For my first hike of the year, I chose a short 8 mile trek out to Charlie’s Bunion, and back. When I told my friends I’d never been, they insisted that I go.
The day started at Newfound Gap at 10 am at 25 °F. My fingers went numb in the few minutes I took to gather my things into my backpack. I was glad I had brought my parka, though I was dying to take it off in about an hour. From the parking lot, it was a nice, easy climb on the Appalachian Trail past some wonderful vistas and up to Ice Water Springs and the AT shelter there. I ended up scrambling around some icy spots on the trail that left me wishing I’d had crampons. From the shelter out to the Bunion is a fairly easy hike with little elevation change.
It was a simply spectacular day as I walked though forests delicately dusted with white snow. A few clouds lay on the valley like a down blanket. Nothing prepared me for the panorama at Charlie’s Bunion. Simply amazing.
The Bunion itself is a bare-rockface summit, a bit of a rarity in the Smokies.  A 1925 forest fire coupled with a torrential flood in 1929 flushed away the soil from the area, leaving the bare rock seen today. A group of locals visited a few days later and apparently, Mr. Charles Conner was among them. After he removed his shoe, revealing his Bunioned feet, Horace Kephart (an interesting study himself) remarked the rock face looked like Charlie’s feet and the rest is history.
This is simply this best payoff for the effort I’ve been to in the Smokies. Just go.
Distance: 8 miles, there and back
Elevation change: 500 feet
Weather: Sunny and clear, temperature 25° F to 33° F
Trail was icy in spots.