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Northeast Smokies 6K Peakbagging: Day 2 - Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN

1,153 views · Published 11 June 2018 · 13:20 · Indexed 11 October 2026

Channel: Zachary Robbins · 2018 · Travel & Events

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This was my 2nd day of an ambitious weekend backpacking trip in northeastern Great Smoky Mountains National Park. My goal was to peakbag all 7 ranked 6,000-footers in the area for my quest to finish the South Beyond 6000 Challenge. This is easily the most daunting and dreaded portion of the challenge. These are the most remote 6K peaks in the Southeast, and some of the hardest and longest bushwhacks of the challenge. Only 1 of 7 peaks I bagged were on-trail, the other 6 were off-trail adventures. (There are 8 peaks in this region, but I already did Big Cataloochee Mountain in November 2017.)

The overnight temperatures at the Tricorner Knob Shelter were brutal, below 25F in the morning. Every person at the shelter was having trouble getting started for the day, including me. I left my camping gear and started out on the Balsam Mountain Trail east. The first peakbag of the day was Luftee Knob, which I made harder by beginning a few hundred feet from the lowest point of the ridge. After I met the ridge it wasn't hard, the ascent was through relatively open woods with occasional flags. Turning around I headed west on the Balsam Mountain Trail to begin the tough bushwhack to Marks Knob, the most isolated 6,000-foot peak in the Eastern U.S. The bushwhack is sometimes flagged and generally follows the decommissioned Hyatt Ridge Trail, but do not let that fool you. This trail has not been maintained for over 25 years, and is blocked by blowdowns every few feet. Most people take 2-3 hours round-trip, it took me 50 minutes to reach the summit. I think I probably scaled 200+ downed trees on this hike, but I managed to finish it in 100 minutes including a break at the summit.

Mount Guyot, the 4th tallest peak in the Eastern U.S., was next on the docket. I pronounced it every other way in the video, and there really is no correct pronunciation since it is a French name but butchered by English immigrants. I thought this would be straightforward, but I guess I strayed too far east and wound up at the edge of a massive ghost forest. This area was impenetrable. Once I got into it, it took me 20 minutes to get out and loop around. I wound up backtracking down the north slope and eventually made it to the summit in 35 minutes. Most reports I've seen take 20 minutes, oh well. The last summit was Old Black, which is supposed to be the most miserable short bushwhack on the challenge. This was true, it was 10 minutes of pushing through head-high canes and thorns, then turning around to do it all over again. After that it was 6+ miles downhill back to my car. In 2 days I managed to knock off 7 of the toughest 6K peaks in the Southeast, it was a physically challenging weekend.

Total weekend hike was 35.3 miles with 8,012 feet elevation gain in 16 hours and 30 minutes over 2 days.

Hike location
https://goo.gl/maps/j2ocMxDYwzD2

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