Mt. Guyot Peak Bagging

This is a D7 hike involving backpacking and climbing some off-trail steep terrain. Any participant should have strong experience backpacking and at least some experience hiking off-trail to be prepared for the difficulty of hiking off-trail. Expect the trip leader to interview every participant to determine whether they meet the requirements for this hike.

Safety: When off-trail, all hikers will be required to stay together well within eyesight of one another. All hikers will be required to run All Trails or a similar GPS tracker while hiking. When hiking off-trail, we may decrease speed to as little as a half mile per hour to choose the best route and avoid mishaps. As an extra precaution, we will carry surveyor tape to use as breadcrumbs as necessary. All tape will be retrieved on the return trip. 

Now is the opportunity to experience a real peak bagging adventure in the Smokies that will take us to an area where 6k peaks abound, but where no trails cross the peaks. The main goal is to climb the 2nd highest mountain in the Smokies, Mt. Guyot. This mountain, at 6625 feet is 50 feet higher than Mt. LeConte. It requires about 3/4 of a mile of bushwhacking. Over 3 days, we will complete a loop that begins and ends at Round Bottom.

Day 1 - 10.5 miles. Park at Round Bottom and hike Beach Gap trail 2.5 miles to Balsam Mountain trail and continue on Balsam Mountain trail for 7.8 miles to the AT. About 0.6 miles from the end of Balsam Mountain trail lies a ridge where striking off the trail to the north leads to Mt. Yonaguska (6180 feet), and turning off trail in the opposite direction leads to Mt. Hardison (6150 feet) and Mark's Knob (6163 feet). We may optionally try for one or more of these peaks, but the plan for the day is to hike to TriCorner Knob Shelter.

Day 2 - 11.2 miles. (2,238 ft vertical) This is the Peak bagging day. We will leave our heavy backpacking gear at Tricorner Knob Shelter during the 1st half of the day. We will mostly follow the AT. First, we hike north on the AT to climb Mt. Guyot and continue north on the AT to bag Old Black (6361 feet). Next, we turn south on the AT and pick up Mt. Chapman (6431 feet) before heading to Peck's Corner Shelter 3/4 of a mile off the AT on Hughs Ridge Trail.

Day 3 - 10.1 miles. We hike Hughs Ridge Trail and Enloe Creek Trail to Straight Fork Road. We will either leave a 2nd car at Straight Fork Road or do a road walk back to our car at Round Bottom.

Google Route from Indian Trail Park and Ride to Round Bottom Campground 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/XPBE3JPfsMuECtSD8

Drive to Round Bottom Campground and continue for another half mile or so until you cross a bridge just before the road becomes one-way Heintoga Road. You will see trail signs for Beech Gap Trail and a small parking area to the left near the bridge.

Overview of Route

I-85 North

to I-985 North

to US 23 North

near Dillsboro take US 74 toward Cherokee

Take 441 to Cherokee

In Cherokee, right on Drama Road then left off the traffic circle onto Acquoni Road

Turn right onto Big Cove Road just before Acquoni crosses the river.

Big Cove becomes Straight Fork Road

Payment for the backcountry permit will be due by February 27th because permits for April will open on March 1st and are non-refundable.

2 nights' backcountry permit and parking permit - $16 ($8 per night)

3 days parking pass - $15 ($5 per day)

Carpool and Parking Pass will be divided by cars.