Highest Point: Standing Indian Mountain, 5498 feet (not counting peaks shared with Tennessee inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park)
The mountains of Western North Carolina are one of my favorite places on earth. They are the heart of the stretch of the Appalachians known as the Blue Ridge Mountains, with the diverse forests often giving off a bluish haze that can be seen rising out of the valleys and hollows. The area's natural beauty never ceases to instill in me a sense of awe and humility. The term "God's Country" can be overused, but it certainly fits this place.
In 1996, my wife's family went on a camping trip to Standing Indian Mountain Campground near Franklin, North Carolina. Standing Indian Mountain is just north of the Georgia-North Carolina state line, and the AT passes through the campground. My wife's parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle and their kids all joined us and our 11-month old daughter Chelsea. It was the week of Labor Day, as summer was passing the torch to fall. Everyone in the group had a fantastic time, except for Chelsea. She yelled and screamed every night for hours before she finally went to sleep. One of our neighbor campers commented that if nothing else, she kept the bears away from the campground.
One day several of us drove over to the trailhead at Wayah Bald, a mountain almost 5,400 feet high a few miles from the campground. A bald is a mountain peak where the top is cleared of trees for some unexplained reason. There are many of these balds in the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. This phenomena is unlike the mountains on the trail in New Hampshire and Maine whose peaks are above the treeline. It isn't that trees cannot grow on these mountain tops. They can; they just don't. I have read a number of theories as to why this happens, and all of them seem plausible. I am no expert in this matter, so I will not speculate further. Bottom line is that there is a large bald grassy spot on top of Wayah Bald and other balds like it in the area.
Wayah is the Cherokee word for wolf, and it was named for the wolves who once occupied the area. We hiked to the top of Wayah Bald that day, and it was tough. Very tough. The reward awaiting us at the top made all the sweat and struggle worth it. The view we saw was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. Mile after mile of undulating mountains stretched in all directions. If I had not already been out of breath from the climb, it would have taken by breath away.
This area of the country is wild and rugged. It is in these mountains that Atlanta Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph successfully eluded authorities for a number of years. This ruggedness and remoteness make this stretch of the AT difficult to negotiate. This stretch of trail can also taunt a hiker as he or she reaches the each peak. As they look to the west from their perch at the end of a long climb, they can see higher peaks waiting for them to the west in the Great Smoky Mountains.
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