Russell County High Point Trip Report
Beartown Mountain (4,689 ft)
Date: August 2, 2000
Author: Fred Lobdell
For details of access, etc., see Ron Tagliapietra's previous fine report. Ron was able to drive in a mile or
so on a dirt road labeled "Muck". I was not so fortunate; I found it gated at the ranger's house, and had to
walk from that point, adding another two miles to the round trip. The weather was foggy with
intermittent rain, and it took my boots several days to dry out.
I walked up the road to the point where Ron had to park, and continued from there. Where my map
showed a stream crossing, I turned left and crossed the stream, then shortly continued west, parallel to the
stream. However, the road, shown as continuing on for a considerable distance, does not. It ends in a
large open field, and the bushwhacking starts here. I entered the woods on my right and bushwhacked up
a ridge, going first west, then southwest, and finally almost due south. The woods were fairly open but the
way was moderately steep to steep in places. When I finally got to the intersecting ridge I found it marked
at fairly frequent intervals with large yellow blazes, and a halfway decent use path followed along the
ridge line. Later I discovered that this marked the boundary of the Clinch Mountain Wildlife
Management Area. I turned right and continued along the ridge for another half mile or so, and it was
starting to swing around from west to northwest. This was good, as the next steep ridge to ascend would
have been a north-trending one. However, I could not see very far because of the fog, and I turned back at
this point.
Afterward I looked at the topographic maps in the ranger's office, and it seems that this might be the best
course to follow. The WMA boundary follows along the ridge line and passes right over the summit of
Beartown Mountain (assuming it's accurately plotted on the map) and if that use trail and the blazes
continue all the way, it would make the bushwhack somewhat easier.