When I was on the Smart's Mountain fire tower last weekend, I noticed how the peak has three summit bumps (including the one the tower is on), although it was difficult to determine by eye which one was truly the highest. I followed the AT over to the middle bump, but without a visual of the rise I was just on I couldn't tell from that place which was higher. All the snow dripping off the trees and the ice encrusted blowdowns ahead prevented me from wandering over to the third summit bump. Hence, which bump is highest? Does anyone happen to know by how much?
True Summit of Smarts Mountain
- Thread starter Nate
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dms
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The bump with the fire tower is the 3238 summit, about 20 feet higher than the eastern bump.
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TenPeaks
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Here's the trail report I did for Smarts back in October. I'm not exactly sure which bump is the true summit, but I tend to believe it's where the tower is.
"I read that the true summit is another .3 miles beyond the tower on the AT, so after a 10 minute walk we got to where we believe is the highest point. After some bog bridges you'll see a birdhouse on a tree to your left. From there the trail starts to descend. As far as I can tell that birdhouse marks the highpoint.
Back at the firetower and cabin area we ran into a guy peakbagging the New England 3,000 footers. He asked about the true highpoint so I told him about the birdhouse. When he returned he said his altimiter puts the base of the fire tower 30 feet higher than the other summit. Either way, both peaks were bagged."
"I read that the true summit is another .3 miles beyond the tower on the AT, so after a 10 minute walk we got to where we believe is the highest point. After some bog bridges you'll see a birdhouse on a tree to your left. From there the trail starts to descend. As far as I can tell that birdhouse marks the highpoint.
Back at the firetower and cabin area we ran into a guy peakbagging the New England 3,000 footers. He asked about the true highpoint so I told him about the birdhouse. When he returned he said his altimiter puts the base of the fire tower 30 feet higher than the other summit. Either way, both peaks were bagged."
RoySwkr
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http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=43.82556&lon=-72.03278dms said:
Note that the original fire tower was on the E summit
If the map is correct, the present tower bump is at most 18 feet higher
Nate, you remind me of a story by a guy who was visiting county highpoints in Texas. According to the USGS map, there were two possible points in different landowners yards. Both owners were friendly and curious as to which was higher, so the guy (who was an engineer) got a laser level with tripod out of his trunk and ran a survey which proved conclusively which it was. The guy realized afterwards that it would have taken an hour less to just touch both & go, which is what I did with Smarts
ctsparrow
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Thanks for the info on this, my son and i did Smarts in mid fall and i was unsure of the actual summit. We stopped at the tower, and i was debating a return this winter, solo, which i still might do, but it's good to know i can confirm the summit for him. Plus he did the additional height of the tower, where as i only went partially up, towers give me the hee-be-gee-bee's, but i do them most of the time!! ctsparrow
