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2022 Map of Silers Bald

Name: 2022 Topographic Map of Silers Bald
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 2022
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 2022

About this map

Great Smoky Mountains National Park encompasses this entire high-elevation landscape along the border of Tennessee and North Carolina. The topographical survey highlights the spine of the mountains, where the Appalachian National Scenic Trail traverses significant peaks and gaps, including Silers Bald and the narrow passage of The Narrows. This is a terrain of deep drainages and named ridges, where historical memory persists in labels like Mellinger Death Ridge and the Ben Parton Lookout.

Remote waterways such as Hazel Creek and Fish Camp Prong flow through the deep valleys, accessible only by a network of established paths like the Welch Ridge Trail and Jonas Creek Trail. For genealogists and local historians, the presence of the Wike Cemetery provides a rare point of human settlement history within this protected wilderness area. The map illustrates the complex hydrography and steep relief that have long defined travel and life in the southern Appalachians.