Backpacking Western N.C. (etc)

If you sign up, you will go directly to the waiting list so I can be sure that you are prepared to hike 11 miles in and navigate 2 mild water crossings with your overnight gear! Thank you!

Details: Please join me for an overnight backpacking trip down to Lake Jocassee where the Toxaway River flows in. We will be doing a loop style hike incorporating the Auger Hole Trail, Foothills Trail, and the Canebrake Trail. This will be a 16.5 mile trip total. We will be camping at the Toxaway suspension bridge designated camping areas. These campsites are on the bank of Lake Jocassee and offer picnic tables, lantern hooks, fire rings. This is a beautiful protected wilderness area in the NC section of Lake Jocassee. There will be great views and sunset!

Day 1: meet at Frozen Creek Trailhead near Rosman NC at 8:15AM. Starting hiking at 8:30AM, 7 miles on Auger Hole Trail to the intersection of the Foothills Trail. We will then hike 4.3 miles along the Foothills Trail to camping area at the Toxaway River Bridge (65ft in length) There are two creek crossings on the Auger Hole Trail that require you to take off shoes and ford over.

Day 2: Around 9:30 AM, start hiking 5 miles back to cars via Canebrake Trail. This will include a 1800 ft ascent over the 5 miles.

Hike Length: 16.5 miles

Hike Duration: Overnight

Hike Rating: Moderate

Blaze: Orange on Auger Hole, White on Foothills, Yellow on Canebrake

Elevation Gain: 2500 feet (est.) – three climbs

Hike Configuration: Loop

Trail Condition: Excellent

Starting Point: Frozen Creek Road

Join us for Memorial Day weekend on a 2 night 28 mile backpacking trip for a challenging hike through the majestic beauty of Smoky Mountains National Park!

Total Ascent: 7,727 ft
Total Descent: 7,785 ft

Parking pass required to park in GSMNP. See Logistics notes below.
Campsites require paid reservations in GSMNP. The campsite reservation fee is $16 per person. See Logistics notes below.

If you want to join this trip please join the Waitlist. I’ll message the first 6 vetted people with how to pay the $16. Once I receive your camping reservation payment I’ll move you to the Going list.

Day 1: 11.6 miles

9AM: Meet at the end point, Nolan Creek Trailhead (GPS link below).
We'll need 2 volunteers to shuttle the group ~45 minutes to the start point, Oconaluftee Visitor Center Parking C (GPS link below).

We'll hike along Hwy 441 for a short period to the Mingus Mill Trail. We can stop and visit the historic Mingus Mill if there's interest. We'll continue along the Mingus Mill trail to get on the Deep Low Gap Trail. We'll follow the Deep Low Gap Trail until we reach Deep Low Gap where we'll take the Thomas Divide Trail south until it intersects with the Indian Creek Motor Trail, which we'll turn right on to head back North. Where Indian Creek Motor trail intersects with the Deep Low Gap Trail we'll get back on Deep Low Gap and then quickly reach Campsite 51 for a total of around 12 miles for the day.

Day 2: 9 miles
We'll retrace our steps briefly to head back west on the Deep Low Gap Trail until we reach the Indian Creek Trail. We'll take the Indian Creek Trail North, which turns into Martins Gap Trail. We'll continue on Martins Gap Trail until near campsite 57 and then head north on the Deep Creek Trail. We'll head West on the Pole Road Creek Trail just before campsite #55. We'll be on the Pole Road Creek Trail until we reach Upper Sassafras Gap where we'll head west on the Nolan Creek Trail. We'll stop at the Bald Creek Campsite #61 for a total of around 9 miles.

Day 3: 7.9 miles
We'll take the Nolan Creek Trail (also the Bartram Trail) all the way down back to the Nolan Creek Trailhead where our cars are parked.

Logistics:

Disclaimers:

• Hike organizers are in no way responsible for you, your health, or safety. By attending this event you acknowledge that the organizers assume no liability for you or your gear.
• Know your abilities. This is a difficult hike, with some strenuous sections.
• We do not wait at trail intersections. Be prepared by having a map (or map app) and studying the route. There are many turns on this trip, know the route! We have provided the route map via Gaia below.

Gaia Map Route: https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=13.1/-83.3822/35.5010&pubLink=MzlCHPk8l4p7sbbTCwLVIFO1&trackId=98fa5d67d9512be3f341e8d3982365fd

Shuttles:

• If you're willing to volunteer for either of the shuttle needs below please comment on the event after you join the waitlist that you're willing to shuttle and how many passengers you can carry

• We'll need at least 2 volunteers to shuttle from the end point to the start point on Saturday morning.

• We'll need at least 1 volunteer to shuttle from the end point to the start point on Monday afternoon.

Start & End points:

• Where we're meeting Sat morning (the end point): https://maps.app.goo.gl/8PenkKLBsb1R1mq96
• Where we start hiking Sat morning (the start point): https://maps.app.goo.gl/u7d3fgpWKFx4prih6

Parking:

• Parking passes are required to park in GSMNP as of March 2023
• You will need to purchase your own parking pass at https://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/fees.htm#basics and PRINT it out ahead of time so you can display it in your dash.
• You will need a pass for THREE days so we recommend getting the weekly pass as it's the same price as three daily passes.
• Note that as of posting this trip, the pass reservation form doesn't seem to be working well to choose a future date so you may want to wait until on or after May 20th to purchase.

Campsites

• Campsites in the Smokies must be reserved ahead of time and are $8 per person per night, $16 total for this trip. ORGANIZERS will pre-pay for the campsite reservations when they become available to reserve (30 days ahead).
• Payments are refundable until May 10, 2025. That would allow enough time for another person to join and pay should you decide to cancel so we don't lose any of the reservation fees.