Mount Guyot (Great Smoky Mountains)

{{Infobox mountain

| name = Mount Guyot

| photo = Appalachian-Trail-guyot2.jpg

| photo_caption = Mt. Guyot, looking south from the Appalachian Trail

| elevation_ft = 6621

| elevation_ref = {{navd88}}{{cite ngs |pid=FB2486 |name=TT 14 D |accessdate=2019-07-11}}

| prominence_ft = 1581

| prominence_ref = {{cite peakbagger |pid=7773 |name=Mount Guyot |access-date=2019-07-11}}

| location = {{unbulleted list

| Haywood County, North Carolina

| Sevier County, Tennessee, U.S.}}

| range = Great Smoky Mountains

| coordinates = {{coord|35|42|19.0|N|83|15|26.9|W|type:mountain_region:US-MA_scale:10000_source:ngs|display=inline,title}}

| coordinates_ref =

| map = North Carolina#Tennessee

| map_caption = Mount Guyot (North Carolina)

| topo = USGS Mount Guyot

| easiest_route = Snake Den Ridge Trail + Appalachian Trail + bushwhack

}}

Mount Guyot is a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains, located in the southeastern United States. At {{convert|6621|ft|m}} in elevation, Guyot is the fourth-highest summit in the Eastern U.S.,{{cite peakbagger |lid=21400 |name=Eastern USA 5000-foot Peaks |access-date=2019-07-17}} and the second-highest in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.{{cite web |title=Great Smoky Mountains National Park |url=https://www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/nature/mountains.htm}} While the mountain is remote, the Appalachian Trail crosses its south slope, passing to within {{convert|1000|ft|m}} of the summit.

Mount Guyot lies on the Tennessee-North Carolina border, between Sevier County and Haywood County. There are two peaks atop the mountain approximately one-half mile apart, with the southwestern peak in Tennessee being the true summit. The mountain rises {{convert|3600|ft|m}} above its eastern base near Walnut Bottom and {{convert|4000|ft|m}} above its western base near Greenbrier Cove. Ramsey Cascades, one of the park's most spectacular waterfalls, spills down a sandstone cliff near the bottom of Guyot's western slope.

A dense stand of Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest coats the summit and upper slopes of Guyot. Human settlement never expanded deep into the eastern Smokies, so the area around Guyot and adjacent peaks suffered substantially less disturbance than the mountains in the western or central parts of the range. A long hike and a challenging bushwhack are required to reach the summit, the highest in the Eastern U.S. without a trail.

Geology

Mount Guyot is composed of Precambrian rocks of the Ocoee Supergroup, formed from ocean sediments approximately one billion years ago.{{cite book |first=Harry |last=Moore |title=A Roadside Guide to the Geology of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park |location=Knoxville |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |year=1988 |page=32 |isbn=978-0870495588}} The mountain is underlain by Thunderhead sandstone, which is common throughout the Smokies. The Thunderhead sandstone was thrust over Roaring Fork sandstone several hundred million years ago.Moore, p. 66. Mt. Guyot itself was formed during the Appalachian orogeny over 200 million years ago, when the North American and African plates collided, thrusting the rock upward.Moore, pp. 23-27.

Climate

{{Weather box

|location = Mount Guyot 35.7060 N, 83.2561 W, Elevation: {{cvt|6171|ft}} (1991–2020 normals)

|single line = y

|Jan high F = 34.1

|Feb high F = 37.0

|Mar high F = 45.2

|Apr high F = 54.3

|May high F = 60.9

|Jun high F = 66.3

|Jul high F = 68.8

|Aug high F = 67.7

|Sep high F = 64.3

|Oct high F = 55.7

|Nov high F = 45.3

|Dec high F = 38.0

|Jan mean F = 26.4

|Feb mean F = 28.7

|Mar mean F = 35.2

|Apr mean F = 44.0

|May mean F = 51.6

|Jun mean F = 58.1

|Jul mean F = 61.2

|Aug mean F = 60.7

|Sep mean F = 55.7

|Oct mean F = 47.1

|Nov mean F = 36.8

|Dec mean F = 30.2

|Jan low F = 18.8

|Feb low F = 20.5

|Mar low F = 25.2

|Apr low F = 33.6

|May low F = 42.3

|Jun low F = 49.9

|Jul low F = 53.7

|Aug low F = 53.7

|Sep low F = 47.1

|Oct low F = 38.6

|Nov low F = 28.3

|Dec low F = 22.4

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation inch = 6.90

|Feb precipitation inch = 5.99

|Mar precipitation inch = 7.16

|Apr precipitation inch = 6.90

|May precipitation inch = 6.61

|Jun precipitation inch = 7.94

|Jul precipitation inch = 8.16

|Aug precipitation inch = 6.84

|Sep precipitation inch = 6.13

|Oct precipitation inch = 4.98

|Nov precipitation inch = 6.05

|Dec precipitation inch = 7.11

|source=PRISM Climate Group{{cite web

|url= http://prism.oregonstate.edu/explorer/

|title= PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University

|publisher= PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University

|access-date= October 24, 2023

|quote= To find the table data on the PRISM website, start by clicking Coordinates (under Location); copy Latitude and Longitude figures from top of table; click Zoom to location; click Precipitation, Minimum temp, Mean temp, Maximum temp; click 30-year normals, 1991-2020; click 800m; click Retrieve Time Series button.}}

}}

History

Image:Cammerer-Guyot.jpg

Mount Guyot was named in honor of Swiss geographer Arnold Guyot{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9V1IAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA146 | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=146 |isbn=978-0788405792}} by Guyot's friend, Samuel Buckley. Buckley was a naturalist who accompanied Thomas Lanier Clingman on a survey expedition to the crest of the Smokies in 1858.{{cite book |first=Michael |last=Frome |title=Strangers In High Places: The Story of the Great Smoky Mountains |location=Knoxville |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |year=1994 |pages=103–104 |isbn=978-0870498060}} While Buckley's measurements were often wildly inaccurate, Guyot conducted an expedition the following year, recording more accurate elevations and giving preliminary names to various peaks along the crest.Michael Frome, p. 101. Guyot measured the elevation of Mt. Guyot at {{convert|6636|ft|m}}, missing the modern measurement by just {{convert|15|ft|m}}.{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Mason |title=The Lure of the Great Smokies |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.75740 |location=Boston and New York |publisher=Houghton-Mifflen |year=1927 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.75740/page/n100 54]–55 |isbn=978-1297505416}}

Image:Guyot-summit1.jpg

Regarding the Eastern Smokies, surveyors and authors alike agreed on one thing: the region was very remote and isolated. Guyot said of the area, "neither the white man or the Indian hunter venture in this wilderness."{{cite book |first=Daniel |last=Pierce |title=The Great Smokies: From Natural Habitat to National Park |location=Knoxville |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |year=2000 |page=19 |isbn=978-1621901648}} For Horace Kephart, who wrote extensively on the Smoky Mountains in the early 1900s, Mt. Guyot was the climax of a dense, virtually-insurmountable wilderness:

{{blockquote

|text=The most rugged and difficult part of the Smokies (and of the United States east of Colorado) is in the sawtooth mountains between Collins and Guyot, at the headwaters of the Okona Lufty River. I know but few men who have ever followed this part of the divide ...{{cite book |first=Horace |last=Kephart |title=Our Southern Highlanders |location=Knoxville |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |year=1976 |page=58 |isbn= 978-1566641753}}}}

Kephart goes on to relate the account of James Ferris and his wife, two naturalists who bushwhacked their way across the crest of the Smokies to Mt. Guyot in 1900. According to Mrs. Ferris:

{{blockquote

|text=The Tennesseeans seem afraid of the mountains, and the Cherokees of North Carolina equally so; for, two miles (3 km) from camp, all traces of man, except surveyors' marks, had disappeared.Horace Kephart, p. 59.}}

Mt. Guyot remained isolated until the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed a segment of the Appalachian Trail across the mountain's western slope in 1935.{{cite journal |first=Sherrill |last=Hatcher |title=The Appalachian Trail In the Smokies |journal=Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter |volume=20 |issue= 3 |date=May–June 1994 |page=2}}. Although the trail opened up the heart of the Eastern Smokies to backpackers, access remained relatively difficult. According to author Laura Thornborough, who climbed Guyot in the late 1930s:

{{blockquote

|text=My first of three trips to the top of Mt. Guyot remains sharply etched in my memory. It was the hardest, roughest and most exhausting of all the trips I have ever made in the Great Smokies.{{cite book |first=Laura |last=Thornborough |title= Great Smoky Mountains |location=Knoxville |publisher=University of Tennessee Press |year=1942 |pages=121–122 |isbn=978-0870490347}}}}

Thornborough followed the route out of Greenbrier that ascends Guyot's western slope. She recalls that "there was no trail to Guyot, not even a dim one, but our guides knew the way." The party followed Ramsay Prong until it became "a mere trickle of water," and emerged near modern-day Guyot Spring. From the state line, they found a "dim trail" leading to the summit. Thornborough concludes her report by saying, "if it is wilderness you want, then go to Guyot."Thornborough, p. 122.

Access

Image:At-crossingguyot1.jpg

The Appalachian Trail and the Balsam Mountain Trail intersect just south of Guyot

at Tricorner Knob. They are the only maintained trails to traverse the mountain.

From the Cosby Campground (specifically behind Campsite B51), the Snake Den Ridge Trail

winds {{convert|5.3|mi|km}} to its intersection with the Appalachian Trail at Inadu Knob. From this

intersection, it is approximately {{convert|2|mi|km}} to Guyot Spring, on Mt. Guyot's west slope.

A {{convert|15|mi|km|adj=on}} section of the Appalachian Trail stretches from Newfound Gap to Tricorner Knob, near Guyot's south slope. The Appalachian-Balsam Trail intersection is approximately {{convert|13|mi|km}} from Balsam Mountain Road, a gravel road that begins near Cherokee, North Carolina.

File:Mount Guyot; Foggy and Lonely Appalachian Trail.JPGWhile Guyot's eastern slope is very steep, its western slope, known as Guyot Spur, descends gradually for nearly five miles to the Little Pigeon River. A well-known bushwhack follows the creek on the north side of Guyot Spur, starting at Ramsay Cascades and emerging on the Appalachian Trail near Guyot Spring (probably the same path Thornborough's guides followed in the 1930s). This route is approximately eight miles from the Ramsay Cascades Trail parking area, four miles (6 km) of which are maintained trail.

While the summit is less than a half-mile from the Appalachian Trail, the thick forest makes any bushwhack a challenge. A faint manway rises from Guyot Spring to the northern summit, although the manway is heavily overgrown. Dead Fraser fir blowdowns and low visibility complicate navigation from any direction.

The Appalachian Trail also passes by another Mount Guyot in New Hampshire approximately 1600 miles to the north.

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20061010101102/http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/upload/trails2005.pdf Great Smoky Mountains National Park Trail Map] - Large file in .pdf format.
[http://tnlandforms.us/at/m.php?wpt=Tricorner Tricorner Knob Shelter] - Information on the back country shelter near Mt. Guyot's southern slope.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070810065334/http://www.carolinamtnclub.com/SB6K/SB6K%20Smokies.htm South Beyond 6000 in the Eastern Smokies] - Information provided by the Carolina Hiking Club for climbing Mt. Guyot and other nearby high peaks.
[http://www.summitpost.org/mount-guyot/710504 The Mount Guyot page at Summitpost.org]

Category:Mountains of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Guyot (Great Smoky Mountains)

Category:Mountains of Tennessee

Category:Mountains of North Carolina

Category:Southern Sixers

Category:Protected areas of Haywood County, North Carolina

Category:Protected areas of Sevier County, Tennessee

Category:Mountains of Haywood County, North Carolina

Category:Mountains of Sevier County, Tennessee