While the main route across the crest of the Smokies was the old Indian Gap Trail (now U.S. Route 441), which crested between Newfound Gap and Clingmans Dome, an alternative route was to ascend Kephart Prong to Dry Sluice Gap, on the eastern flank of Charlies Bunion, and descend into the Porters Creek Valley. The Whaley brothers, William and Middleton, used this route around 1800 while traveling from Oconaluftee to what is now Greenbrier.