Thread 2830595

What's some good off the beaten trail hiking spots in the south? Ideally i'd like to avoid the Great Smoky Mountains just due to summer tourists.

>>2830595 (OP)
Bankhead/Sipsey in Alabama

All of the best stuff in the south is water based

>>2830595 (OP)
Acktchually if you don’t mind the heat the trails south of the AT are usually empty. They get much busier in the fall and spring, and even then they’re not exactly bustling with people.

OC pic is the path to one of the most popular attractions in the most visited national park (Clingman’s Dome). And this was in the fall, a fairly busy time of the year. But it was very early on a weekday.

>>2830605
>paved trail
>off the beaten trail

Um its gonna be fucking hot or I would be there but Big South Fork is really nice and its like 2 hrs nw of Great Smoky Mountains up by the Kentucky border - there's two trails there I wanna check off my list but haven't done yet -

John Muir Overlook - you park along a dirt road in Kentucky and its 2.5 mi each way up on a ridge to an overlook above No Business Creek - basically a small holler but it looks nice

O&W Overlook - this one is looking east from south of the "main area" at leatherwood ford and its a bit annoying to access - the closest way (I think) involves descending and then ascending the steepest hardest bits of gorge @ honey creek

so the two OTHER ways are parking at I wanna say its called honey creek horse camp - but basically there's horse trail parking to the west of the overlook ~ 3 mi away from it

OR from the east you can park at a rail trail parking trailhead (that is apparently on a rough dirt road) and walk/bike 2 mi on the O&W rail grade, and then there's a bridge going east to west across Big South Fork and then you have to ascend the gorge to get to the overlook.

And Buzzard Rock has a 180 degree view of Big South Fork from directly above it for a far shorter hike than either of the two previous aforementioned ones.

And Dicks Gap Overlook (your choice of long annoying hike from the bottom of the gorge or very short easy hike + drive to get there on terrifying steep narrow mostly paved road) has a horseshoe bend view of Big South Fork and was quite nice.

>>2830606
Please point to where I said this was 1) a trail and 2) off the beaten path

It’s used as amplifying juxtaposition. Of the most popular attraction in the most popular park is empty, what do you think the backcountry trails look like? As a general rule of them, the further you go, the fewer people you see. If there are literally none at the trail head, do you think the rest of the place is buzzing?

The Blood Mountain loop is a nice day hike. Part of it coincides with the Appalachian Trail but going south. You get to see people on the third or so day of their AT hike, already looking ready to drop out as the realization that hiking the whole thing is well beyond their abilities.

>>2830595 (OP)
The Talladega National Forest is great and not very touristy besides Cheaha State Park. There's about 70 miles of the Pinhoti Trail that runs through it with lots of great camping spots

>>2831068
literally looks like anywhere in shenandoah national park
same tiny loose rocks that hurt your feet
skinny trees logged to death

>>2830597
You could also try Bankhead near Atlanta!

>>2831069
You take what you can get even if isn't perfect, obviously the Eastern US isn't in the pristine state it was 500 years ago. Do you have anything to contribute besides whining about your weak feet?

>>2831155
>near Atlanta
nigga is trying to get your car stolen

>>2831069
Parts of Talladega were too rugged and remote for logging to have been economically feasible. It has some of the largest stands of longleaf pine in the US.

Funny you mention Smokey Mountains. I was just there.

>>2831228
How was the crowds and parking?

The Pinhoti Trail aka The Cruel Jewel is great. The Benton McKaye Trail is great too.

>>2831308
Lots of people and parking was tough, but I would definitely go again.

The valley and ridge part of the Appalachians is more scenic than the Appalachian plateau. The ridge north of LaFollette TN and the ridge southeast of Johnson City TN are two I've been hiked on. Look for forested ridges with public land or hiking trails. Don't go to the Cumberland Gap, it's crowded and underwhelming.

>>2832673
The plateau is much nicer and I have hundreds of spots that prove you wrong.

>>2832806
>>2832673
What constitutes the plateau vs the valley and ridge?

>>2832822
uplifted ancient ocean bed (sedimentary) cut into by water alone vs folded (imagine putting your hands on a tablecloth and pushing them towards one another) metamorphic rock

also ridge and valley areas tend to have broader - longitudinally oriented valleys - whereas plateau has "hollers" i.e. very little truly flat land - usually around riverbeds - mostly up and down slot canyons - tho it varies between high plateau and low plateau

ridge and valley tends to have higher elevation and also SUCKS for hiking because it tends to be really fucking rocky and hard on your feet - plateau is softer ground
smokies are ridge and valley
big south fork/red river gorge/new river gorge is plateau, pittsburgh and cincinnati are both on the plateau

knoxville, chattanooga, and birmingham al are ridge and valley (bordering the plateau)
the plateau is harder to traverse (no valleys you can go through) so its less densely settled - but the hiking is SWEET