I'm thinking about the following hike in July.
Take AT 1.7 miles to Sweat Heifer Trail
Take Sweat Heifer trail 3.7 miles to Kephart and spend the night. Take Kephart back to the Newfound Gap Road the next day.
My boy (7) will be with me, but I don't think he'll pack any gear. We won't need a tent so I should be able to handle all our stuff.
I'm a little worried as many sites rank Sweat Heifer as difficult, but they are saying going up it (from Kephart to AT) and thats a 2500 elevation climb over 3.7 miles. We will be going down it.
I have found one site that did my walk plan in one day and called it moderate.
So my question is, how tough is Sweat Heifer when going down it?
For some reason I have my heart set on this route, I guess I've read some good reviews of the views along this section of the AT. Can't you see Mt LeMonte from here? This seems like the best route as far as location and distance for us.
The other trails I've looked at seem to be down low with out the mountain views, such as the ones along Deep Creek.
I also think the boy would really like the experience of staying in the shelter.
