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.
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.
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
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