Mills River, North Carolina

To visit the falls, take US-74 west from Bryson City to exit 64 . Take a left at the exit and drive on Alarka Road for about 10 miles. Follow the road all the way to the end where you will find a turnaround. Don't make the mistake of following the forest service road (it is gated), as it is not ...

The park has about 15 miles of trails with different levels of difficulties . Hiked the Lake Channel Trail  along the lake with good views of the lake and the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Hiked the Mill's creek trail which is nicely shaded and offers good views of the lake and the Linville Gorge area. ...

Meadow Creek Fire Tower is a great place to spend an afternoon watching the sunset or spend the night gazing at the stars. You can bring a blanket then lay out on the top of the tower and view the entire sky. The tower itself was made back in the early 1920's. Over the years it changed appearance...

Halls Top Fire Tower is a special untouched spot in the Cherokee National Forest. The road that leads you into the CNF is known as Halls Top Road  just a few miles off of Interstate I-40. This road will take you 4.4 miles to the next turn onto Stone Mountain Road this road is 2.1 miles to the gat...

Kephart Prong is a pretty easy hike in close proximity to the Visitor Center on the North Carolina Side of GSMNP. 2 miles up the trail, you'll arrive at Kephart Shelter, where you can rest and enjoy vies of the Kephart Prong. Once you've had your fill, head back down the way you came.  During th...

Hidden in the eastern reaches of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Cosby region receives a fraction of the visitation of Gatlinburg or Cherokee. This section of the park preserves some of the best deciduous old-growth forest in the eastern United States. Individual tulip trees and eastern ...

To reach the trail head, take exit number 39 to Erwin/Jonesborough and turn onto State Route 81/107 west and stay on this for 6.5 miles. Then you will turn left to stay on Route 107 and continue on for 16 more miles. Then you will take a left on Route 351 and drive 4.5 miles. Then you will take a...

We are pretty notorious for passing up a good campsite but we are learning our lessons. We got a late but interesting start on Pinch-In trail. We climbed down a steep 600+ feet after passing this ledge only to climb right back to it a third of a mile in. If we come up to an awesome spot, we somet...

One of the first things I noticed when researching this hike was the conflicting information regarding finding the trail head, length of the hike, and the hike's correct route. Hopefully, as of September 2017, this report will contain the most up-to-date information currently available. To find t...

Start your hike from the Shortoff Mountain Trail off of Wolf Pit Road at the base of Lake James. From the summit there is a small grassy area off a side trail that provided awesome cliff side views of the Gorge and Linville River! You can setup after making the hour and a half trek (maybe just in...

From the Deep Creek Trailhead, you can hike to both waterfalls heading up the Deep Creek Trail. You will come across Tom Branch Falls quickly, after 0.2 miles. Once you've had your fill of Tom Branch, head further along the Deep Creek Trail for another 0.5 miles. Turn right on the Indian Creek Tr...

Starting at the Deep Creek Trailhead, take a short walk until the trail meets up with Juney Whank Falls Trail. From here, hang a left and head onto the Juney Whank Falls Trail. Once you've reached the falls, continue the loop to get back to the trailhead.  The falls are said to be named after Mr...

After parking in the Deep Creek Campground parking lot follow the signs for the Deep Creek Trailhead. The Tom Branch waterfall is just .3 miles on the right side. Hike another .5 miles, at the next intersection stay right, and you will approach Indian Creek Falls. After viewing the falls you ca...

Start the loop by hiking the Juney Whank Falls Trail to Juney Whank Falls. The footbridge across the creek makes an excellent place to rest and take in the falls. Follow the trail across the bridge and up the bank. After about 300 feet take a right and follow Deep Creek Horse Trail towards Deep C...

To start the hike to Lonesome Pine Overlook begin from the Noland Divide Trailhead in Deep Creek. The trail is a steady climb with an average gain of 700 ft. every mile. Approaching the top you'll walk along a rocky ridge line where you are able to see the overlook. As you continue, be sure to lo...