The Southern Sixers

“Okay, so I decided to start climbing the southern sixers. I bought the book and everything seams to be pretty easy. Well, besides the bushwacking. I am still not great in reading a map and using the compass. :( Actually the topomap is what gives me the biggest problem. Just can't remember everything.

okay, what did I want to say? yeah, so I want to start climbing those peaks. Already done mt. mitchell, and I probably can add a couple more if I think real hard.

Question: I need a partner in crime...anyone interested? I just don't want to do the bushwacking part alone.

Found a site about this too:
South Beyond 6K Hiking Program

If no one is interested, can someone at least give me some tips?? something? anything?”

“I'd be in for some of those Gemini”

“Cool! Let's plan it. I really want to get all of them done. I am guessing you know how to read a map and read the compass??”

“You Easterners are so cute... sixers... Is that like a REALLY REALLY big sandbox?

JK.... meant all in humor folks!”

“LOL, that's all we have here, so that's what we have to work with. Unless you are paying for my plane ticket....”

“I realized after I hit "SEND" that some could easily misinterpret my lame attempt at humor!

I was born/raised in the east, my first backpacking trips were Western PA, then later Northern VA, then the Northeast (Ct., VT., etc.) I moved arond a lot for work... but... had a lot of fun hiking the Shenandoah Valley, the northeast, etc.

You hit it on the head... enjoy what you have, and, when you move, don't try to take what you have with you, but learn to enjoy all that's new!”

“one of my dreams is to hike/climb on the west coast. Hopefully I will be able to do this next year.

(I probably won't come back home after that)”

“Gemini-What are the names and locations of each?”

“So, what about the other 34? <G>”

“The altitude on those peaks may not be so impressive, but the vertical can be. Good luck!”

“i'm confused. philly isn't in the south at all....”

“Oh, the link you clicked on is probably the link to all the hikes. I have a book "The southern sixers" by Ron Tagliapietra. Not a big book but it does come with detailed instructions.

Most of those mtns. are located in NC and TN. Well, actually all of the mtns are located in TN and NC. Mt. mitchell is one of the(already done that one, supposed to be the highest mtn, actually wasn't that bad), Mt. LeConte is another....40 peaks in all.

I know the altitude is not very impressive, but I know some of those hikes are pretty tough(vertical) so they will be fun.

anyway, I scan the page that includes all the peaks tomorrow and will upload it to the net.”

“Could you pronounce his last name please?
Tagliapietra--I think I caught a bad case of that after drinking unfiltered water.”

“got the black screamers didya?”

“hahaha, don't ask me how to pronounce his name, I think he is indien (looking at this pic)

I do have the names and elevation of the peaks:


elev. peak
6611 Balsam Cone
6155 Big Cataloochee
6214 Black Balsam Knob
6325 Blackstock Knob
6600 Cattail Peak & Potato Hill
6327 Celo Knob
6417 Chapman, Mt.
6025 Chestnut Bald
6643 Clingmans Dome
6030 Cold Mtn.
6188 Collins, Mt.
6085 Craggy Dome
6648 Craig, Mt.
6520 Gibbes, Mt.
6224 Gibbs Mtn.
6040 Grassy Cove Top
6189 Grassy Ridge Bald
6621 Guyot, Mt.
6300 Hallback, Mt.
6120 Hardy, Mt.
6217 Kephart, Mt.
6593 Le Conte, Mt. (High Top)
6280 Lyn Lowry, Mt.
6234 Luftee Knob
6169 Marks Knob
6684 Mitchell, Mt.
6370 Old Black
6088 Plott Balsam
6106 Reinhart Knob
6410 Richland Balsam
6267 Roan High Bluff
6286 Roan High Knob
6055 Sam Knob
6003 Sequoyah, Mt.
6010 Shining Rock
6046 Tennent Mtn.
6292 Waterrock Knob
6203 Winter Star Mtn.
6032 Yellow Face
6150 Yonaguska, Mt. & Tricorner Knob

most of them in the smokies, the Black, and Great Balsams. A couple are listed under Plott Balsams, Roan and Craggies. I did not look at it in detail yet, but I know you can get some of them done in one weekend. (not sure how many exactelly)”

“I'm in..Not sure how many I can get to in a month though.”

“I am not for sure either, but I am trying my hardest to get them done as fast as I can. That does include some weekends where I can't go because hubby is working...”

“Gotcha..let's figure it out then and plan one.”

“If you show me a timeline, I would love to commit to a few of those hills... I mean mountains.”

“Thanks for the list. I didn’t realize there were that many over 6000.”

“Gemini, how many of the Southern Sixers
have you completed?”

“heeheehee...not many. I don't wanna do them solo. anyone up for it?

i have only 9 so far, plus a couple that don't count.”

“If I lived closer I'd take you up on your offer.”

“how many require bushwacking?”

“a bunch of them require bushwacking. one of the reasons why I don't wanna do them solo. I don't bushwack solo.”

“What was that one that we crawled up through the bushes in the pouring rain to reach?

And then ENS almost walked right off the top of it.”

“LOL, typical ENS on a hike!”

“You were up there with us weren't you Roam? I remember the bottom of your pack's rain cover kept filling up with water so you were carrying around a bunch of extra weight!

That was a hell of a soaking rain.

Aaaaah! So many great memories from the infamous "Dees Trail Ist Kaput" trip.
last edited: 4/18/06 9:31:08 PM”

“Yep, I was there in the pouring rain. What a trip, I cannot remember the name of that summit that we scrambled to - only that there is another one with a very similar name.”

“* Mt. Mitchell 6684 ft.
* Mt. Craig 6647 ft.
* Balsam Cone 6611 ft.
* Potato Hill 6475 ft.
* Celo Knob 6327 ft.
* Gibbs Mtn. 6224 ft.
* Winter Star Mtn. 6212 ft.”

“I think it was Gibbs that ENS almost walked off of.”

“was it gibbs? I can't remember anymore. I can't find a TR, I guess I started writing them after that trip. remember when we got lost and realized after it was over how damn close we where to the edge? ENS was lucky.”

“Yeah I think it was Gibbs too.

Ha ha right after Gemini uttered her famous phrase, ENS had the trail fall right out from under him! He saved himself by grabbing onto the branches. One minute he was there in front of us and the next he was gone.”

“What if you had an interest in Sixers, but they didn't show up?”

“I have completed a handful of the mountains
years ago but I cannot document the dates
and such so I want to go back and start over.
I seem to remember a trip on TT where the plan was to bag several peaks in the Great
Balsam Mountains. Can anyone help me find
that thread?”

“There are some really nasty cliffs on Gibbs. I can see someone walking off one of them. There's one point where the Crest Trail goes right to the edge of a cliff and if you're not paying attention...well, you could have a terminal fall.”

“i finished the sixers last May and can answer any questions anyone has on any of them. ENS helped me on routes for several on the Black Mountain Crest Trail years back, so I'd be happy to help out others. I visit this board about twice a month, so email is the best way to contact me = PJBARR at UNC . EDU. i respond to it pretty fast.

up to 74 out of 161 of the "southern fivers"”

“I am interested in Roan Mountain. Has anyone
made Grassy Ridge Bald, Roan High Knob and
Roan High Bluff in one day?”

“To qualify for the "official" SB6000 completion the summit of each peak must be obtained by a minimum 5 mile/500 foot elevation gain hike.

All are on trails except: Chapman, Tri-Corner, Luftee, Big Cataloochee, Old Black, Craggy, Gibbs, Hardison (easy bushwhacks); Guyot and Marks (somewhat harder). Marks has gotten easier with all the traffic.

Time to complete (by a strong hiker with good map/compass skills): Roans-1 day, Blacks-2 days, Craggies-1 day, Great Balsams-2 to 3 days, Plotts- 1 day, and Smokies would be 4-5 days. Sequoyah is about 13 miles from the nearest road. Some of the others are 8-10 miles from a road.

I'd be happy to suggest some challenging, non traditional routes.”

“Even though I have lived right there/here most of my life I have only been to several of the Fivers.”

“Cold Mountain is tough, unless you go in through the Boy Scout Camp (I forget the name). And even then it's a long climb, but only about ten miles round trip (I think).

What's the bushwhack up to Big Cataloochee like? I did it many years ago (32 years ago, to be exact), and I seem to recall a long, difficult slog from near Laurel Gap. Is there a manway to the summit now?

I was always told the manway to Celo Knob was really tough. But when I hiked it, it was so well delineated and so apparent that it was extremely easy.”

“Celo is a long climb, but easily doable.

Cold is also long - i went up from the Scout Camp (Camp Daniel Boone) a couple of summers ago, its fairly easy on that route if your in reasonably good shape. I started at the scout camp, made the summit of Cold Mtn and then hike down to Shining Rocky and camped there.”

“Celo and Gibbs are the hardest in Blacks b/c of long approaches with elevation gain. Cold in the Balsams for the same reasons. In the Smokies; Guyot, Tri-Corner, Chapman, Sequoyah, Marks, Luftee, and Cataloochee have long hikes in, elevation gain, and bushwhacking; or combination of all three. All the others are pretty straightforward or have easier approaches.

The difficulty of the bushwhack depends on route chosen. Last year Marks was much easier than 2001, more traffic. Heck of a hike down Hyatt Ridge.”

“I climbed Cold Mountain from Camp Daniel
Boone 4/14/06 On the way down I met four
guys at Deep Gap coming from the other
end. They were out of water and appeared
to have been for several hours. I gave
them a half liter bottle of GA. Lucky for
them the spring was running well up
Cold Mtn. Trail 30 to 40 min. away. They
were unsure about where it was. I think
they must have met someone who told them
about it.”

“I wonder how many places are named "Deep Gap" in the Southern Apps?”

“Deep Gap, right off, 4 come to mind.”

“Good grief! Dozens! Maybe hundreds!

Also tons of Pine Mountains and Stone Mountains and Sharp Tops.”

“luftee was my hardest sixer, but i think i took a hard way ascent from the balsam mountain trail, due south of it. big cat is 600+ feet gain offtrail, but most open the whole way, with several ribbons routes you can take the whole way, or stumble upon and follow up half of the way. no true summit, but two *heavily* flagged areas are the accepted summits by the CMC per GPS/altimeter readings all over the top. flat on top, some places open woods, some not...wouldn't be a bad place to camp if one wanted a real, real remote setting.

i did guyot for the 2nd time last week. there is supposedly a manway from the false summit to the true summit. this is total BS. it doesnt exist, and is a maze of blowdowns like ive never seen. dont be fooled by the easily discernable and invitingly obvious manway up to the false summit and old campsite. just hike uphill from the southern most guyot spring.

a strong hiker could do all 10 of the blacks in a day if he/she started early and have a car/shuttle at the other end. i plan to do this hike within the next year.

similarly, a strong hiker could complete 7 out of 10 of the great balsams (minus Cold, Richland, Reinhart) in a day without a shuttle, and a crazy hiker might be able to do all 10 in a day with a shuttle. only two require a bushwhack, and only one of those (reinhart) is anything to speak of. i won't be attempting that one any time soon.

for the slew in the eastern smokies, even the crazy/strong hiker will need at least a night at tricorner knob shelter. unless you're that cave dog dude, in which case, you won't have any fun.

visited the leconte cairn on high top this morning. it's a lot bigger than last year, well above seven feet tall. how far shy does that make it of clingmans now?”

“LeConte is officially 50 feet shy of Clingman's Dome. It would be difficult to build a cairn that high without a huge footprint. The Park Service would raise High Holy Hell.”