Blanket Mountain Trail

[HooKooDooKu]

Planning a GSMNP loop hike in the near future that will take me by the Panther Creek/Miry Ridge/Jakes Creek/Blanket Mtn intersection.

I'm wondering if the old Blanket Mountain Manway is easy enough to be worth climbing?

The day will already be an 11 to 12 mile hike with more than a 2,000' elevation gain. Blanket Mtn would add more than 1.5 miles (round trip) and add >500' in elevation gain. By itself, that doesn't sound too bad. But the only description of the trail I could find was from a blog 5 years old that described having to practically crawl on hands and knees at times to get thru some of the growth that has occurred over the years since the Park quit maintaining it as an official trail.