Bennett Gap Trail
At A Glance
2.9 mi one-way
Difficulty Rating: 2.9 
Steepness: Climbs Moderately
Tread Condition: Moderately Rough
Blaze Color: Red
Trail Number: 138
Hikes That Use This Trail: Ridgewalk
Description
Starting at the top and going southeast, the trail climbs ever so slightly onto the wide, open ridge and passes through a wildlife opening. As the trail continues it descends, and the ridge gets narrower and narrower. There are some excellent, cliff-top views of Looking Glass Rock, Cedar Rock, and the Davidson River valley.
The trail enters a dry pine-oak forest before the views, then past the views it descends back into a mixed hardwood forest where there are some sheer drop-offs right beside the trail near intersection with Perry Cove trail, so use caution there and at the viewpoints above.
The trail continues on the (now wide again) ridge to its two junctions with Coontree Loop, before passing onto the north slope of Bearpen Mountain for the final descent into the cove hardwood forest around Avery Creek.
This trail is key to several great short to long loop options when combined with nearby and connecting trails.
Intersecting Trails
This trail is located in the Davidson River area. For a list of all the trails in that area, see the Davidson River trails list page.
All Photos from the Trail
GPS Map
Map Information
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Data Formats
KML (Google Earth)
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GPX
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GeoJSON
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About the Map
Copyright
Base Layers
Base layers provided by OpenStreetMap, the US Geological Survey, the US Forest Service, and NC OneMap. Base layer images are subject to the respective copyright policies of their owners. Base layers may not be available at all times due to system maintenance or outages.
WNCOutdoors Base Layer
The WNCOutdoors Base layer is provided by WNCOutdoors.info. It is licensed by Creative Commons Attribution 3.0.
Trail and Marker Overlays
Trail layers and downloadable data are all original works created by WNCOutdoors with guidance from a variety of sources, including ensembles of our own GPS tracks, user contributed GPS tracks, official maps and GIS data from government agencies, and field observations. WNCOutdoors data is made freely available under the Open Database License - you are free to copy and use it for any purpose under the terms of that license (summary).
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Trail Segments
Trails are often made up of several connecting paths which may have different characteristics, allowed uses, and seasons. This trail is divided into multiple segments as follows:
Bennett Gap to Overlook Rock
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 0.75 mi
Bennett Gap - Overlook Rock to Coontree
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 0.58 mi
Bennett Gap - Coontree W to E
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 0.59 mi
Bennett Gap - Coontree E. to Avery Creek Rd.
- Allowed Uses: Hiking, Mountain Biking
- Length: 1.02 mi
Total Calculated Length: 2.94 mi
This value is derived from our underlying map data, and it may not match officially published information.
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