Ranger Field (via Long Creek Road)

The Benton MacKaye Trail (BMT) is a footpath of nearly 300 miles that traverses the Appalachian mountains of the southeastern United States. It is named in honor of Benton MacKaye whose was a forester, planner and conservationist whose vision resulted in the creation of the Appalachian Trail in the early 1900’s. The BMT is designed for foot travel in the tradition of the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) and runs from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Davenport Gap on the northern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Benton MacKaye Trail passes through some of the most remote backcountry in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina, including eight federally designated Wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas.

On this hike, we started at Long Creek Road and followed a forest road to a wildlife field at 3250 feet on the Benton MacKaye Trail that is used by Army Rangers for training.  If you spend some time combing the field, you will most certainly find spent ammunition clips, blanks resembling bullets, and smoke cans in the area. No camping is permitted in this wildlife field, which is the case for many of the wildlife clearings in this area.