Southern Sixer Challenge: Accepted and Done!

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Hiker Yuliya Semenova fulfilled our “Southern Sixer Challenge” in exuberant style this winter and submitted an exciting account of her recent expeditions. Congrats, Yuliya — and thank you for sharing your journeys with us!

First Expedition

“Hi there, beers and mountains challenge has been accepted and done! My name is Yuliya and I had a kick butt time exploring the 6000 footers these past two weeks. Monday, February 12th, 2018 the forecast showed rain all day but it was my day off and I had the itchy feet and decided that I won’t melt and hiked out. I ascended 5 six-thousand-footers that day!

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Southern Sixer Kickoff: Roan High Knob

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This past weekend SAHC and Highland Brewing set out on one of the “For Love of Beer and Mountains” partnership hikes! This hike celebrated the Southern Sixer IPA as well as the 40 peaks above 6,000ft in the Southern Appalachians.   The group got to the trail head excited, the day was made for hiking, there were blue skies and cool temperatures.  In addition to a wonderful day this maybe SAHC’s first hike with a (local) celebrity.  Sammy has starred in a promotional video by the City Chamber.  You can see his debut here!

The hiking was tough. The cold temperatures the week prior had  left some very icy patches on the trail.  The hikers, however, did not let the icy obstacles ruin their fun, everyone continued to chat as we slowly made our way up the mountain.  In the end everyone was very thankful for trekking poles! Read more

Cold Mountain Hike 2017

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Cold Mountain is a 6,030ft peak in the Shining Rock Wilderness, while not the highest peak in the Southern Appalachians it is certainly one of the most famous!  Naturally, we were very excited to lead the Cold Mountain Challenge Hike again this year.  Everything was set to go when the snow storm hit,  it was not going to be possible for us to hike on our scheduled date. However, we decided  “the hike must go on!” The group trekked up Cold Mountain this Saturday, December 16th and had a excellent time. Read more

Southern Sixer Hike – Waterrock Knob

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My buddy Andy and I hiked up Waterrock Knob in January on a misty day. We had hoped to get some snow but we found mist instead, which is always cool. I don’t have a picture of myself on the summit, but I a picture of a the end of the knob with some fog which I thought was cool and moody. We hung out on top for a while, taking pictures of the mist and the plants. We were the only ones up there for a while, which is always a nice treat!

— J. Davison

“For Love of Beer & Mountains” Southern Sixer Challenge Kickoff!

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Last Saturday, we led our first guided Southern Sixer hike to the summit of a peak above 6,000 feet. For this “For Love of Beer and Mountains” Southern Sixer Challenge Kickoff, we traveled to Great Smoky Mountains National Park to climb Mount Kephart, named after Horace Kephart, who played a major role during the early years of the park. We were fortunate to be greeted by a majestic herd of elk both on the way into the park and at the end of the day!

While the summit of Mount Kephart doesn’t afford spectacular views, you can continue just a quarter mile further to “The Jumpoff,” the top of a 1,000 foot sheer cliff on the side of the mountain that provides views for miles to the east. From this vantage point we could see back towards SAHC’s Smoky Mountains focus areas, where we work to conserve land adjoining the national park, creating a buffer for wildlife and helping preserve viewsheds in this unique landscape.

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