North Carolina trails · Turkey Pen Gap
Turkey Pen Gap
A 5.5-mile out-and-back in North Carolina, with 1,460 ft of climbing. Reaches Sharpy Mountain and other pass/summit destinations. Managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
Elevation profile
The climbing is spread fairly evenly along the route. It gives back about 824 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- Sharpy Mountain (summit)
- Wagon Road Gap (pass)
- Poplar Lick Gap (pass)
- McCall Mountain (summit)
- Simpson Gap (pass)
- Muleshoe Gap (pass)
- Sandy Gap (pass)
- Turkeypen Gap (pass)
- Deep Gap (pass)
Getting there
TURKEY PEN GAP TRAILHEAD — parking nearby. 35.34283, -82.65942 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On August 31, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 6:35 a.m., the sun rises at 7:02 a.m. and sets at 7:59 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 8:25 p.m. (EDT) — 12 h 57 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 11.0-mile round trip takes roughly 5 h 31 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 12:33 p.m. — 7 h 26 min before sunset.
Loop options
- SOUTH MILLS RIVER + WAGON ROAD GAP + TURKEY PEN GAP — 6.8 mi loop, 1,654 ft gain
- TURKEY PEN GAP + VINEYARD GAP + RIVERSIDE — 15.8 mi loop, 3,824 ft gain
Nearby trails
- Squirrel Gap — 3.3 mi
- Laurel Mountain — 3.7 mi
- Black Mountain — 4.9 mi
- North Boundary — 9.3 mi