Yellow Gap Trail (#611)
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Route map of the Yellow Gap Trail as tracked by the Gaia GPS app and depicted a la Google Earth...
Route map of the Yellow Gap Trail as tracked by the Gaia GPS app...
Forest Road 5050 (Yellow Gap) Trailhead -- 2,400'
This tour will begin from the lower end of Forest Road 5050, where it leaves Yellow Gap Road about a mile west of the North Mills River Campground. There's plenty of space to park just be sure not to block the USFS gate (seen in the next photo)...
Yellow Gap Trail (F.R. 5050) -- 2,420'
The tour will begin with a 1.3-mile walk up gated Forest Road 5050. I've seen the entirety of the road marked on maps as the Yellow Gap Trail (which is why I've captioned it as such) however, there are no blazes indicating it as such for this section. If this is indeed where the trail begins, this is its southern terminus...
Yellow Gap Trail (F.R. 5050) -- 2,450'
The old forest road doesn't waste any time beginning its climb from the valley...
Yellow Gap Trail (F.R. 5050) -- 2,490'
F.R. 5050 is apparently quite popular for riders as it's remarkably open...
Yellow Gap Trail (F.R. 5050) -- 2,530'
The moderate uphill grade doesn't really let up all that much while along the road...
Yellow Gap Trail (F.R. 5050) -- 2,560'
The closest thing to a "view" one gets along the road is this look behind, where a low neighboring ridge barely manages to poke its head above the trees...
Yellow Gap Trail (F.R. 5050) -- 2,600'
Gaining the crest of the ridge the grade began to ease up a bit...
Yellow Gap Trail (F.R. 5050) -- 2,650'
The scenery doesn't change a whole lot, as you can see...
Yellow Gap Trail (F.R. 5050) -- 2,720'
Another moderately steep section...it's short-lived though...
Yellow Gap Trail (F.R. 5050) -- 2,780'
About a mile in, the road arrives at a large grassy opening, with Laurel Ridge visible beyond. This opening marks the junction of F.R. 5050 and F.R. 5051...
Yellow Gap Trail (F.R. 5050)/F.R. 5051 Junction -- 2,790'
The junction of the two forest roads is marked by the small signs seen ahead. Forest Road 5051 continues straight ahead while Forest Road 5050, which the Yellow Gap Trail continues to follow, bears right down the side of the ridge...
Yellow Gap Trail (F.R. 5050)/F.R. 5051 Junction -- 2,780'
Looking down F.R. 5050 as it leaves its junction with F.R. 5051 heading north. All the maps I read denote this as the Yellow Gap Trail from this point on, thus I have captioned it as such...
The old road continues by heading downhill along the side of the ridge, passing through a couple areas which have been logged in recent years...
Curving through another clear-cut area...the main route remains obvious despite the lack of signage...
At this point, less than a half-mile from the junction with F.R. 5051, the road the trail has been following abruptly ends. The route continues straight ahead through the high brush...
After a mile and a half of walking you're finally on a real trail. The shade the forest provides is also preferable on hot, sunny summer days...
Looking down the steep adjacent slope...
It's obvious that the path is still following the route of an old forest road...
The trail is steadily loosing elevation now, but at a fairly gradual rate which makes the going easy...
Descending through a long forest tunnel...
Clusters of club moss, whose appearance mimics that of miniature pine trees, dot the neighboring slope at times...
After making a tight right-hand switchback you'll suddenly have a small grove of pretty ferns to enjoy...seasonally, of course...