| Silers Bald | |
|---|---|
 The summit of Silers Bald, looking west from the Narrows. | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 5,607 ft (1,709 m) |
| Prominence | 337 ft (103 m)[1] |
| Coordinates | 35°33′57″N83°33′55″W / 35.56583°N 83.56528°W /35.56583; -83.56528 |
| Geography | |
 | |
| Location | Swain County, North Carolina /Sevier County, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Parent range | Great Smoky Mountains |
| Topo map | USGS Silers Bald |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Appalachian Trail west from Kuwohi |
Silers Bald is a mountain in the westernGreat Smoky Mountains, located in the southeastern United States with theGreat Smoky Mountains National Park. Its proximity toKuwohi and its location along theAppalachian Trail make it a popular hiking destination.
Silers Bald is located on the crest of the Smokies withThunderhead Mountain to the west and Kuwohi to the east. The Tennessee-North Carolina state line crosses the summit, with the mountain split evenly betweenSevier County, Tennessee, to the north andSwain County, North Carolina, to the south. Silers Bald rises approximately 2,500 feet (760 m) above its northern base near Fish Camp Prong (ofLittle River), and approximately 3,000 feet (910 m) above its southern base near Forney Creek.
While Silers Bald was agrassy 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, theNational Park Service does not maintain the bald atop the mountain (the park currently maintains only two grassy balds—Gregory Bald andAndrews Bald).[1] A narrow corridor for theAppalachian Trail, which crosses the summit, is kept clear for hikers. There is still a small bald area at the summit, approximately 30 feet (9.1 m) in diameter, where the Appalachian Trail makes a 90-degree turn. Several grassy meadows remain on the mountain's western slope.
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 theNorth American andAfrican plates collided during theAppalachian orogeny, pushing the rock upward.[2]
While Silers Bald is hardly mentioned inCherokee lore, apetroglyph was discovered near the summit in 1917.[3] The mountain's elevation is probably recorded byArnold Guyot 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 5,614 feet (1,711 m) and lying somewhere between Mt. Buckley andThunderhead).[4]
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 theNantahala 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.[5]
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 overlooksCades Cove.[6] The mountain is mentioned several times inHorace Kephart'sOur Southern Highlanders as the last stop before one enters a heavily-wooded wilderness.[7] According to Kephart, beyond "Hall cabin" (a herder's shack near modern Big Chestnut Bald, six miles (10 km) east ofThunderhead):
...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..."[8]
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.[9]
The easiest access to Silers Bald is to take the Kuwohi tower trail from the Forney Ridge parking lot to the tower. From there, following theAppalachian Trail west the summit of Silers Bald is just over four miles (6 km). This leg of the trail is riddled with elevation gain and loss, crossing Mt. Buckley (a knob of Kuwohi), 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 view ofMount Le Conte to the east and Thunderhead Mountain to the west.