Appalachain Trail Hike

A couple of days ago, Nancy and I decided to get out of the 90-100 degree heat and head to the Smoky Mountains. That was the day that Knoxville hit a record of 100 degrees. In the mountains it was only in the 80's and we were in the shade most of the time. We were at an elevation of between 5000 and 6200 all day where it is cooler.

We decided to hike on the Appalachian Trail to a famous destination in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park called Charlie's Bunion. It was named by Charlie's hiking partner who said that the exposed rock reminded him of Charlie's foot ailment. Charlie claimed that his feet were fine, just red and sore from a long hike. The hike is 4 miles one way or 8 miles round trip, but we hiked 9.5 miles that day due to some side trips for great views.

The large pile of berries next to my GPS was on the trail just before we got to the Charlie's Bunion overlook. These aren't just a normal pile of berries....they were processed through a bear before being deposited on the trail....if you know what I mean. There were National Park Service signs on the trail warning of recent "bear activity" in the area. We did talk to a couple of backpackers who saw two bears on the trail, but we were not lucky enough to see one on our hike. Bears normally skedaddle in the opposite direction when they encounter humans.

On the trail we encountered 12 people in two different groups that were backpacking and planned to spend the night at Icewater Springs shelter on the Appalachian Trail. It was a great looking shelter with two levels of sleeping platforms capable of easily accommodating 20 or more people. This shelter like others in the Smokys used to have chain link fences to shut at night to protect campers from bears. But it was determined that the safety of the fences caused goofballs to feed the bears through the fence. The fences were removed and the open shelters now cause campers to hang their food out of the reach of bears. Amazingly, bears are no longer a problem at the shelters because they no longer associate campers with easy food.

Charlie's Bunion is comprised of rare (for this part of the country) of Anakeesta rock formations. There are 1000 foot drops and supposedly a number of people have fallen while climbing around the rocks. The rocks here are bare because long ago dead trees from timber operations caused a forest fire which left the slopes bare of vegetation. Then, heavy rains washed away the soil to expose the rocks. The rock slopes look more like the Rocky Mountains than the Appalachians. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see a person out on Charlie's Bunion.

It was not a very clear day due to the heat and haze. Guidebooks say that the best time to hike Charlie's Bunion is in the winter when the leaves are off the trees and the air is clearer. Even so, we had some great vistas. "Jumpoff" is a side trail a couple of miles from Charlie's that has a great long range view. The picture to the left was taken on the trip back down to our starting point at Newfound Gap. It is looking east into North Carolina.

We wanted to hike this trail to evaluate it for a possible Fairfield Glade hiking club hike. It might be a little long and rocky for the group. A group of hikers is only as fast as the slowest hiker and the nature of this trail might make it a long day for a group, even though the guidebooks rate it as "moderate".

But, if you think you have at least 8 miles in you, we highly recommend the beautiful hike to Charlie's Bunion on the Appalachian Trail.