Chimney Tops - Manway - Sugarland Mountan - AT - Road Prong - Chimney Tops

Date: 12/23/14
Distance: 12
New Map Miles: 0

Today was one of only 3 hiking days up to this point that I've hiked in the Smokies without getting any new map miles.  JD planned a hike that included the manway between the Chimney Tops and Sugarland Mountain Trail.  I had often wondered where the manway was located, so I signed up for this excellent adventure with the GSHAG group.  Along with JD, Jenn, Greg, Lisa and Anoria provided awesome company on the trail.

The Chimney Tops Trail is now finished with its renovation, so it was in great shape.  Today was fairly warm for December, so we were stripping out our jackets pretty quick as this trail quickly rose up to the summit.  It had rained overnight, but there was just a bit of very light drizzle, probably just from the trees on the way up.

 I only climbed up about 1/2 way at the Chimney Tops because the rocks were wet and a bit slick.  The views were still nice even from only 1/2 way up.

After leaving the summit, we backtracked just about 0.1 miles before JD turned off into the woods on the manway.  The manway was well marked, but there were many muddy steep areas along the path.  In addition, the rhododendron and scrub trees added to the effort required to hike up the hill.

After 0.4 miles, we exited on the Sugarland Mountain trail about 2.5 miles from the AT.

We turned left and climbed the Sugarland Mtn trail up to the Mt Collins Shelter where we ate lunch.

Leaving the shelter we were all pretty cold, so it was good to get moving.  The AT had a few more climbs to warm us up.  The final elevation was about 6000'.  The parking lot was at about 3000'.

Shortly the trail started down before reaching Road Prong which is right next to the Clingmans Dome Road.  Road Prong was steep and rocky and turned into a creek for a while.  At this point, it started raining steadily, so we hustled on down after the creek crossings.

Nice day in the woods with a little adventure.  Good company made it all the better.