103 Low Gap Trail to Slatey Place

    I never considered The Slatey Place as a day-hike destination, mainly because of the elevation change, round-trip from Steele Creek about 10 miles is over 600 feet of elevation gain, and from Kyle’s Landing only about 5 miles, but even more elevation gain, over 800 feet.  Many people park a car at Kyle’s then drive a second car over to Steele Creek and hike the nearly 8 miles on the BRT in a long one-way hike, I think I'll pass.

    But then I was looking at some maps recently and saw a horse trail just a mile north of Low Gap logically named ‘Low Gap Trail’.  This looked like just the ticket for a couple older hikers looking to explore deep into the Ponca Wilderness without a lot of altitude change.  We park off the road near a locked gate, with the Low Gap Trailhead and the boundary to the Ponca Wilderness at an elevation of almost 1650 feet.

fall, in all its glory

   Low Gap Trail was once a road heads off to the east, here at the trailhead are some strategically placed boulders to discourage driving up the trail.  The old road makes for easy hiking and little chance of wandering off trail even today with a fresh blanket of fallen leaves everywhere.  The trail circles around the head of Beech Creek east then north, off to our right just outside the wilderness are a bunch of curious cattle watching us from up on the hillside.

trailside pond

    Past the sweeping curve to the north the trail is pretty much north bound all the way to Slatey Place, I soon spot a very big boulder sitting about 100 feet above the trail all by itself.  I go up the hill off-trail to check it out thinking I’ve spotted a cave, but it turns out to just be dark shadows.  This rock is about the size of a small house with a few little trees trying to survive on top.  The boulder is covered in hundreds of fist-sized pock holes, the forces of erosion do some strange things.

big boulder up in the woods

    Continuing north the trail stays fairly level, pretty easy going all the way.  A couple horseback riders pass by and comment on the beautiful day, these will be the only people we see all day.  Soon we notice a nice little pond down the hill to our left about 100 yards below the trail, we continue on as it’s a little steep down to the pond.

    Then a bunch of smaller boulders (car size or smaller) scattered around on both sides of the trail also some tin roofing and an old wash tub, there evidently was a home once nearby.  Then less than 100 feet further a good size pond right at the edge of the trail.  This pond larger than the last one, is just beautiful with the fall colors framing the emerald green and deep blues of the water surface.  Of course, we stop for a few pictures.

nice pond next to trail

    The next mile goes by quick, still easy hiking and the autumn foliage is nice too.  Soon we’re at a trail intersection, a sharp right and up the hill on another old road is Kilgore Mountain Trail.  We continue north, about 100 yards further is another intersection.  This marks the end of Low Gap Trail at the Buffalo River Trail.  A left turn would take us down into the Beech Creek drainage and about 5 miles west to Steele Creek Campground.

autumn in the forest

    We keep going north (straight ahead) now on the BRT.  The next quarter mile on the BRT we are beyond Beech Creek, now on our left is Jackie’s Big Hollow and then our next trail intersection.  Just past a tiny pond on the right and nice campsites on both sides of the trail is The Slatey Place, which is a name given to this intersection, here the BRT turns to the east and down to Kyle’s Landing 2.5 miles east, straight to the north is Horseshoe Bend Trail.

    But before continuing north we stop for a break at The Slatey Place, the big rocks at a campsite make a nice shady place for a short rest.  The Slatey Place while nice isn’t anything special really, just a trail intersection named for the small pieces of broken shale (slate) littering the ridge in this small area with a few nice campsites.  It is a popular overnight stop for backpackers thru hiking the Buffalo River Trail.

at the junction with the BRT

    We head north on Horseshoe Bend Trail, in maybe 100 feet come to another trail intersection, straight ahead on the old road is Slatey Place Trail, we however veer to the left off the old road staying on Horseshoe Bend Trail.  The trail winds its way through woods to the northwest, with all the leaves we stop occasionally to locate the trail.  The trail crosses an old road turns more to the west and begins heading downhill.  We leave the trail continuing north, we’re now ‘off trail’.

hard to find Horseshoe Bend Trail

    We’re hoping to reach the top of the bluffs just to our north for some fantastic views down to the Buffalo River almost 700 feet below and under half a mile in the distance.  The bushwhack proves difficult though, but it’s not undergrowth that gives us a problem.  The woods are wide open, but I wouldn’t say ‘clean’, there are rocks everywhere including lots of big house size boulders but it’s the smaller rocks underfoot that make the hiking hazardous.

    We trudge along slowly to avoid a twisted ankle first north then curving toward the northeast around some large boulders.  Just as we come to a decision to give up on the bluffline views and head back to the south, an old road appears ‘out of nowhere’ heading north and south.  We turn north in the hope of finding those elusive fantastic views.

thick 'canopy' of leaves

    Technically I guess this is still a bushwhack but now on the old road it’s much easier, soon the old road curves around to the west.  Leaving the road, we head north down the steep and rocky hillside which gets steeper the farther we go, and still no sign of the top of any bluff.  From here we can just make out some bluffs far below along the Buffalo looking northeast towards Kyle’s but the foliage in the trees is still too thick to see much.

looking for the elusive bluffline

    We turn back, up the steep hill to the old road.  Staying on this old road past where we first found it a little over 100 yards, we come to Slatey Place Trail which is also on an old road.  On Slatey Place Trail south about a third of a mile brings us to the intersection with Horseshoe Bend Trail, from there we can see the familiar Slatey Place 100 feet ahead.  We take another break at the same campsite then begin our hike back. 

    Retracing our route back to Low Gap Trail and the parking area at the trailhead is easy and enjoyable.  We had a great time hiking today, the weather was perfect, the fall colors fantastic and the hiking easy.  We hiked Low Gap Trail plus short portions of the Buffalo River Trail, Horseshoe Bend Trail and Slatey Place Trail, and about a half mile off-trail for a total distance there and back of 6.3 miles with 576 feet of elevation gain, although it didn’t feel like that much.

Low Gap Trail: Statistics Chart 103     Trailhead/Parking can be reached going up Fisher Point Road (NC 2620) which heads north off Highway 74 next to a church just east of the Low Gap Cafe, follow this gravel road 1.45 miles to a locked gate.  Park here along the road and try to avoid the private property all around.  Low Gap Trail begins to the east past the big rock barricade.

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