WhiteBlaze Pages 2024
A Complete Appalachian Trail Guidebook.
AVAILABLE NOW. $4 for interactive PDF(smartphone version)
Read more here WhiteBlaze Pages Store

Results 1 to 5 of 5
  1. #1
    Registered User tucker0104's Avatar
    Join Date
    09-28-2007
    Location
    Charlotte, NC
    Age
    42
    Posts
    388
    Images
    1

    Default AT through the Smokeys in early December

    Hey, my friend and I are thinking about hiking the AT through the Smokies first week of December. From Fontana Dam to Chestnut Branch Trail. What can we expect for this hike? Do you have to stay in the shelters or can you camp near them? Looks like elevation gain/loss is mostly at the beginning and end, right? Should we go north or south? Where can we park at Fontana Dam? Thanks for the help. I did this hike before about 10 year ago in July and paid for a shuttle back to Fontana.

  2. #2
    Registered User
    Join Date
    06-25-2012
    Location
    Lurkerville, East Tn
    Age
    64
    Posts
    3,719
    Journal Entries
    1

    Default

    Be sure to get your shelter/campsite reservations for each night. (Google smokies permits, and choose general, not AT thru-hiker).
    Yes, regulations require that you stay in shelters, with the exception of campsite 113. Elevation changes are mostly at the ends, but there's enough in the middle to keep it interesting.
    Clingman's Dome Road will be closed, so Newfound Gap is your only bail-out point.
    Plenty of parking at Fontana.
    Have a good hike!

  3. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    08-14-2017
    Location
    Knoxville, TN
    Age
    58
    Posts
    103

    Default

    The park service has been hanging sheets of plastic across the shelter openings during winter. That definitely helps to keep the wind down. And many of the shelters have fireplaces inside, so if you can find firewood, you can keep pretty warm at night.

  4. #4
    Registered User Venchka's Avatar
    Join Date
    02-20-2013
    Location
    Roaring Gap, NC
    Age
    78
    Posts
    8,529

    Default

    Take two cars. One at each end.
    The park service closes the highway across the park quickly if the weather turns bad - snow, sleet, freezing rain.
    Have fun.
    Wayne

  5. #5
    GSMNP 900 Miler
    Join Date
    02-25-2007
    Location
    Birmingham, AL
    Age
    57
    Posts
    4,861
    Journal Entries
    1
    Images
    5

    Default

    At the upper altitudes, seasonal average calls for highs in the 40s lows a little below freezing. Normal temperatures will easily be +/- 10 degrees from there, with extreme weather events creating temperatures that can be +/- 20 degrees. On any given day, snow on the ground is unlikely... but snow 1 foot deep could also be possible.

    Here's the PERMIT website illabelle mentioned (I keep a shortcut to it).

    In GSMNP, you're only allowed to camp at designated camp sites, and all camp sites along the AT is a shelter except for the 1st (Birch Spring Gap) where the shelter was torn down about a decade ago and now known as #113.

    Here's the best GSMNP Elevation Profile I've seen online.
    The elevation on each end is a 3,000' change... all uphill (or all downhill)... in about 7 or so miles. But you can see there are many places with 1,000' to 1,500' of nearly constant elevation change.

++ New Posts ++

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •