There is still a small bald area at the summit, approximately 30 feet (9.1 m) in diameter, where the Appalachian Trail makes a 90-degree turn.

The mountain, like most of the Smokies, was formed some 200 million years ago when the North American and African plates collided during the Appalachian orogeny, pushing the rock upward.

[5] By the late 19th century, Silers Bald was the far eastern end of a giant grassy pasture that stretched several miles across the Smokies' western ridge all the way to Russell Field, which overlooks Cades Cove.

[6] The mountain is mentioned several times in Horace Kephart's Our Southern Highlanders as the last stop before one enters a heavily-wooded wilderness.

From there onward for forty miles is an uninhabited wilderness so rough that you could not make seven miles a day in it to save your life..."[8] Laura Thornborough, a writer who visited Silers Bald in the 1930s, recalls it as a giant meadow: Silers is one of the mysterious grassy balds, or mountain-top meadows, and an outstanding vantage point commanding spectacular views.

At the summit of Silers Bald, an unmarked spur trail winds several yards to a cliff on the northwest slope of the mountain.