Laurel Gap Backpack Day 2 - Balsam Mtn - Gunter Fork - Big Creek

Date: 3/12/16
Distance: 21.4 miles

After a night of tossing and turning, we packed up and left the shelter about 7:40.  We hiked the 1.2 miles from the Shelter over to the Gunter Fork Trail and I had a decision to make.  The group plan was to just hike down Gunter Fork to Big Creek for a total of 11.6 miles, but I really wanted to hike the portion of Balsam Mtn from Gunter over to the AT.  This is a hard section to hike because it is 4.9 miles long and is 10 miles from anywhere.  The trail is fairly flat, but if I decided to hike it I was looking at a 21.4 mile day.  I was feeling pretty good that morning and the pack wasn't feeling horribly heavy, so I said so long to my hiking partners and headed for the AT.

Balsam Mountain trail didn't feel quite as flat as the Brown Book would indicate, so the 4.9 mile walk over to the AT was a little more difficult than I expected, but it is a really pretty section of trail.  Most of the trail is in a Fir forest.  Much of the trail is covered with pine needles and is easy to hike, but there are also sections that are very rocky and rooty.

 Sometime you walk by stuff on the trail that just makes you go Huh.

 I made it out to the AT in about 2 hours (from the shelter), took a picture of the sign and quickly turned around for the 4.9 miles back to Gunter Fork.

 Balsam had quite a few trees laying in the trail.

 There were some really nice views through the trees, but they don't show well in photos.

 Back at Gunter Fork (11 miles into the day), I took a short break and ate some lunch before heading down the mountain.  Gunter Fork can be dangerous if it has rained recently, so I was glad that today was only cloudy and not rainy.

 The top of Gunter is often narrow and it feels as if it would be easy to misstep and slide down the side of the mountain.  It was also fairly overgrown even though the leaves weren't out on the plants yet.

There is one area on Gunter where a landslide has wiped out the vegetation.  It is about 50' across.

Gunter has a few nice views on the way down the mountain.

 The creek crossings weren't unreasonable on this day.  I was able to rock hop each of them.  There were about 7 crossings in all.  The last couple are the largest as you would expect.

 There is a really nice cascade about 1/2 way down the trail.

This is another of the creek crossings.

 When the trail isn't crossing the creek, it is right along the side of it.

 This is the final crossing.

 About 4 miles and after a drop of 2200', I was very happy to see the sign indicating that I had reached the Camel Gap Trail.

 I turned right on Camel Gap which changes to Big Creek after 0.6 miles.  From here it was a 5.7 mile walk down the old road which is Big Creek to the car.

I had done a good job of keeping up my pace on this long day and was just 5 minutes short of a 3 mph pace.  I was "smelling the barn", so I picked up the pace and headed down the trail.

I did stop for a couple more photos and I enjoyed chatting with all of the day hikers that I passed by  on the trail.

I made it to the car by 2:35 for a total hiking time of 6:55.  I was feeling really good on this day and was very happy that I made the decision to hike the extra mileage.  I'm sure the lack of significant climbing helped the pace.