page_title: Old Black (Great Smoky Mountains)
section_title: Access
hierarchical_section_title: Old Black (Great Smoky Mountains) / Access
caption_attribution_description: View from the Appalachian Trail as it crosses the western slope of Old Black, looking north. Cocke County, Tennessee is below. In spite of temperatures near 60F in the lowlands, the cool wind-chilled air kept the hoarfrost intact in the higher elevations.
context_page_description: Old Black is a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains, located in the Southeastern United States. While often overshadowed by Mount Guyot, its higher neighbor to the south, Old Black is the 5th-highest mountain in Tennessee and the 7th-highest in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Appalachian Trail crosses its western slope, connecting the Cosby-area trail system with the heart of the Eastern Smokies.
  Like much of the Smokies crest, Old Black lies along the border between Tennessee and North Carolina, with Cocke County and Sevier County to the west and Haywood County to the east. The mountain rises 4,400 feet above its northwestern base near Rocky Grove and 3,300 feet above its southeastern base near Walnut Bottom. Old Black is part of the Guyot massif, which extends deep into the interior of the Smokies. A ridge known as Pinnacle Lead intersects this massif— which comprises the eastern section of the crest of the Smokies— on the western slope of Old Black, giving Old Black a triangular shape similar to that of Tricorner Knob to the south.
  Old Black gets its name from the dense Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest that coats its higher elevations.
context_section_description: Like most of the key peaks of the Eastern Smokies, Old Black can only be reached via a lengthy hike.  The mountain is just over six miles (ten kilometres) from the nearest parking lot at the Cosby Campground.  The quickest route involves following the Snake Den Ridge Trail out of Cosby (the trailhead is behind Campsite B51) for 5.3 miles (8.5 km) to the Appalachian Trail junction at Inadu Knob.  From this junction, Old Black is nearly a mile to the northwest. The trail comes to within less than a 10th of a mile from the summit, but the thickness of the forest atop the mountain will considerably slow any bushwhack attempt, and make off-trail navigation difficult.
  As the Appalachian Trail crosses Old Black's western slope, various clearings allow for views of Cocke County and Sevier County, Tennessee to the north and northwest.  Along the mountain's northeast slope, near a clearing used for a high-altitude helicopter landing pad, much of the Eastern Smokies and the Balsam Mountains can be seen, including Mount Sterling and Luftee Knob.  Some of the finest views of Mount Guyot can be seen from this point.
caption: View from the western slope of Old Black, at just over 6,000 feet. Cocke County, Tennessee is below.
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