Heading North on the AT. If you look closely in the larger picture, you will see where the old AT crossed higher up on the mountain. Now the trail has been rerouted through the lower right hand part of the picture. This is one of the many beautiful balds a hiker sees along the AT in the South.

"There are no balds on the Blue Ridge; but from Whitetop at the Virginia line to the Stratton and Hooper balds in Graham county, the Great Smoky mountain summits, abound in bald spots. They are usually above the 5,000-foot mark, and contain no trees whatever. Instead, they are carpeted with rich wild grass, and tradition says that before white men turned their cattle on them to graze, this grass was "saddle-high." Some of the transverse ranges have these balds also, notably the Nantahalas and the Balsams"