Fodderstack & BMT Trail Route Change

While backpacking a week and a half ago in the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina, I discovered that at Cold Spring Gap that they have changed the route of the trails. They have changed the route of the Fodderstack Trail/FS-95, which is part of the BMT (Benton McKay Trail). It now follows what was Cold Spring Gap Trail/FS-149 so that the Fodderstack, and I suppose the BMT, do not go right past the Bob anymore. I am guessing maybe they did that to divert traffic, especially horses, away from Bob Stratton Bald. I do not know where or how it ties back into the original route to the north, as we were on our way out to the south and Beech Gap.

The Fodderstack trail marker had just been pulled up and moved over onto the Cold Spring trail, and the wood junction post had been re-carved to reflect the change. There were brand new metal signs declaring the lead up to the bob as now closed to horses, and it is now labeled as FS-54A as an extension of the Stratton Bald Trail/FS-54.

It looked like it had been done over the weekend while we were up on BOB Bald, or in the previous couple days. Any maps out currently will not reflect this change, but show the the Fodderstack and BMT going NE and right past Bob Stratton Bald.

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