Walking With Bartram Section 3: Wilson Gap to Hale Ridge Road

The last section of the Bartram Trail in North Georgia before crossing into North Carolina.

For the first time, we had to split this Bartram Trail hike for section 3 between Wilson Gap and Hale Ridge Road, into two hikes. This was certainly needed for this particular hike, as the shuttling between the two trailheads is not the easiest. The other reason is that a smaller hiking group is able to interact a bit more with each other.

Walking with Bartram trail hikers stopping for a break and view.

Going above and beyond as they usually do, we were so fortunate that a few of our volunteers offered to help with our shuttling needs, which made the end of the day much nicer after a long day of hiking. Special thanks to Don Reis, Keith Vickers, Phillip Rogers, and David Rothmeier for their time getting everyone to the trailhead!

Section 3 – Hike 1 – January 27th, 2023

We appreciate our hikers for being flexible for this hike. We had an overwhelming response of RSVP’s for this hike and asked that some folks consider the second date. Ultimately, this crew of 13 enjoyed very chilly temps with tons of sunshine, low winds, and an absolutely lovely day.

Bartram Trail hikers breaking to take in the view.

It was certainly a cold morning and stayed cold through the day, but as we know, putting those steps in gets the blood flowing and everyone heating up. The weather report stated temps in the 30’s as a high this day.

This group was also treated to the new stairs below Rabun Bald after a short break for lunch at the top of the tower. Fortunately, the sun was bright and the wind was light, so it was a great point to re-fuel bodies and souls.

The group passed over four blowdowns on their way from Wilson Gap to Rabun Bald. They also noted that this section could use a little tread-work when we can get a work day crew up there. There is a lot of use of this trail and the others leading to Rabun Bald, making it a pretty popular section.

Hike Participants

Robert Olive
Sharon Mandel
Rosemary Safranek
Michelle Stephens
MC Jenkins
Lyn Thompson
Eric Towers
Pat Towers
Kristina Moe
Eddie Minche
Laura Harris
Phyllis Davis
Brent Martin

Trailhead sign at Hale Ridge Road marking the Bartram Trail heading towards Rabun Bald

Section 3 – Hike 2 – February 9th, 2023

As with the first hike of this section, we are appreciative of the Bartram Trail Conservancy members and volunteers that helped our group shuttle to Wilson Gap. This is a really long shuttle and even with everyone meeting on time at 9am, we didn’t get on the trail until after 10:30. Special thanks to Keith Vickers, Eric Towers, and Philip Rogers for their volunteerism.

The day started out chilly, but not too cold and once the sun came out, it warmed up fairly well into the 50’s. We did encounter some shadier sections along the trail that still had signs of snow sticking to the ground.

Walking With Bartram group stopping for lunch at Rabun Bald

Mid-day, by the time we reached Rabun Bald, the winds were very still and the sky was clear and blue and clear of any haze from our point up in the tower. We took turns gazing out over North Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, identifying peaks and other landmarks.

On the hike down, we did pass through a couple of blowdowns that will need to be removed, but they were passable.

Walking With Bartram group passing over one of several bridges along the section near Hale Ridge Road

This section of the trail on the way out to Hale Ridge Road passes over several foot-bridges, the small creeks and cascades they span, and plenty of rhododendron and pine stands.