Rocky Top on the Appalachian Trail
Yes, there really was a Rocky Top before the catchy tune was written in the 1960s and later became the Tennessee Vols’ unofficial fight song as well as a designated state song. But no, the actual Rocky Top was never “home sweet home” to anyone, except perhaps to a few Cherokees and herders just passing through.
The real one is a small but prominent rock outcrop along the Appalachian Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, on the western shoulder of 5,527-foot-high Thunderhead Mountain. (Thunderhead, a heath bald with limited views, is the southernmost 5,500-foot-high peak on the AT as Standing Indian, near the Georgia border, is a foot or so short.) Notably, the views from Rocky Top, which lies at least as much in North Carolina as Tennessee along the state line, are nothing short of stunning on a clear day.
These days there actually is a Tennessee town named Rocky Top, resulting from Lake City, Tennessee (where there isn’t a lake), changing its name in 2014 as a way to completely rebrand itself by feeding off the song. Predictably, a lawsuit filed by sons of the songwriting Bryants—who themselves had employed lyrical license in longing for an uninhabited place—to halt the name change was unsuccessful. The town is located in northeastern Tennessee at the northern terminus of mighty U.S. 441, nearly 1,000 miles from the highway’s southern end in Miami, where it’s safe to say there’s also no rocky top.
But I digress, badly. Unfortunately—or perhaps fortunately depending upon your perspective—the real Rocky Top is likely the most difficult to reach of all the Smokies’ truly exceptional lookouts. No pain, no gain with this one. But it is clearly worth the effort if you are willing and able.
The shortest route to Rocky Top, from the Cades Cove area, involves a round-trip hike of nearly 12 miles. However, with sufficient camping gear and provisions you can break up the trip with an overnight stay at nearby Spence Field backcountry shelter, one of the park’s most inviting. More on that later.
The first leg of the shortest path to Rocky Top is via Lead Cove Trail. Yet the distance even to the AT is still almost five miles from the trailhead, with a hefty elevation gain of more than 3,000 feet. Needless to say, the climb isn‘t for the faint of heart.
After an easy rock-hop crossing of Laurel Cove Creek near the trailhead, you begin climbing in earnest as the trail ascends from about 1,800 feet elevation to more than 3,000 in less than two miles. The din of road traffic is lost by the time you reach an opening in the forest that yields a nice view of nearby Scott Mountain.
In a few more minutes, you arrive at Sandy Gap, formerly the name of Lead Cove Trail. Bote Mountain Trail, an old roadbed, runs through here. To your left is a wide, flat section of the old road, but to your right (where you’re headed) the trail quickly becomes steep and rocky. Through the pines and hardwoods you can see part of the imposing Smokies crest that you meet in slightly more than an hour, if hiking at a reasonably steady pace.
After a junction with Anthony Creek Trail, the arduous climb on Bote Mountain Trail continues through a former road turnaround. The path climbs steadily in a mostly straight, due-south direction before a switchback heralds the final approach to the AT junction at Spence Field, a onetime prodigious grassy bald that woody and herbaceous plants have overtaken. At this point, you’re in a northern hardwood forest at an elevation of about 4,900 feet. Rocky Top is just over a mile from Spence Field with the loftier Thunderhead another ¾ mile north on the AT. Yet the spectacular views are from the 5,441-foot-high Rocky Top.
The vistas in all directions from Rocky Top are remarkable—of Kuwohi (formerly Clingmans Dome), Mount Le Conte, Cades Cove, Gregory Bald, Shuckstack, Little Shuckstack, the Eagle Creek watershed, a sliver of Fontana Lake and of Welch Ridge and its high point, the aptly named High Rocks. Outside the park, distant mountain ranges in North Carolina such as the Nantahalas, Cowees and Plott Balsams are easily visible on a clear day. In short, it’s a magnificent spot on the western end of the park.
You will find it exceedingly difficult to depart Rocky Top unless the weather is dismal. But if you have prepared to spend an overnight at Spence Field Shelter, it is located only about ¼ mile beyond the junction with Bote Mountain Trail on your way down. The shelter, situated in a lovely setting, is reached by taking a left on Eagle Creek Trail and hiking another 300 yards or so. Its only potential downside is the possibility of little or no nearby water (which if available should be treated) during extremely dry weather. In such conditions you should bring as much water as feasible when you set out on Lead Cove Trail.
Whether you visit Rocky Top on a lengthy day hike or combined with an overnight at Spence Field, you will be glad it was at least briefly your own “home sweet home.”
Go for a hike
- Trailhead: Lead Cove Trail, 5.5 miles west of the Townsend “Y” on Laurel Creek Road
- Length: 12 miles round trip
- Difficulty: Strenuous
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ben Anderson is author of Smokies Chronicle: A Year of Hiking in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (blairpub.com).