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To the late, great writer Harvey Broome, wilderness simply didn't get any better than the wild country up in the rugged drainage of Ramsey Prong (aka Ramsay Prong.) Throughout his long life spent exploring the remote backcountry of the Great Smoky Mountains, Harvey and his hiking companions returned time and time again to wild Ramsey Prong. For me, many years had passed since I last made the trek from the trailhead down in the Greenbrier valley to the Appalachian Trail on the flanks of Mt. Guyot, the second highest peak in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It's a deceptively tough bushwhack, one of the toughest in the Great Smokies. If you check the map, the Ramsey Prong drainage drops for about two miles from the Appalachian Trail down to Ramsey Cascades, a popular hiking destination that lies at the end of the 4 miles long Ramsey Cascades trail. Two miles (actually 2.8 miles when lined out in Topo) - on a good trail, most hikers can cover that distance in a little under 40 minutes. When I was running in road races, I'd run that distance in about 10 minutes and 45 seconds. But... and this is a great big but, the two miles between Ramsey Cascades and the Appalachian Trail is trailless, and is so brush-choked and rugged that at times, you'll measure your hourly progress in hundreds of feet, especially in the upper drainage. This is not, and I repeat, is not, for the inexperienced off-trail hiker. If you get hurt, you're going to be a long way, hours at least, from help. When help arrives, it's going to take a long, long time to carry you out to the trailhead. Every step you take, every move you make once you pass above Ramsey Cascades, will have to be made carefully. In the entire distance between Ramsey Cascades and the Appalachian Trail, you might walk normally for maybe 100 feet, if that. For the rest of the distance, you'll be climbing over, or crawling under, huge piles of mossy downed trees, often choked with nearly inpenetrable tangles of rhododendron. If you retreat to the creek to find more open travel, you'll add the risk of leaping from one slick rock to another, often high above the stream itself. At times, especially in the upper drainage, you'll find yourself crawling on all fours through dense tangles of rhododendron, often while in the stream itself. A lot of the drainage is rattlesnake country - you won't want to meet one face to fanged face while crawling through the dog hobble. There are no high cliffs from which to enjoy long distance views. For most of the trip up the drainage, views will be limited to a few hundred feet at a time. It's a place for people that love deep wilderness. There are spots on Ramsey Prong of indescribable beauty. Huge trees, waterfalls, moss-covered boulders and a wild mountain stream make the upper part of the creek one of the most beautiful streams in the Smokies.
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