Huskey Gap Trail

Date: 1/11/14
Distance: 8.2 mi

Today was rainy, so I had given up on getting any new miles under my belt and instead visited my favorite gear shop (River Sports) to look at backpacks.  When I walked out, the rain had stopped and it looked to be clearing up.  I quickly drove home and packed up to head to the mountains.  I got to the Huskey Gap Trail on the Newfound Gap road about 1:00 and took off down the trail.

The trail climbs steadily for 2 miles up to Huskey Gap.  The 1st few tenths of a mile are close to the road, but it quickly turns away and becomes a peaceful walk in the woods.  Since there are no leaves on the trees, there were several nice views through the trees of the surrounding mountains.

 At the Gap, the Old Sugarlands trail crosses Huskey Gap.  The sign indicates that the Little River Trail is 2.1 miles away.  The Gap is about 1200' above the trailhead.

 There are more nice views on this portion of the trail as well as a few small stream crossings.   However with the hard rain overnight and earlier in the day, a few were slightly troubling.  The trail is mostly downhill to the Little River losing about 500' of elevation.

 Huskey Gap meets the Little River Trail near the bridge.  The water was flowing crazy big today.

After a few minutes of admiring the river, I returned the same way that I came.

 The trail skirts the river for 0.5 miles or so.  I scrambled down to the edge of the river at one big rapid.

In at least one spot, the trail had turned into a creek.  Not to hard to traverse, but did slow me down a bit.