Bull Gap to Cheaha Trailhead

Managed to manipulate and finagle my way into enough time to string together a long hike the last few days. I set out to go from Bull Gap to the Cheaha trailhead back in October but called it off early due to rain and sick kids back home. Ever since it had been bugging me that I did not finish. So first chance I got I headed out to start all over again from the beginning. I pulled it off Sunday, Monday, and wrapping it up on Tuesday. The trail did not disappoint. It was beautiful, challenging, and exhilarating.

We were visiting family in Childersburg for the weekend. I got my brother to follow me up to the Cheaha trailhead so I could drop my car off in the parking lot there. My wife dropped me off Sunday morning at 7:00 AM at the Bull Gap trailhead. A few miles before the turn off to the Bull Gap Trailhead I noticed they had just completed a prescribed burn. Some of the stumps were still smoldering. I got a little concerned but it ended a little ways before we made it to the trail.

We passed the vehicles of several turkey hunters along the way. My wife thought it was unsafe. I tried explaining they don’t hunt turkey with deer rifles…. I’m not sure how many turkey hunters were actually on the mountain with me. I did see one truck pulled off FS600 but it looked like he was on the other side of the road. I heard two blasts fired in quick succession that evening shortly before sundown but by then I was in camp at Scott Lake. Any turkey hunter that came home empty handed that day has only himself to blame because the turkeys were there. I had seen 3 before I made it to the fire tower. Saw a 4^th Turkey on the second day but I don’t remember exactly where I was.

I started out at 7:00 AM Sunday not really sure where I would stop to camp. Last time I used the shelter at the fire tower, which is awesome but there is no water. Besides, when I made it to the shelter it was like 12:30 so still too much daylight to stop. I made it to Kenny’s Camp around 2:30, again too much daylight to stop. The next stop was Scott Lake with plenty of water. Total mileage for the day was 15 miles. The road to Scott Lake looked like it had been recently graded that might be why it seemed like I had so much company there. When I arrived at the lake there was a large family there. The entire family, all seven of them, were each on their own ATV. They were taking turns driving back and forth across the stream beneath the spill way of the lake. After they finally left, not 10 minutes later a Jeep pulled up right at the peninsula where the best view of the lake is and hung out until almost dark. They were quiet though asked me about the trail and that was all I heard out of them. Put me a little on edge though. I like camping back in the woods where no one knows you’re there. The weather was nice but the bugs were brutal. Therefore, I put up the tent bug screen and left the fly off. Scott Lake gets very loud when the sun goes down. The cricket and frogs are loud but I kind of like the noise they make it’s a white noise that kind of helps you sleep. The ducks that live there are another matter. They carried on until about 3:00 AM. They made strange sounds too not just duck sounds. Sometimes they sounded like people talking. I would be almost asleep, eyelids closed, sort of halfway in dreamland when I’d swear I heard someone talking I jolted back into the real world only to realize it was the dang ducks. Think I’ll take up duck hunting. I saw one shooting star that night. Despite only about 3 hours of broken sleep I was up at daybreak and on the trail by 7:00.

While I was lying awake that first night I realized that since I did 15 miles the first day that if I could do 15 each day I would finish in just 3 days, with 2 nights on the trail. Not that I was in a hurry. I actually packed 5 days worth of food. I thought I would do 10 miles a day and finish the last 5 miles on day 5. That probably would have been correct for a winter time hike. However, with the longer days and since I was alone the only thing I had for entertainment was the trail. The problem with that was that once you pass Chandler Springs and go through the campsite that is about 2 trail miles past Chandler Springs there is no water that is easy to get to unless you are part mountain goat. That meant I had to shoot for the campsite at the double spring crossing about 1.5 mile before the Adam’s Gap Trailhead.

Day 2 started off nicely. I saw a terrapin on the trail and a couple of crawdads in the spring I got water from about 1 mile up the trail from Scott Lake. Chipmunks and Squirrels were everywhere. The weather was nice. Birds were singing. Everything was hunky dory. I topped off my water again at the spring a little ways up the trail from chandler springs, it was teeming with frogs by the way. It was about 1:00 PM when I headed out from there 8 miles down 9 to go.

This is the part where it got tough. The temp was up in the mid 80’s. The sun was beating down on the rocky ridge tops where I was bobbing up and down. There were plenty of trees but most were still without leaves, making shade very hard to come by.  When I wasn’t going up a steep climb I was hopping across rocks hoping the rock I landed on did not shift and cause me to stumble with disastrous results. Nonetheless, the challenge is a big part of why we hike. Like I said, the trail did not disappoint.

I was drinking fluids with reckless abandon for a while then about half way up the 400 foot climb to Clairmont Point and Rocky Top #3 my camel back ran dry leaving me with 2 Nalgenes full of water. I would need one to cook with if I wound up not making my goal and having to dry camp or worse if I did get there and it was dry. Therefore I nursed one bottle the rest of the way to camp. Mercifully, the trail drops beneath Burgess Point making the climb to the old fire tower location unnecessary.  I’ll make a special trip back someday to make that climb.

I made the desired goal that day 17 miles of hiking. Made it not too long before dark set in. The campsite was great. There was a nice fire ring, spring water running right there, a rock set at such an angle in front of the fire ring that you can prop your sleeping mat on it and roll a jacket behind your head and whala a camp recliner to sit in and watch the fire. I slept right there just like that, with a stone for my pillow, didn’t wrestle any angels though. However, the next day I did climb a stairway to heaven. See, I do remember some Sunday school lessons. Managed to see a shooting star that night also.

After a good night of sleep I was raring to go. I was on the trail at 6:30 AM which put me at the stairway to heaven just as it started to heat up again, by the time I made it to the rock hopping part of the trail between the Chinnabee/ Odum intersection and McDill Point the rocks were baking in the sun again, as was my ever balding head. The calendar says April but I would have sworn it was June while up there. Anyway I wrapped it up around 5:00 PM. 13 total miles for the third day. 45 miles total for the trip.

I did not see a single hiker the entire 45 miles. I saw those people at Scott Lake and there was a maintenance crew working on the railroad at Chandler Springs. Other than that no people on the trail.

I would like to voice my appreciation to the wonderful folks with the blue paint. That blue paint kept drawing me across those rock gardens. Every time I looked down for secure footing then looked back up there would be a blue rectangle urging me on. If ever I looked up and did not see one I would have been in trouble. That was not the place to lose your bearings and have to go searching for a trail. Had a great trip, can’t wait to continue.

Follow the link to some pictures if you like. A lot of them are the same ones I have already taken from previous trips but what the heck digital pictures are free for the most part. It was very hazy so a lot of the vistas didn’t really translate well into the photos but they rarely do.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/todd150hp/sets/72157623797819220/