Big Yellow Mountain

Big Yellow Mountain Hike – 6/21/19 – 11 Miles

Big Yellow Mountain is a Southern Appalachian high elevation grassy bald (5,540 feet), part of the Roan Highlands on the NC/TN border. Its 395 acres is jointly managed by the Nature Conservancy and the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. The Appalachian Trail passes close by it between Carvers Gap and Little Hump Mountain, but there is no signage. I’ve come close a few times but hadn't taken the time to check it out. I’ll never make that mistake again. Yellow Mountain is a worthy destination, not a side trip.

I met up with Cathy and her energetic pup, Ellie, and then we connected with her friend Ann in Newland, NC. They had a vague idea of getting on the AT near Overmountain Shelter and hiking an out-and-back to Yellow Mountain. I’d used this lesser-known access point to the shelter once before with my buddy Mike, but I didn’t recall specific driving instructions and Google maps certainly was no help. We stopped in a convenience store; the first old fellow at the counter gave me succinct directions and we got there easily. Burned into my memory now!

From our parked car, we walked a quarter mile or so to the intersection of the AT and the side trail to Overmountain Shelter, an iconic shelter on the AT that, in my opinion, requires a visit whenever you’re in the neighborhood.  [As of this writing on 4/6/20, Overmountain Shelter is closed indefinitely as an unsafe structure, don’t know if/when repairs will be made. You can still camp there, but don’t be tempted to go inside.]

Headed northbound on the AT, a look back over my shoulder at the teeny tiny red dot Overmountain Shelter (click on photo to enlarge)

Dodder, also called love vine for the way it wraps itself around other plants

A perfectly beautiful day, following Ellie at a brisk pace, chatting and breathing that mountain air – perhaps that’s why we missed the (unmarked) turnoff to Big Yellow Mountain right about here.

Still blissfully unaware that we are walking away from Big Yellow – but we’re having a grand hike!

We found ourselves at the foot of Big Hump Mountain before we would admit that we'd gone too far.  It was too windy to sit down for lunch, so we backtracked past Bradley Gap and ate on a rock in full view of Big Hump with Grandfather Mountain on the horizon.

Big Hump Mountain

Grandfather Mountain 

Ellie

We worked our way back through the gnarly forest and rocky open peak of Little Hump Mountain (Really? Did we really go through all of this without a clue?)  Near the bottom of Little Hump, the AT turned right but a faint track in the grass kept straight. No signpost, and it was clear why we had missed it – but I won’t miss it again.

Ten minutes later, the faint track turned left onto another faint track and we were climbing Yellow Mountain, altogether about a mile to a gate that sort of welcomed us with a reminder to behave if we want to have nice things.

Even among the Roan Highlands, the Yellow Mountain bald is a singularly spectacular place. The view is 360 degrees and the meadow grass really is a saturated yellow-green. Cathy, Ann, Ellie and I were the sole visitors, the grass rolling in the gusty winds and mountain peaks rising all around. Amazing grace!

Cathy and me

We retraced our steps southbound on the AT to the junction with the Overmountain Shelter side trail, and as a little treat to end our day, we took the little-used Overmountain Victory Trail for the last half-mile back to the car.  At the intersection the OVT gets a little overgrown by late summer, but after a turn into the deep trees it becomes a rocky old road bed, gently dropping down to the gravel road. [Information on the Overmountain Victory Trail is here. It follows the route of the Overmountain Victory Men during the Revolutionary War. Most of the trail is a driving route but there are a few short sections of hiking trail.]

I’m so glad to have finally seen Yellow Mountain and to know that, thanks to the Conservancy, it will be the same any time I visit it. Our tentative start and lengthy meanderings were worth the payoff, a lesson for me to keep in mind, to sometimes let things just unfold. (Okay, who am I kidding? I’ll probably never love the uncertainty of “let’s see if we can find it,” but I will have this memory to lean on as one that turned out well. But next time I’m bringing a map.)

[Ann has had the privilege of hiking up Yellow Mountain via private owner access on an excursion hosted by the Nature Conservancy. The excursion was led by Jay Leutze, author of Stand Up That Mountain, which chronicles the successful fight to protect the Yellow Mountain and Appalachian Trail viewshed against a strip mining coal company. The book should be required reading for anyone who hikes the AT, to gain appreciation for those who protect the mountains and the trail.]

                                                          

“When I first open my eyes upon the morning meadows and look out upon the beautiful world, I thank God I am alive.”  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson