Bradley Creek Trail Map

Route map of the Bradley Creek Trail as tracked by the Gaia GPS app and depicted a la Google Earth...

Bradley Creek Trail Map

Route map of the Bradley Creek Trail as tracked by the Gaia GPS app...

Bradley Creek Trailhead @ Yellow Gap Road (F.R. 1206) -- 2,750'

Finding the Bradley Creek Trailhead on Yellow Gap Road can be a bit tricky. Your best bet is to park in one of the small pull-offs on the east side of where Yellow Gap Road crosses a small unnamed tributary of Bradley Creek, then walk uphill watching for where the path heads down the slope into the woods...

Bradley Creek Trailhead @ Yellow Gap Road (F.R. 1206) -- 2,750'

This is the Bradley Creek Trail as it departs Yellow Gap Road...unsigned as of 2020, you can see how it can be easy to miss...

Bradley Creek Trail -- 2,720'

From the road the trail immediately drops steeply down the slope...

Bradley Creek Trail -- 2,690'

The initial steep stretch is short lived, however, as the trail soon reaches the flats along the creek above a couple large campsites...

Bradley Creek Trail -- 2,680'

Heading downstream from the campsites in the previous shot the trail isn't blazed all that well. The route is fairly obvious though...

Bradley Creek Trail @ Yellow Gap Creek -- 2,660'

About a quarter-mile in the path hops across tiny Yellow Gap Creek...

Yellow Gap Creek -- 2,660'

Yellow Gap Creek empties into Bradley Creek, as seen from the crossing in the previous shot...

Bradley Creek Trail -- 2,660'

Beyond Yellow Gap Creek the trail now begins to rise along the steep hillside bordering Bradley Creek...

Bradley Creek Trail -- 2,650'

This is a very peaceful bit of trail...

Bradley Creek Trail -- 2,640'

Hopping over another tiny tributary...

Bradley Creek Trail -- 2,650'

The trail now begins to rise along the steep hillside bordering Bradley Creek...

Bradley Creek Trail -- 2,700'

It doesn't take long before you're looking far down at Bradley Creek again...

Bradley Creek Trail -- 2,650'

Descending again, and cutting beneath some low-hanging rhododendron...

Bradley Creek Trail -- 2,620'

Before long the trail drops back down to the beautiful forested flats, just prior to the first ford of Bradley Creek...

Bradley Creek Trail @ Ford #1 (SB)/#14 (NB) -- 2,610'

Now it's time to get wet. At 0.6-mile in the first of FOURTEEN such fords along the Bradley Creek trail is reached. None of the future thirteen will be any easier, so be warned...

Ford #1 (SB)/#14 (NB) -- 2,610'

Looking upstream from the above ford...

Bradley Creek Trail -- 2,610'

Just south of the first crossing the trail follows along what obviously was an old forest road, at some point in the past...

Bradley Creek Trail -- 2,600'

The relatively flat nature of the terrain means encountering a few fairly muddy spots like this one...

Bradley Creek Trail -- 2,590'

The forest is beautiful but, as you can see, the trail can be quite damp...

Bradley Creek Trail @ Ford #2 (SB)/#13 (NB) -- 2,590'

Ford #2 (SB) / #13 (NB) is reached at 0.7-miles...

Bradley Creek @ Ford #2 (SB)/#13 (NB) -- 2,590'

Looking upstream mid-ford...

Bradley Creek Trail -- 2,580'

It will be apparent by this point you're on a stretch of the trail which few hikers ever visit...