Sat, Apr 12 2008 - Plott Mtns Day Hike - Trip Changed (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Lee Harris Participants: Scott Sanders, Rob Garner, Matt Tichenor, Lee Harris, Kelly Harris, Rohit Udavant

Write Up:
Another Awesome Trip! I was actually worried this trip wouldn't be that much fun, WRONG!

We started a little after 10am and got to knock out our first peak right away. Straight up from the parking lot to tag Waterrock Knob. From here we went down and back up to Browning Knob, a 6,000' peak but not a qualifying peak for the Beyond 6000 Program. We continued along the ridgeline up and down for another 1.5 miles or so to reach the 2nd qualify peak, Mt. Lynn Lowry. There is a large cross on top of this peak placed here by Billy Graham in memory of a young girl. This was also our lunch spot where we caught a group of backpackers out for the weekend.

After lunch we headed down a large drop to a saddle where we picked up an old forest road, not a gravel road but a 4wheeling road. We traveled about 1.5 miles until we came to the base of our final peak before having to backtrack. Plott Balsam stood before us. We left the road and climbed to the top where we took a few pics. After the oics we turned around and began our trip back to the parking area and our LAST NEW PEAK.

The road was a nice break as we approached the largest single climb of the day, the reverse of Mt. Lynn Lowry and 600' STRAIGHT UP. This was NOT an easy climb and had a very steep incline. After resting by the cross again we struck out back along the ridge, up and down - going back over peak after peak.

Once returning to the parking area we crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway and began our last ascent, Yellow Face. Even though we were tired from the 8+ miles we had already done we scrambled up another 500' ascent to sumitt Yellow Face. After tagging our last peak we returned to the car where we totaled up the day.

Miles: 10.4

Total Ascent: 5,305'

Qualifying Peaks: 4 - Completing all the peaks in the Plott balsam Mtn Range.


This trip was a solid D5 borderline D6 for hikers in good shape. Attempting this trip as a day hike for those in average condition is Def a D6 and is NOT recommended.

Backpacking this route in and back to Mt. Lynn Lowry and camping there is much easier and gives the group much more time to move at a slower pace. Climbing over 5,000 feet in 1 day is a LOT.


Here is the link to the hikes pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/leeharris13/PlottMtns

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