Sat, Oct 16 2010 - Lunch at Track Rock Gap (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Scott Looper, Danny Participants: Danny, Scott Looper, patricia, Marcus, brenda, Armin, Duane B, Marshall, Bindu, Jeanette, Tony Theriault, David

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Write Up:
Absolutely fabulous weather today!  We could see for miles and miles.  You could see Atlanta from Brasstown Bald.  You could see Sawnee too.  Tray seemed right next door.  The Smokies loomed higher in the distance.

We got underway right on time this morning at 8:30 am at the base of Brasstown Bald on the Hwy 180 side.  Within an hour and a half we were all up on top of Brasstown Bald in the cool morning breeze.

From there it was down the Arqaquah Trail to Track Rock Gap for lunch.  The site is being totally redone and it's long overdue, so it looked nothing like what it did before.  All of the steel cages are gone from the rocks.  Not sure what it's going to look like when they are done, but it seems like they are going to leave the rocks unprotected.

After lunch we headed back up the Arqaquah Trail.  No doubt this was the hardest part of the day, but with lunch in our stomachs and it turning into direct energy, everyone scooted on up Buzzard's Roost Ridge without much trouble.  From there the going got easier, but still there's more up than down when heading up the Arqaquah.

Once back on the Brasstown Bald parking lot again, most decided to do the .6 mile one-way to the very top again.

After that it was pretty much a cake walk back down to the cars.  We got there just before 6:00 pm.

On GPS Tony measured 6,330 feet gain and 18 miles distance.  I'd say that's about right.

All 12 did great today on a very hard hike where Brasstown Bald was summited twice.  We didn't see anyone else out there doing the same hike as us :-)

Latest idea is to do a triple by starting in the parking lot and going back and forth on all 3 trails that lead to Brasstown Bald...

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