There seem to be distinct sections on that trek from Clingman's to Fontana. For long stretches, the trail goes straight up and over every knob. Then a trail surveyor who wasn't a mountain goat took over, and mixed in a switchback here and there, and routed the trail around most knobs instead of up and over. It's like they took turns doing 5 or 6 mile sections. My group and I were just having fun joking about it as we did most of that stretch back in late October.