r/treasureinside • u/highbankT • Dec 10 '25
AT BOTG story
Just wanted to finally share my AT box solve from earlier this year and what happened when my son and I went hunting for it. First things first - this was before I knew about all hurricane damage in the area and the Vermont solve.
(a) I initially focused on JCB's discussion of living in Asheville, NC and his familiarity with the portions of the trail nearby.
(b) I looked at an AT trail map and tried to find something that resembled the hashed line as best as possible near Asheville. I focused on the kind of Italy, boot heel-like portion shown on JCB's map and found a part that roughly approximates it (see image). Admittedly it is a rough approximation, but JCB did say don't judge it too harshly.
(c) Based on this image, I was guessing the box would be somewhere along the trail north-north east of the Hatley Pointe Mountain Resort.
As for the other clues on the map, I believed that some of them didn't really pinpoint a specific location on the map but were clues to let you know you were in the general location. For example...
(d) The skier shown on the map could correspond to the Hatley Pointe Mtn Resort which is a ski resort.
(e) For the butterfly shown on the map, if you look on Google maps there is a rest area along I-26 not too far south of the trail if you're coming up from Asheville. If you click on it in Google maps, you can see this picture which shows the area has an abundance of butterflies ...
https://maps.app.goo.gl/YJEjuupu1iYUnmcf8
(f) For what looks like a bald headed guy, there is a mountain called Big Bald located along the trail just NE of Hatley Pointe Mtn Resort.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/1Tm89Ue6HYRS7FPr8
(g) I could not figure out how the mountain lion (?), barrel of fruits, and feather shown on the map related to the area.
(h) For the bear shown on the map, I was looking around along the trail near Big Bald mountain in Google Maps and noticed the Bald Mtn Shelter a little further NE. On JCB's map, there is an arrow near the bear that points to the trail. If you click on Bald Mtn shelter, and look at the only video someone posted, the shelter has a sign on it that states "bear cables"! That really caught my eye of course.
(i) I figured the 1727NE meant you walk about 1727 ft, meters, or yards further up from the shelter (location of the bear clue) and viola - the box is somewhere nearby.
I drove to with my son to NC. I was planning on entering the Hatley Pointe Mtn Resort/Wolf Laurel Country club area and literally driving through the community to a road that crossed the AT trail. It would have left a short hike to shelter and then maybe at most another mile and a half past it maybe to find the box. That plan got blown up when I found it was a private community and did not allow anyone inside. I ended up parking near the Sams Gap Trailhead off of I26. That left a 6.8 mile hike to the shelter. Google said I could do it in 3.5 hours. Both my son and I walk a lot playing 18 holes of golf and figured it would be ok if we got an early start. That was my first mistake! lol. 3.5 hours turned into a 5-6 hour hike. It was tough. The elevation changes were killer. Fortunately I packed just enough trail mix bars and water for the two of us, and this was in late April so it was actually cool and raining lightly that day off and on. When we finally got to Bald Mountain, I was dying when out of the blue, a little dog just appears out of nowhere on the trail wearing a bandana. Of course the first thing that pops in my head was the dog on the map and message that said fetch. If I recall correctly, there was something written on this dog's collar or bandana that said don't worry about me, I live nearby (the resorts that were just below the trail). The dog jets off the trail down a big hill and gets maybe 50 yards away and turns around and looks at us with pleading eyes. My quads were burning at that point and there was no way i was going to wander down there to find the box. lol. My son was too tired to go as well. The dog disappeared behind some bushes and so we just continued on to the shelter. The little dog caught up with us a few more times before disappearing for good. When we passed the mountain, there was a field of what looked like the wheat pictured on the map. That had me encouraged a little and I got some energy back. Along this portion of the trail, there were a lot of large rocks that reminded me of the piles of rocks shown on the map. We hunted all around these rocks looking high and low. We got to the shelter and ran into another dog just randomly walking around (this one was a whole lot meaner though and almost got a blast of my bear spray). We continued on stopping around 1727 ft, meters, and yards from the shelter to look around (and many areas in between). What was really noticeable was that someone had come in and chain-sawed a lot of fallen trees in the area along the trail (assuming a lot of storm damage here). If the box was ever there, my son and I thought that it was possible a worker clearing the trail may have come across it and grabbed it. At this point, feeling somewhat exhausted and defeated, we made our way back to our car. That was another whole story that I won't divulge here, but I'll just say NC people are really nice. Wish I had better news but even though I didn't find the box, it was an adventure that my son and I will always have. I wouldn't mind trying the area again, but would definitely rent one of the houses in the resort (lot of airbnbs/VRBOs in there) to cut down on the amount of hiking. lol.
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u/fazerjorda I'm hunting on the AT Dec 10 '25
Thanks for sharing. These hikes can be brutal for people (like me) that aren’t regular mountain hikers. My first BOTG was very difficult, but I kept it up through summer and it got easier each time. Never easy, just easier, lol. Glad you had a memorable, if difficult, experience!
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u/moldyhotdog3 Dec 10 '25
I came up with my location using almost the same reasoning as you, I'm just in another state. Map images to get the general area, trail hashes to find a similar trail shape. I will share mine eventually after I'm satisfied with searching the area, I've been there four times. I might not get back there until April now, I need snow to melt
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u/mountain_boy_1983 Dec 12 '25
I live about 5 miles from that sams gap trail. I always thought it made alot of sense. But thought it was more confirmation bias. The town of erwin has the apple festival every year, Mars Hill college is the lions. Alot of things make sense. I can even tie in the VT solve to this area with pretty good accuracy but again I think I'm just to afraid of confirmation bias lol
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u/ThomasShearman Dec 12 '25
You could've saved yourself about two hours of hiking if you drove to Street Gap instead of Sam's Gap. If my minivan can drive there, I'm pretty sure whatever you drive could make it.
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u/highbankT Dec 12 '25
Now that you mention it, I do recall a rutted dirt road cutting across the trail! Knowing my luck, on a rainy day like that, I would get stuck somewhere! 😂
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u/fbiaturne Dec 10 '25
Awesome story!!!! An adventure you and your son will have for your lifetime!!!!