On this beautiful spring off-trail excursion, we will start on the Kephart Prong and Grassy Branch Trails for a few short miles before diving down into Kephart Prong to begin our scramble up the creek. Keep in mind our feet will be in the cold water most of the time, possibly failing to find purchase on the slick rocks more often than not. We’ll wade pretty little pools and scramble up unique cascades for almost a mile before forking off onto Hunter Creek. A stretch of Hunter Creek, tucked away in a mossy forest surely inhabited by fairies, is bafflingly flat… but it has a surprise or two up its sleeve. Suddenly remembering that it’s on a mountainside, the flat stretch of creek gets steep again as we climb out of the fairy forest into an open field on the AT. From here, we will have 6.1 miles on trail back to our cars.

Total distance 10.70 miles, 3 miles off-trail. Rated difficult due to distance. Previous off-trail experience recommended. Pre-registration with one of the leaders is required. Leaders: Kindel Page kindeledhearts1985@gmail.com and Juli Villa tentxrat@gmail.com