The ALT has been a bucket list item for my dad and I for a couple years now. I live near Asheville so I've hiked sections of the trail around Shining Rock, Black Balsam, and Cat Gap many times. Together my dad and I have done a few sections of the Foothills Trail, and we wanted to up the challenge a bit. Hooooooooo boyyyyy we should have been more careful what we wished for. It took us three attempts over more than six months to finally put this one in the books. We learned quite a bit, though, and in the end it felt good to mark this one in the "done" column.
Attempt #1 - December 2022
Our plan was to finish the trail in three days starting from Camp Daniel Boone and camping at Shining Rock Gap on Night 1, then crest the Balsams and camp at Butter Gap on Night 2, finishing up on Day 3. A number of things went wrong here right from the very beginning though. Neither of us was in great shape, me having been desk bound at my job for several months with little opportunity for physical activity, and my dad steal healing from several surgeries that left him missing a third of one lung. The climb up out of CDB to Deep Gap is deceptive on paper. it's just around 3.5 miles with 1800' of elevation gain which doesn't seem to bad, but the trail itself is the most technical I've ever encountered in my life. It's a whole lot of navigating boulder fields just itching to snap your ankle and scrambling down and up through washed out gullies 20' deep. I had originally estimated 3 hours to complete this section, leaving us 4 hours to complete the remaining (relatively flat) 3.5 miles to Shining Rock Gap. It ended up taking us over 8 hours just to get to Deep Gap, where we both collapsed into our hammocks utterly exhausted. The one positive was despite a storm with pounding rain and gusts over 30mph and lows in the 20s, I stayed roasty toasty in all my brand new winter camping gear, and dad reported he was quite comfortable in his rig as well. We both woke up around 9am the next morning hungry, still exhausted, unbelievably sore, and with the gut wrenching realization that we were going to have to bail out given our physical condition on top of the late start. It took us another 8 hours to get back down the mountain to Camp Daniel Boone.
Lessons Learned
- Eating is important, and coffee is not breakfast
- When a trail says "Most Difficult" they aren't joking
- Aligning the hammock parallel to the wind is much warmer
- Never EVER pass up a water source on the ALT. EVER.
Gear Used
- Hammock: Warbonnet El Dorado
- Tarp: *NEW* Warbonnet Super Fly
- Top Quilt: *NEW* Enlightened Equipment 0-Degree
- Underquilt: Warbonnet Wooki 20-Degree
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Attempt #2 - March 2023
The plan of attack was the same this time, but we both spent the intervening months working on our physical condition. We got a much earlier start this time, ate a real breakfast, and it took only 5 to get to Deep Gap where we stopped to have a good lunch. We made it to Shining Rock Gap and pitched the hammocks feeling very positive about Day 1 going more or less exactly according to plan. That is until about an hour after I laid down in my hammock when I felt a pop followed by a very cold breeze on by butt-ox. The amsteel loop on the Wooki had failed somehow, and I was unable to figure out a way to rig it back with the available materials. Dad ended up loaning me his Wise Owl underquilt and just using his massive sleeping bag. This is the first time I had ever used any underquilt other than the Wooki on my hammock. I'm sorry y'all, but this experience made me realize I don't really like the Wooki. I was so much warmer in a regular underquilt with no drafts and no cold spots whatsoever, which has never been my experience with the Wooki on any of the dozen or so winter camping trips I've used it on. I slept like a baby.
Day 2 things started to get a little more interesting. The plan, as before, was to hike from Shining Rock Gap to Butter Gap Shelter which are about 14.6 miles apart. I was hoping to hit the trail no later than 7, which would theoretically give us 9 or so hours of daylight. With a long lunch break I figured this was just right, and we might have a little night hiking at the end which was fine. This was all predicated on maintaining an average speed of 2mph or better. That just didn't happen, at all. We didn't get on trail until almost 10am, and we barely managed 1mph over the Balsams even though we kept our breaks short and pushed hard. We didn't even make it to the Parkway until 3pm. We decided at that point we would stop at the other Deep Gap for the night and try to make up the distance on Day 3. The next few miles to Deep Gap neither one of us had any water, everything was starting to hurt pretty bad, and morale was generally getting low. Then we hit Sassafras Knob. I don't often get angry in life, but this mountain just absolutely kicked me when I was already down hard. I stumbled into Deep Gap completely drenched in sweat and literally mad with thirst. There wasn't much hanging out done this night. We ate and tucked into the hammocks just in time for it to start sleeting. I slept okay aside from waking up a few times with leg cramps. I do believe the hammock helps reduce leg pain given that your feet are somewhat elevated.
Day 3 things got totally wild. We both woke up around 8. Late again, still incredibly sore and exhausted, we once again made the painful decision to bail out. Our plan was to hike back up to the Parkway and have my mom come pick us up. Dad examined his map and mercifully found that the forest road at Deep Gap goes right around Sassafras Knob and back to Farlowe Gap, so we at least avoided that painful bit of the trek out. Still, the climb out was tough and it took us 4 hours to reach the Parkway. Then we got a phone call from Mom, the Parkway was closed and the nearest she could get to us was the 276 intersection 8 miles away from us. There was still freezing rain and sleet coming down pretty hard, and at this point panic started to set in. I called my wife and told her to start calling ranger stations and let them know we're stranded. We started walking towards 276. A little while later my wife called back and said the rangers told her they couldn't help us but that we should walk towards 215 instead since it was only a couple miles in the other direction. So we turned around and headed the other way. We passed the trailhead again and made it about a half mile towards 215 when my mom called and said she had somehow made it onto the parkway and was headed towards us from 276. So we turned around and headed the other way. We made it back to the trailhead when she called again and said no, the road's blocked. My dad learned the full extent to which kitchen work in my early 30s had expanded my vocabulary of epithets and curses at that moment. We decided the best thing to do was just sit down for a bit and collect ourselves. We had walked back and forth about 3 miles at this point, stress was at maximum and energy was waning. Just then a ranger vehicle drove up and stopped to ask if we needed a ride. Halle-freakin-luja. They drove us to the barrier where my mom was waiting for us, and a couple hours later I was home in my own bed. This is the first time I've ever had anything like an emergency situation in the woods, and my nerves were a bit frazzled for a few days. I wasn't sure I even wanted to attempt this trail ever again.
Lessons Learned
- Be prepared for critical gear failure when it's least convenient
- Big underquilts are awesome and well worth their weight
- Have multiple bailout plans and adequate paper maps
- Satellite comms don't seem so expensive after all
- No really, don't pass up water sources.
Gear Used
- Hammock: Warbonnet El Dorado
- Tarp: Warbonnet Super Fly
- Top Quilt: Enlightened Equipment 0-Degree
- Underquilt: Warbonnet Wooki 20-Degree [FAILED], then a Wise Owl full-size underquilt for much success
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Attempt #3 - June 2023
Somehow Dad talked me into finishing this trail for the sake of honor. We considered the first 15 miles of this trail as having been completed, so we decided to get dropped off at the Parkway and take two days to finish the second half. It being now almost summer the gear requirements were much lighter, which also meant I could bring better food. We had no major issues this time other than the scarcity of water but after the previous two experiences we were equipped to carry a lot of it. The new shelter at Butter Gap is very nice, though we did not, do not, and will not stay there. This section of the trail lacks the spectacular vistas of the northern half, but it's still a very beautiful piece of woods and it's far enough away from roads that it truly is peaceful. This was the first time I've ever slept all night with the tarp still in its sock and lying there watching the sun touch the very tops of the trees that were waving just a bit in the breeze was one of the most enjoyable moments of my life. The trail profile looks as though this section should be much easier than the northern half. That isn't true at all. Thanks to better planning and lighter gear we weren't quite as wiped out as we had been on the previous two trips, but both days challenged us to our limits all the same. Do not underestimate this trail. It's hard. Beautiful, but hard.
Lessons Learned
- Water is good.
Gear Used
- Hammock: Warbonnet El Dorado
- Tarp: Warbonnet Mini Fly
- Top Quilt: Homemade JB Outdoors 50-degree Synthetic
- Underquilt: Jacks R' Better 40-degree
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My advice for anyone else considering this trail is to seriously think about your physical condition and the quality of the trail surface here. We had been so spoiled by the wide, soft pine duff and gentle grading of the Foothills Trail that we greatly overestimated our speed. Even on the third trip we still barely averaged just over 1mph and neither of us are amateur hikers. The trail is often very rocky, very rooty, very eroded, and very steep. There are also many sections where you're not only scrambling up and down washouts but the shrubs on either side are clinging to you as well. Water is few and far between, so be prepared to camel up at every opportunity and pack at least 3L with you between sources. Don't count on the Parkway as an escape route outside of summer. We got very lucky that some rangers happened by but as a general rule they do not patrol the Parkway when it's closed for weather and do not conduct rescue operations. Truly even though it's only 30 miles I would plan on making this a 4-day trip unless you are a very experienced backpacker, because what really stopped us on both failed attempts was that we had only planned for 3 days and when it became obvious that wasn't feasible we had no option but to ditch and go home. Despite all the problems, we both learned many valuable lessons that we'll carry forward on future trips. Next stop is through-hiking the Foothills Trail!
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