Twig Adventures

Category: Benton MacKaye Trail

BMT Day 5: Froggy

Benton MacKaye Trail

Sunday, May 5th, 2024, 0715-1930Lost Cove Camp to no name site, mm 10327 miles, Gain: 5060′, Loss: 6400′, elevation 1650′ A thunderstorm hit around midnight but thankfully the bulk of it skirted me. I saw a lot of lightning as it approached but none hit nearby. Whew. In preparation, I got out to tighten all my lines and sink my stakes real good, but there was very little wind. The rain was moderate and all my stuff stayed dry, which is more than I could say for the shelter the night before. Go figure. The morning held mist and the trees continued to weep for hours, but I could see blue skies at sunrise. A USFS campground was only 15[…]

Read more

BMT Day 4: A good day to be a duck

Benton MacKaye Trail

Saturday, May 4th, 2024, 0510-1800Indian Rock Shelter to Lost Cove Camp, mm 78.431 miles, Gain: 6230′, Loss: 5020′, elevation 2980′ What should have been a really nice night in the shelter wasn’t so much. We all went to bed early and the drum of the rain lulled me to sleep quickly. It rained really hard for awhile and I was so glad to be under a roof. But I woke to some noises around 2 pm. One was someone’s water bottle tipping over. I sat up to check on things and noticed that there was water on my quilt. Upon further investigation, it was all under my pad and ground tarp. I thought the water bottle must have spilled, but[…]

Read more

BMT Day 3: Bear, Bigfoot, & Rain

Benton MacKaye Trail

Friday, May 3rd, 2024, 0706-1600Fall Branch Falls to Indian Rock Shelter, mm 52.412 miles, Gain: 1940′, Loss: 2360′, elevation 1770′ I knew I was in store for a period of wet days, all the way through Monday. But the rain wasn’t supposed to start until Friday afternoon. Well, those forecasters were off by 12 hours, because I woke to rain at 4 am. My tent stayed dry for one whole day, at least. I didn’t have any condensation, so only the outside was wet when I packed it. My plan was to do a short day to the one and only purpose built shelter on the BMT so that I’d have one guaranteed dry night, plus I could dry my[…]

Read more

BMT Day 2: Ridges then Rivers

Benton MacKaye Trail

Thursday, May 2nd, 2024, 0710-1930Wallalah Mt. to Fall Branch Falls, mm 4221.5 miles, Gain: 4600′, Loss: 5500′, elevation 2190′ It was such a wonderful night on top my little mountain. There were some distant farm sounds like dogs barking, but I felt so far above everything else. In the middle of the night, I heard something crashing through the forest below, snorting as it went … probably a deer. But I felt like I was at the top of a castle and that nothing could get me. I woke to watch a beautiful sunrise while packing, then started down the trail. It followed a series of ridges to another mountaintop: Lick Log. Then more ridges which seemed to go on[…]

Read more

BMT Day 1: Picture Perfect

Appalachian Trail, Benton MacKaye Trail

Wednesday, May 1st, 2024, 0740-1900Springer Mountain Shelter to Wallalah Mt., mm 2121 miles, Gain: 4400′, Loss: 5050′, elevation 3086′ My goodness, what a beautiful trail the BMT was at the start! Green tunnels, waterfalls, swing bridges, rivers, creeks, and mountain top sunsets and sunrises. I didn’t set an alarm and woke with the dawn. The birds were in full swing with their songs, so lovely. The sun came up over the ridge and the rays penetrated brilliantly through the trees. While having breakfast at the shelter, RocknRoll asked if I’d screamed in the middle of the night and if I was ok. It was such a peaceful night, but perhaps I had a night terror. Or maybe it was one[…]

Read more

BMT Day 0: The Approach

Appalachian Trail, Benton MacKaye Trail

Tuesday, April 30th, 2024, 1400-1930Amicalola Falls State Park (famous Stone Arch at the beginning of the AT approach trail) to Springer Mountain Shelter, mm 010 miles, Gain: 3270′, Loss: 1300′, elevation 3780′ It was an auspicious and serendipitous Day 0 to get to the start of the BMT. In actuality, it was a several day journey to get to this point, which I’ll try to quickly sum up. Two days before, I drove from Miami to Gainesville so I could split the drive and also reconnect with my friend Eve. I met her through the Florida Trail Association and we had adventured together a lot in years past. She moved from Miami to Gainesville a few years ago, which made[…]

Read more

Up Next: the Benton MacKaye Trail

Benton MacKaye Trail

The Benton MacKaye Trail (BMT) is named after a visionary, who, in 1921, was the first to propose the idea of a continuous footpath running from Maine to Georgia…the Appalachian Trail. Incidentally, his New England roots are the reason original AT signage says “Maine to Georgia”, rather than the other way around, which is typically the direction the trail is hiked. (I, of course, followed historical protocols and hiked the AT southbound in 2021.) The BMT was officially opened on July 16, 2005 and is maintained by the BMT Association. Description from the Benton MacKaye Trail Association website: With its glorious ridgeline views and the innumerable crossings of mountain streams, the almost 300 mile long Benton MacKaye Trail comes by its reputation[…]

Read more