The Appalachian Trail boasts lots and lots of little, path-side campsites. Some that are noted on the map, and some that are not. Most are very pretty and well placed. Some are not, and while this isn't a pretty one and it's placement is not optimal, it is a place to put a tent and bed down for the night if you need to, so that's what we did. Horse Gap Camp does sit right on the trail, so it's easy access and there is a parking lot, so I assume there is opportunity to use it as a drop off/pick up site if needed.
CAMP REVIEW:
As far as campsites on the AT go, there are much nicer sites with better views and more amenities, but when you are simply trying to gain miles, beat the weather and get some shuteye, anyplace will work as long as it's safe and you can drop a tent on level ground. The night we stayed at Horse Gap, we were trying to get a few extra miles in so that our next day wasn't so long. Our map told us we could camp here, and it was convenient (on the trail, actually), but it wasn't the prettiest I've seen. There were 2 tent pads, a decent bit apart from each other, but neither was terribly conducive to a level tent, and the ground was rocky. One pad had broken glass and the other was in a spot that looked like it might have significant water flow, if it rained. Both had fire pits, but they were in poor shape and had garbage (do you really need to toss a pair of ripped out rainpants in the fire pit?). Nevertheless, we picked the spot that was best suited to our needs and went with it. There was a lot of wind, and so we didn't burn a fire that night. There also weren't many trees that were well suited to hanging a bear bag, but we found one that worked well. Unfortunately, it was right over the other tent pad, so it's a good thing we didn't have anyone using that area. We would have been hard pressed to find a better tree. But we made it work, we had a place to crash, and we were able to use the rocks around the fire pit to set up stoves and cook dinner. Really, that's all we needed. There was a road that passed right by the site. We only saw a few cars, so the traffic was not bothersome.
