail.

Camping is off limits at Wayah Bald Fire Tower, so Jeff studied maps and satellite images to find a suitable (free) site close by.

We met at the Nantahala Ranger Station on Friday morning and dropped my car at the nearby Wallace Branch parking area. (There are campsites there, but too close to civilization for us).

From there we drove up the forest road towards Wayah Bald, checking out Jeff’s camping options along the way. We chose one at a bend in the forest road, a pull-off wide enough for two vehicles. We could place our vehicles to block view of our tents from the road (hoping no one would be on the road after dark anyway). The site was a short walk to our starting point in the morning.

Done. It was 10:30 am, time to get moving. We walked a short distance back down Wayah Road and turned northbound onto the AT. I stumbled going up the steps, landed flat, which I’m sure gave Jeff pause as to whether I would be a liability on this adventure.

So happy to be outside on a crisp late autumn day, talking with my old buddy, blissfully naïve to what awaited me! The short climb up Middle Ridge got our blood pumping. We hit the AT/BT intersection sooner than expected, made note of the designated campsite and water source there.

The AT and the Bartram Trail run concurrently for a few miles, white and yellow blazes

We took the spur trail to Wine Spring Bald, Jeff’s first peak of the day and home of unattractive communication towers. Here we sat down in the sunshine to eat an early lunch.

Comms towers on Wine Spring Bald

The view from Wine Spring Bald

Moving on from bald, we hiked about two miles to Wayah Bald, encountering a few backpackers and dayhikers. From the fire tower, the wide open view of layers of blue mountains blending into blue sky was sublime. We didn’t linger long, miles to go.

Wayah Bald Fire Tower

The rest of the afternoon was a descent (let’s just call it a slide) of epic proportions, mostly focused on my balance, or lack of it.

What looked like a simple downward trend on the elevation profile map in reality is stretched over such a long distance that there is not much relatable detail – meaning the little bumps and dips aren’t little at all. In fact, they were roller coaster steep with no switchbacks. In addition, last week’s colorful leaves in the trees were now brown dry leaves on the ground, deceptively deep on the trail and slippery as all get out. 

A rare handrail in the backcountry - there must be steps under here somewhere

Ankle deep in leaves

Jeff walked ahead of me and, although we tried to talk, it was pretty hard to hear conversation over the clamorous rustling we stirred up. Not for the last time, I questioned this “lifelong hobby” of mine.

By the time we reached Harrison Gap, I realized that we were moving slower, had more miles to go than expected, and would be finishing this hike after dark. Jeff did not disagree with me. Fortunately, the peaks he was interested in along this stretch (Wildcat Knob, Wilkes Knob, etc) were short off-trail walks. He disappeared and reappeared while I trudged along the BT.

The temperature and darkness were also descending. The last mile down to the Wallace Branch trailhead was a challenge in the fading light, but we triumphantly walked off the trail without headlamps at 7:00 pm.

My GAIA track recorded 14.5 miles, 2,038 feet elevation gain, 4,907 feet elevation loss. WHAT???

We drove my car back up the forest road to our campsite. It was cold, pitch dark, and the first thing Jeff did was build a small fire in the existing fire ring. We rarely take time for campfires, but tonight it felt good to get some heat and light going to pitch our tents and prepare food. (We kept the fire low and had gallons of water for extinguishing the flames.) 

With hot tea and a hot meal, we caught up on life’s changes. Since we last hiked together, I became a grandmother and Jeff became a dad! The two of us hold different views on some issues (guess who’s the liberal one) but our common love of hiking and the peace of the outdoors make us hopeful for the world that our little guys will grow up in.

By 9:30 pm the fire was out and so was I, curled up tight in my sleeping bag, listening to a breeze high in the trees.

“Is it too late to turn back? Asking for a friend.”

~Anonymous