Silers Bald
| Silers Bald | |
|---|---|
The summit of Silers Bald, looking west from the Narrows.
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 5,607 ft (1,709 m) |
| Prominence | 337 ft (103 m) [1] |
| Coordinates | 35°33′57″N 83°33′55″W / 35.56583°N 83.56528°WCoordinates: 35°33′57″N 83°33′55″W / 35.56583°N 83.56528°W |
| 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 Clingmans Dome |
Silers Bald is a mountain in the western Great Smoky Mountains, located in the Southeastern United States. Its proximity to Clingmans Dome and its location along the Appalachian Trail make it a popular hiking destination.
Silers Bald is located on the crest of the Smokies with Thunderhead Mountain to the west and Clingmans Dome to the east. The Tennessee-North Carolina state line crosses the summit, with the mountain split evenly between Sevier County, Tennessee to the north and Swain County, North Carolina to the south. Silers Bald rises appx. 2,500 feet (760 m) above its northern base near Fish Camp Prong (of Little River), and appx. 3,000 feet (910 m) above its southern base near Forney Creek.
While Silers Bald was a grassy 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, the park service does not maintain the bald atop the mountain (the Great Smoky Mountains National Park currently maintains only two grassy balds— Gregory Bald and Andrews Bald). A narrow corridor for the Appalachian Trail, which crosses the summit, is kept clear for thru-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 the North American and African plates collided during the Appalachian orogeny, pushing the rock upward.
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Wikipedia