Hyatt Ridge – Enloe Creek – Hughes Ridge – Pecks Shelter for the night – AT to Balsam Mtn – Balsam Mtn – Beech Gap Backpack

Date: 9/27/14 - 9/28/14
Distance: 25.7
New Map Miles: 19.4
Total Map Miles: 537.2

This weekend I went backpacking with the GSHAG group.  Conrad, Richard, Harold, Bill, Ahmad and Heather were awesome companions this weekend.  The group was a very diverse group, but we were united in enjoying the park.

We started on the Hyatt Ridge trail leaving from the Straight Fork Road.

The Hyatt Ridge trail is tough with a 1500' climb over only 1.8 miles.  At the end of the trail, we turned onto Enloe which immediately gives up about 1/2 of the gained elevation.  At the bottom of the hill is a large bridge and a big creek with some nice rapids and huge boulders.

The trail then starts back up with a gain of 800' before reaching the Hughes Ridge intersection.  We turned right on Hughes and continued our climb on up to Pecks Corner Shelter. 

Pecks Corner was a nice shelter with a privy.  Water was a bit of a hike down the hill, but not horrible.  There were a few mice in the shelter, but they didn't seem too bad to me.  Up near the privy, I had Cell phone service and was able to call home for a short while before the call dropped.

We arrived about 3:30, so we had plenty of time for Richard to gather some firewood, so we had a nice fire for the evening.

Sleep wasn't great.  I've got to figure out how to sleep better on these trips.  I felt good the next day even with limited sleep and the hiking was awesome.  We headed right on the AT and traveled on some of the most beautiful trail that I've been on.  There were great views, and just lovely forest along the AT in this section.

At Balsam Mountain, we turned right to circle around to the car.  Balsam Mountain was pretty flat and a very enjoyable high elevation hike.  After 7.8 miles on Balsam, we turned right on Beech Gap.  This trail dropped off of the ridge like a rock.  It was rocky and not that enjoyable, but it was only 2.5 miles to the car.

The weather was great, the hike was awesome and the companions were superb.
Unfortunately a vehicle we used for the shuttle was vandalized which put a bit of a downer on the weekend.