Section hike AT nb across the park- HooKoodooKu

So I am headed up in 2 weeks to cross the park north bound. I know all the complaints and shelter stories but am going anyway!!! Maybe I will have some new shelter stories when I get back. My particular question is - how do I get the best info on sunmiting Mt Guyot? Read the peakbagger site and I know that HookooDooKu has written about it....
My plans so far- day 1 survive the climb up - day 2 stop at clingmans and the jump off day 3 mt guyot day 4 mt cammerer. Any help on Guyot would be appreciated. Thanks

Here is the SouthBeyond 6000 peaks for the Smokies.

https://www.carolinamountainclub.org...e/SB6K-Smokies

Summit Post description
https://www.summitpost.org/mount-guyot/710504

Thanks, that is helpful for sure

Summitting Guyot is still on my to-do list.

A few other websites I've found information about Guyot include:
https://www.peakbagger.com/climber/a...spx?aid=239221
https://gosmokies.knoxnews.com/profi...ng-to-mt-guyot
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/re...-national-park



All these sites are rather dated... note that the Summit Post description Tennessee Viking pointed to still talks about "free" permits (which hasn't been the case for over 5 years now).

I've hiked the AT along side Mt. Guyot a few times, the most recent being about 9 months ago. The biggest issue I see in trying to summit Guyot is deciding where to start bush-whacking. There is currently no obvious man-way. I've read other descriptions (can't find a link right now) where people have talked about navigating lots of downed trees... in some cases their feet never touching the ground for an hour. If you look at the area in Google Earth, the latest images from November 2017 clearly show these huge patches of downed trees. It you follow some of the old advice where there used to be a man-way right about where the AT makes a 90º turn at the spine of the mountain, you'll be walking the length of some of these patches.

So far, if and when I do attempt Guyot, I'm thinking of attacking it from the northern flank and avoid the downed trees. But again, the last time I walked along the AT there, it's dense forest all along thru there. Not obvious place to start the accent.

https://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=7773
this link has record from 2016 and 2017... which isn’t great

you should come along......

Interesting timing. As I was finishing up brushing my section (Low Gap to Cosby Knob) on Saturday I talked to a local hiker who had just summited Guyot.

He did it as a day hike going up Snake Den trail then returning to Cosby Campground by Low Gap. His route was to go south on the AT to the last seep of the spring then go back north 225 paces and hard right to go up slope. When I asked how to know it was the last seep, he said the trail begins to go downhill toward Tricorner shelter.

The hiker said there is a pile of rocks at the benchmark. Also there is no view from the summit but there is a view if you continue north along the crest.

This is second hand information but is current.

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Originally Posted by gtsr

So I am headed up in 2 weeks to cross the park north bound. I know all the complaints and shelter stories but am going anyway!!! Maybe I will have some new shelter stories when I get back. My particular question is - how do I get the best info on sunmiting Mt Guyot? Read the peakbagger site and I know that HookooDooKu has written about it....
My plans so far- day 1 survive the climb up - day 2 stop at clingmans and the jump off day 3 mt guyot day 4 mt cammerer. Any help on Guyot would be appreciated. Thanks

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So where are you spending the night?

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Originally Posted by gtsr

https://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=7773
this link has record from 2016 and 2017... which isn’t great

you should come along......

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I notice that those that are posting GPS tracks lately are indeed ascending up the north flank.

As for coming along... I'm still trying to find time to do all the other trips I'm wanting to do. One of my kids has already hiked over 1/2 the trails in the park so we're working on him getting the other half. But the combination of weather and schedules has meant that the only camping trip I've done this year was a three night hike over spring break. Plan to be back out there is weekend. Don't know for sure after that.

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Originally Posted by rmitchell

Interesting timing. As I was finishing up brushing my section (Low Gap to Cosby Knob) on Saturday I talked to a local hiker who had just summited Guyot.

He did it as a day hike going up Snake Den trail then returning to Cosby Campground by Low Gap. His route was to go south on the AT to the last seep of the spring then go back north 225 paces and hard right to go up slope. When I asked how to know it was the last seep, he said the trail begins to go downhill toward Tricorner shelter.

The hiker said there is a pile of rocks at the benchmark. Also there is no view from the summit but there is a view if you continue north along the crest.

This is second hand information but is current.

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Great to hear some updated information.

If you look at a topo map of the area, there are two natural springs and one dry drainage. Heading SOBO in the AT, you go around Old Black and then the trail makes a 90º turn to the right. About 700' down the trial is the 1st natural spring. Another 700' brings you to the "dry drainage" that might have a weak seep during wet periods. Another 1,200' brings you to the natural spring below the Guyot summit. I think this is "the last seep" and it's located about 1,000' before the 90º turn as the trail crosses the spine of Mount Guyot and begins the decent towards Tricorner.

Assuming 2000 paces in a mile, back-tracking from "the last seep" basically puts you going strait up the hill heading directly for the summit, and it misses the patches of dead trees. Not sure what you mean by "continue north along the crest" since the crest runs more east/west, but based on the location of the dead trees I can see in Google Earth, it looks like you can follow the ridge in either direction and eventually see a view.

The Carolina Mtn Club site should be fairly reliable intell. They are the AT club from the Smokies to almost Erwin. And they sponsor and plot out guidelines for the SB6K challenge of summiting all 6000+ peaks.

https://www.carolinamountainclub.org...page/SB6K#talk You can contact them for any recent routes.

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Originally Posted by rmitchell

So where are you spending the night?

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Pecks and then Cosby