GREGORY BALD

Great Smoky Mountains National Park encompasses 800 square miles of land and 95 percent of it is forested. In the park, the Appalachian Trail follows the ridges between the states of North Carolina and Tennessee, and it crosses the highest point on the entire Trail at Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet. On this hike, we climbed to the Appalachian Trail via Jenkins Ridge, then followed it to the Gregory Bald Trail which we took to the summit. Gregory Bald is named for Russell Gregory who once had a stone cabin on the mountain but was killed by Confederates in the Civil War. The grassy summit has views in all directions and drops via the Wolf Ridge Trail to Twentymile.