Silers Bald is a mountain in the western
Great Smoky Mountains
The Great Smoky Mountains (, ''Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv'') are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge ...
, located in the Southeastern United States. Its proximity to
Clingmans Dome and its location along
the
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian ...
make it a popular hiking destination.
Silers Bald is located on the crest of the Smokies with
Thunderhead Mountain
Thunderhead Mountain is a mountain in the west-central part of the Great Smoky Mountains, located in the Southeastern United States. Rising along the border between Tennessee and North Carolina, the mountain dominates the Western Smokies. The A ...
to the west and
Clingmans Dome to the east. The Tennessee-North Carolina state line crosses
the summit, with the mountain split evenly between
Sevier County,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
to the north and
Swain County,
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
to the south. Silers Bald rises appx.
above its northern base near Fish Camp Prong (of Little River), and appx. above its southern base near Forney Creek.
While Silers Bald was a
grassy bald for most of the 19th and early-20th centuries, it was probably a wooded peak before the arrival of European settlers. For this reason, the park service does not
maintain the bald atop the mountain (the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an American national park in the southeastern United States, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, w ...
currently
maintains only two grassy balds—
Gregory Bald
Gregory Bald is a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains. It has an elevation of 4,949 feet (1,508 meters) above sea level. The mountain's majestic summit makes it a popular hiking destination. Another feature that attracts many visitors are the ...
and
Andrews Bald
Andrews Bald is a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains, located in the Southeastern United States. It has an elevation of above sea level, making it the highest grassy bald in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The mountain is one of two ...
). A narrow corridor for
the
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian ...
, which crosses the summit, is kept clear for thru-hikers. There is still
a small bald area at the summit, approximately in diameter, where the Appalachian
Trail makes a 90-degree turn. Several grassy meadows remain on the mountain's western slope.
Geology
Silers Bald consists of Thunderhead sandstone, a small pile of which crowns the
summit. This sandstone, part of the Ocoee Supergroup, was formed from ocean sediments
nearly a billion years ago. The mountain, like most of the Smokies, was formed some
200 million years ago when the North American and African plates collided during the
Appalachian orogeny
The Alleghanian orogeny or Appalachian orogeny is one of the geological mountain-forming events that formed the Appalachian Mountains and Allegheny Mountains. The term and spelling Alleghany orogeny was originally proposed by H.P. Woodward in 195 ...
, pushing the rock upward.
History
While Silers Bald is hardly mentioned in Cherokee lore, a
petroglyph was discovered near
the summit in 1917. The mountain's elevation is probably recorded by
Arnold Guyot
Arnold Henry Guyot ( ) (September 28, 1807February 8, 1884) was a Swiss-American geologist and geographer.
Early life
Guyot was born on September 28, 1807, at Boudevilliers, near Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He was educated at Chaux-de-Fonds, then ...
during his 1859 survey of the Smokies crest, but under a different name (possibly Guyot's "Big Stone Mountain," which Guyot listed with an elevation of and lying somewhere between Mt. Buckley and
Thunderhead).
Silers Bald is named after Jesse Siler, a prominent North Carolinian who grazed sheep
and cattle atop the mountain in the 19th century. Likewise, Siler Bald, in the
Nantahala
Mountains to the south, was named after Jesse's brother, William. Albert Mountain,
also to the south, was named after Jesse's nephew, Albert Siler.
By the late 19th century, Silers Bald was the far eastern end of a giant grassy pasture that
stretched several miles across the Smokies' western ridge all the way to Russell Field, which overlooks
Cades Cove
Cades Cove is an isolated valley located in the Tennessee section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The valley was home to numerous settlers before the formation of the national park. Today Cades Cove, the single most popular destinati ...
. The mountain is mentioned several times in Horace Kephart's ''
Our Southern Highlanders
''Our Southern Highlanders: A Narrative of Adventure in the Southern Appalachians and a Study of Life Among the Mountaineers'' is a book written by American author Horace Kephart (1862–1931), first published in 1913 and revised in 1922. Insp ...
'' as the last stop before one enters a heavily-wooded wilderness. According to Kephart, beyond "Hall cabin" (a herder's shack near modern Big Chestnut Bald, six miles (10 km) east of
Thunderhead):
...there is just one shack, at Siler's Meadow. It is down below the summit, hidden in timber, and you would never have seen it. Even if you had, you would have found it as bare as a last year's mouse nest, for nobody ever goes there except for a few bear-hunters. From there onward for forty miles is an uninhabited wilderness so rough that you could not make seven miles a day in it to save your life..."
Laura Thornborough, a writer who visited Silers Bald in the 1930s, recalls it as a giant meadow:
Silers is one of the mysterious grassy balds, or mountain-top meadows, and an outstanding vantage point commanding spectacular views.[Laura Thornborough, ''Great Smoky Mountains'' (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1942), 124.]
Access
The easiest access to Silers Bald is to take the
Clingmans Dome tower trail from the
Forney Ridge Parking Lot to the tower. From there, following the
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian ...
west
for just over four miles (6 km) brings one to the summit of Silers Bald. This leg of the trail is riddled
with elevation gain and loss, crossing Mt. Buckley (a knob of Clingmans Dome), Jenkins
Knob, and a sparsely-wooded ridge known as "The Narrows".
At the summit of Silers Bald, an unmarked spur trail winds several yards to a cliff on
the northwest slope of the mountain. This cliff offers a 180-degree view of the northern
Smokies, with a clear shot of
Mount Le Conte to the east and
Thunderhead Mountain
Thunderhead Mountain is a mountain in the west-central part of the Great Smoky Mountains, located in the Southeastern United States. Rising along the border between Tennessee and North Carolina, the mountain dominates the Western Smokies. The A ...
to the
west.
See also
*
List of mountains in North Carolina
This article lists notable mountains in the U.S. state of North Carolina.
Highest mountains
The following sortable table lists the 20 highest mountain peaks of North Carolina with at least of topographic prominence.
References
External links
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Trail Map- Large file in .pdf format.
Silers Bald- Peakbagger.com
Silers Bald Shelter- one of the better backwoods shelters along the
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian ...
{{Mountains of Tennessee
Mountains of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Mountains on the Appalachian Trail
Mountains of Tennessee
Mountains of North Carolina
Protected areas of Sevier County, Tennessee
Protected areas of Swain County, North Carolina
Appalachian balds
Mountains of Swain County, North Carolina
Mountains of Sevier County, Tennessee