Mount Chapman is a mountain in the
Great Smoky Mountains
The Great Smoky Mountains (, ''Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv'') are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge ...
, located in the Southeastern United States. It has an elevation of 6,417 feet (1,956 m) above sea leve
While the mountain is located deep within the Great Smokies, the
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian ...
crosses its eastern slope, coming to within of the summit. Mount Chapman is among the 10 highest mountains in the
Appalachian range, if subpeaks are not include
Mount Chapman is situated along the
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...
-
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...
border, with
Sevier County to the north and
Swain County to the south. Like its neighbor
Mount Guyot, Chapman is a
double peak, with the southern peak being the true summit. A gap divides Chapman from Dashoga Ridge (i.e., Mount Hardison and Marks Knob), just two miles (3 km) to the eas
Mount Chapman's western slope, known as Chapman Lead, is more gradual, descending roughly over to its base along the headwaters of the
Little Pigeon River (Tennessee), Little Pigeon Riverbr>
Chapman Lead parallels Guyot Spur to the north, with Buck Fork slicing between the two giant ridges. The mountain's summit is coated in a dense stand of
Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest
Southern may refer to:
Businesses
* China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China
* Southern Airways, defunct US airline
* Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US
* Southern Airways Express, ...
.
The remoteness of Mount Chapman has left it largely untouched by human history. The mountain is named after Colonel
David C. Chapman (1876-1944), a
Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state ...
business leader who led efforts to establish a national park in the Great Smokies. As head of the Tennessee Great Smoky Mountains Park Commission from 1927 to 1937, Chapman raised funds and negotiated hundreds of land purchases that would make the park possible.
Arnold Guyot
Arnold Henry Guyot ( ) (September 28, 1807February 8, 1884) was a Swiss-American geologist and geographer.
Early life
Guyot was born on September 28, 1807, at Boudevilliers, near Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He was educated at Chaux-de-Fonds, then ...
crossed Mount Chapman in the late 1850s, measuring the mountain's summit at 6,447 feet (Guyot called it "Mount Alexander" after a Princeton colleague). The leg of the Appalachian Trail crossing Chapman's eastern slope was constructed in 1935.
[Sherrill Hatcher, "The Appalachian Trail In the Smokies," ''Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter'' 20, no. 3 (May–June 1994): 2]
Mount Chapman is approximately from the nearest parking lot at the Cosby Campground and from
Newfound Gap
Newfound Gap (el. ) is a mountain pass located near the center of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of the southern Appalachian Mountains in the United States of America. Situated along the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, the state ...
. From the
Cosby Campground (specifically behind Campsite B51), the
Snake Den Ridge Trail
The Snake Den Ridge Trail is an American hiking trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park of Cocke County, Tennessee. Winding its way up the backbone-like crest of Snake Den Ridge, the trail connects the Cosby Campground to the Appala ...
winds for to its junction with the Appalachian Trail at Inadu Knob. Following the AT from Inadu, Chapman's main peak is approximately to the south, with the trail first crossing the slopes of
Old Black,
Mount Guyot, and
Tricorner Knob
Tricorner Knob is a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains, located in the Southeastern United States. It has an elevation of 6,120 feet (1,865 m), with 160 feet (48 m) of clean prominence. The Appalachian and Balsam Mountain trails intersect n ...
. A short
bushwhack is required to reach the summit.
The Tricorner Knob Shelter is approximately to the northeast of Mount Chapman.
See also
*
List of mountains in North Carolina
References
External links
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Trail Map- .pdf format
Mount Chapman- Peakbagger.com
- SummitPost.org
- Challenge sponsored by the Carolina Hiking Club and the Tennessee Eastman Hiking and Canoeing Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Mount
Mountains of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Mountains on the Appalachian Trail
Mountains of North Carolina
Mountains of Tennessee
Southern Sixers
Protected areas of Sevier County, Tennessee
Protected areas of Swain County, North Carolina
Mountains of Swain County, North Carolina
Mountains of Sevier County, Tennessee