Newton Bald + Oconaluftee River Trail

Date: 12/17/14
Distance: 12.6
New Map Miles: 6.3
Total Map Miles: 701.8

This Wednesday I took 1/2 a day off and collected a few new map miles.  The sky was cloudy and it was a little cold in Knoxville, but by the time I got to the Smokies, it was clear and felt warmer.  I started today with the Newton Bald Trail which starts just across from Smokemont.

Newton Bald was a very well graded pleasant trail to hike even with a climb of nearly 3000'.  The 1st 0.3 miles was very wide but at that point, the trail became the classic Smokies trail.

 The sky was beautiful today.

 There were awesome views through the trees today.

 At 4.7 miles on the sign (4.8 on the spreadsheet) I reached the end of the portion of the trail I needed so I turned around and headed back to the car.

 On the way up, I had spotted the knob in the following picture and wondered if that was the "bald".  Turns out that it was.  It is no longer a bald, but the knob just looked like a good place for a bald.

 After I got to the car, I still had a little time, so I drove down to Oconaluftee to get the 1.5 mile river trail.  The trail is wide and smooth and graveled.  It hugs the river from the Oconaluftee visitor center to Cherokee.  It ended at the 1st traffic light in Cherokee.