Greenville County Highpoint Trip Report
Coldbranch Mtn (3,357 ft) and two areas on Slicking Mtn (3,320+ ft)
Date: November 28, 2003
Author: Fred Lobdell
I revisited these candidates on Thanksgiving weekend in company with Kevin Williamson.
The purpose of this report is to supplement previous reports, as we discovered that it is possible
to drive to Gum Gap, from which it is only a relatively short hike to claim these two points.
Turn south on East Fork Road from US 276. This intersection is, very roughly, about 5.5 miles north of the
NC-SC state line in NC, and about 7.5 miles south of the intersection of US routes 64 & 276 in the center of
Brevard, NC. There will be a sign here for the eastern entrance to the Connestee Falls development.
Coming from SC, it is the first left turn past Sherwood Forest, another retirement community. If you reach
the main entrance to Connestee Falls, you've gone too far. Coming from Brevard, if you get to Sherwood Forest,
you've gone too far. Drive 1.4 miles on East Fork Road to the road sign that says Happy Acres.
There is also a sign for Willoughby Woods. Make a hard left turn, more than 90 degrees, and drive up this
good-quality gravel road for about 1.8 miles to a left bend in the road where another road goes off to the right.
Turn right and follow this road about 2 miles to Gum Gap. We drove it in Kevin's pick-up, which is
high clearance but is only 2-WD, and had no trouble. It may be possible to drive a passenger car to Gum
Gap if driven with care. At the gap there was another pick-up,
in which a hunter was waiting for the rain to stop. Park here.
From Gum Gap, hike to your left (downhill) for a half mile or so to where there is a bridge over Julian Creek
on your right. Turn right, cross the bridge, and follow an old woods road past a small reservoir as it curves
left and climbs to the saddle between Coldbranch Mountain and Battered Rock Mountain. Turn left and
bushwhack through fairly open woods to the summit of Coldbranch. Kevin spent a little time searching for
the bench mark but was unable to find it. No one else has found it, either, so it may be gone.
Return to the road and go back to Gum Gap. Continue uphill, past a new gate, to where the road makes a
sharp right turn. From here it is a short bushwhack to the summit of Slicking Mountain.
We also visited the second, smaller area that lies east-northeast of the summit of Slicking.
From there we had a good view of the summit and we were quite clearly significantly lower.
In our opinion, it is not necessary to visit the small area on Slicking Mountain, just the summit.
Kevin also visited the third candidate for the Greenville County HP, Little Rich Mountain. We drove up
Solomon Jones Road to the east end of the mountain, where an old woods road climbs part way to the summit.
Kevin made the ascent in 17 minutes from here.