Buckeye Gap Trail Map

Route map for the Buckeye Gap Trail as tracked by the Gaia GPS app and depicted a la Google Earth...

Buckeye Gap Trail Map

Route map for the Buckeye Gap Trail as tracked by the Gaia GPS app...

Buckeye Gap/Mountains-to-Sea Trail Junction -- 5,500'

The upper (or, southern) terminus for the Buckeye Gap Trail is here, at an unsigned junction with the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Via the MST this spot is about 2.5-miles east of Haywood Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,490'

It is immediately apparent that the Buckeye Gap Trail is much less used than most trails in the area...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,500'

The trail isn't really in a hurry to drop down the ridge after departing the MST...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,500'

A deep cut in the hillside is evidence of this trail also having a former life as a logging route of some sort...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,510'

Passing through a small, curious opening in the forest...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,510'

These refreshing high-elevation woodlands are a wonderful place to walk on a hot summer day...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,520'

A brief break in the trees allows for a quick look at a few peaks to the west. I'm 90% sure that the high summit on the right is that of Rough Butt Bald (5,928')...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,520'

Passing a very impressive red spruce...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,500'

Like you see here, once in a while there were tiny tributaries to hop over. These all feed into Buckeye Creek far below...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,470'

About 3/4-mile below the MST the Buckeye Gap Trail passes alongside this open, brush-covered, slope...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,450'

This long opening represents the most overgrown section of the BGT over its entire length...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,440'

The green tunnel...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,420'

Refuse along the trail of an era (thankfully) long gone...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,380'

Hopping across yet another tiny tributary of Buckeye Creek...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,360'

As you can see, this is an extremely pretty stretch of trail...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,340'

Fallen laurel petals carpeting the wilderness pink...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,320'

A short rhodo tunnel...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,310'

1.5-miles from the MST, the Buckeye Gap Trail has still barely lost 200 feet of elevation...all this means is that there is a BIG drop coming soon...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,300'

A last little bit of flat trail...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,280'

You can barely see it but this shot looks back at the point where the trail makes a sharp left turn to, finally, begin its drop off the side of the ridge...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,200'

Down I go...over the next mile and a quarter the trail will be losing over 1,200-feet of elevation...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,160'

Looking back uphill...trust me, the grade is much steeper than it looks...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,120'

At this point the trail has left the spruce-fir forest behind and has entered a more traditional mid-elevation mixed hardwood one...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,080'

Down, down, down...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,020'

Winding my way steadily downward...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 5,000'

Where breaks in the canopy allow for extra sunlight the trail does, at times, become fairly overgrown...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,980'

Dropping below the 5,000-foot mark the grade levels off again for a short while...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,960'

A nice break from the descent...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,930'

Passing a beautiful area of thick grasses carpeting the forest floor...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,900'

Not sure what this piece of iron scrap belonged to but, it tells of a time when this area was much more busy than it is today...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,860'

More grassy shag carpeting...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,820'

After the brief lull the trail now veers north to begin its final steep drop down to the Middle Prong...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,780'

This lower part of the drop off the ridge is much steeper than the upper portion...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,700'

A look back uphill gives a better perspective of the grade the trail is descending...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,650'

As you can see, the trail had now traded its grassy forest floor surroundings for a fern-y one...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,600'

Green, green, everywhere...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,560'

The Buckeye Gap Trail as it drops to cross Grassy Ridge Branch...

Buckeye Gap Trail @ Grassy Ridge Branch -- 4,550'

This pleasant little cascade lay just above the spot where the trail crosses Grassy Ridge Branch...

Buckeye Gap Trail @ Grassy Ridge Branch -- 4,550'

Looking uphill at the crossing of Grassy Ridge Branch. The trail will now be following along the north side of this tiny streams drainage for the remainder of the descent...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,500'

Following the steep slopes downward along the north side of Grassy Ridge Branch...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,440'

A few of the steeper pitches are rough...make sure to watch your step as this is NOT a place you want to turn an ankle...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,380'

Angling ever downward...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,320'

Middle Prong becomes audible around this point...though it's still far far below and out-of-sight...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,250'

The steep, angled, downhill grade is unrelenting...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,200'

Solitude in abundance, even in the summer...

Buckeye Gap Trail -- 4,150'

The sounds of the river below will now be quite loud, signaling that the end of the steep descent is drawing near...