I am considering my first 'death march' type hike though this one is really not too bad. Pam and I did Gregory Bald back in the spring as training for Yosemite Half Dome. It's a nice steady climb - 4500 feet gain - and 15.5 miles.

I'm hoping to do this as a day hike but it's about 2 1/2 - 3 hour drive there. Pam and I drove up that morning and back the same night. A long day yes but it was not too bad. Is this pushing it for a day hike?

Not at all pushing the limits..... Sounds like a hike I would plan for a day hike... LOL!

Seriously though, if you post it as a day hike, just make sure you are very informative with your trip description. Post as a D5 because not everyone can do 15 + moderate to strenuous miles in one day. I would also suggest talking to the attendees whether it be email or phone and make sure that it's something that they are up for before you get out there and find that someone isn't physically able to complete it. You don't want to be hours behind, stuck at the top or out there at dark without being prepared to spend the night.

Do you have a date set yet? I'm interested.

Paula

Be as clear as possible in your description on what to expect. If you expect to be very late in getting back so say. If you don't know the person, you may want to send an e-mail to them checking thier background.

This summer I did a 10 mile during the middle of the heat wave. Since I wanted to keep a pretty good pace, I required those that I did not know to give me their hiking background to see if I thought they were up to the hike. I asked that those that had not done a similar hike recently to drop out (which many people did). For those that did not reponsd, I removed them for the list. I even asked one person who I did not think was up to it to drop out.

That was the first time I ever did that but I though it was necessary to avoid one or more persons from holding up the group. Even worse I could have been held responsible for someone getting heat exhaustion.

OK, I am TOTALLY leading a spring hike at Gregory Bald when it's azalea time! It's a long hike, but I think I'll make it a photographer's hike. So, this will be another one that will have a "hiking resume" attached... if the resume doesn't cut it, or other trip leaders don't confirm whether someone is up to task... they won't be able to join.

Or, I might be able to turn this into 2 hikes; I'm pretty sure there are some shorter trails there. The "A" group can do the whole thing in a day, the "B" group only does a few miles of it, we meet for lunch on the trail or meet for dinner afterwards.

I did this as a non-AOC event the weekend of June 23-24. It's the first time I went when the Azaleas were in bloom. They were awesome!!! We were probably a week past peak, so don't expect to see much before June. I'm thinking about posting it as an AOC backpacking trip for June this year.

This is becoming one of my favorite places now. Pam and I have done this twice now - once just a bit before peak Azalea bloom and then again this past fall. It's also great training as you get a solid straight 7 miles of climbing at a decent grade.

Definitely doing this in June again.

I'd like to see Tom Jarosz run this trail!

FYI, I will probably be doing this trip sometime this year but as a Backpacking trip.

Have you been? Talk to me about the camp sites. There is one there that is just gorgeous!

I'm still not so much into the backpacking but this is one I might want to do.

I know it is totally obscene, but I've never done a hike out of Cades Cove...I'd definitely be up for a backpacking trip to Gregory Bald. That is too far for me to drive/ride for a dayhike, but an overnight would be great.