Peakbagger.com
Peak Lists	Climbers	Ranges	Geography	Help	Search	Log In

Ascent of Sassafras Mountain on 2005-10-21

Climber: Tom Owen

Date:

Friday, October 21, 2005

Ascent Type:

Successful Summit Attained

Peak:

Sassafras Mountain

Location:

USA-South Carolina/North Carolina

Elevation:

3554 ft / 1083 m

Ascent Trip Report

Drive faster...I hear banjo music.
Determined to continue on my high pointing career I decided to take a Saturday with nothing to do and climb South and North Carolina solo.
After researching my destinations and confident I could find them by myself, I set off from Knoxville early in the morning so I could use all the day light I had. I drove through the Smokyes and across the tip of North Carolina to climb South Carolina's Sassafras Mountain.
On the way I stopped at a road side waterfall and snapped a few photos but was soon onto the back roads of the South Carolina uplands. I located the town of Rocky Bottom which was my initial goal but had not anticipated the back roads being a little confusing. I did eventually find a map of the trails in the area that shed some light on the direction to head and was soon headed up hill.

I found the parking lot and the locked gate at the top so set off walking the last little bit up Sassafras. I was alone when I first arrived so I wondered around the top a bit and found the registry on the north side of the clearing. Unfortunately, there are no good views from Sassafras
I was soon joined at the top by an older couple who were actually high pointing as well; they had just come from Brasstown Bald in Georgia. We talked a little about high pointing and then a truck came around the bend to the high point. The top of the mountain is owned by a power company and workman had come out to take a monthly reading.

Asking the couple to take a photo of me, I was back down the hill and on to Mount Mitchell in North Carolina.

Summary Total Data

Route Conditions:

Maintained Trail

This page has been served 99 times since 2005-01-15.