Campground · Great Smoky Mountains National Park
A five-site creekside base for horse campers and backcountry rides.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Great Smoky Mountains audio tourRecorded for this area
Big Creek and Mouse Creek Falls“You're coming up on Big Creek, where a gradual forest hike leads to Mouse Creek Falls. Allow two and a half to three hours for the four-mile round trip along an old logging railroad grade.”
Plays on the road 0.2 mi from Big Creek Horse Camp in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
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“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Big Creek Horse Camp is one of Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s five drive-in equestrian camps, with five sites in a wooded setting beside Big Creek. It’s a simple base for riders heading onto backcountry trails. You need a horse to reserve an overnight site; if you’re not camping with a horse, this is an easy one to skip.
The sites are nonelectric. Picnic tables, fire rings, tent pads and mostly gravel parking are part of the horse-camp setup, and stalls and hitching rails are provided. Horses stay out of the camping area, and a stall may not be right beside your site. There are no showers or utility hookups. Big Creek is the park’s only horse camp with potable water, and it has flush toilets with cold water.
The Big Creek Trailhead is on site. Mouse Creek Falls is a nearby two-stage cascade at the meeting of Mouse Creek and Big Creek, reached on foot or horseback. Big Creek Trail is also noted for spring wildflowers.
Follow Big Creek Park Road and take the first left just after Big Creek Ranger Station. Reservations are required, and the campground operates seasonally, so check the booking calendar before planning around it. Food service isn’t listed at the camp; full-service groceries are in Newport, about 16 miles away.
Wildlife
1,569 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
900 sightingsElkMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
13 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
142 sightingsTimber RattlesnakeMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
26 sightingsBobcatMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
42 sightingsRiver OtterMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Great Smoky Mountains. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ChallengingCamel Gap Trail10.6 mi · 8.5 hr · 0.1 mi awayA long creekside approach to the Appalachian Trail at Camel Gap.
ChallengingBaxter Creek Trail12.2 mi · 9 hr · 0.2 mi awayA steep Big Creek climb to a 1935 summit fire tower.
ModerateBig Creek Trail to Mouse Creek Falls4 mi · 2.8 hr · 0.2 mi awayAn old railroad grade reaches an unmarked pool and 41-foot falls.
ChallengingChestnut Branch Trail2.1 mi · 2 hr · 0.4 mi awayA steep 2.1-mile climb from Big Creek to the Appalachian Trail.
ChallengingMount Sterling Trail5.4 mi · 4 hr · 3.8 mi awayA steep climb to a historic tower and wide clear-day Smokies views.
ChallengingSwallow Fork Trail3.9 mi · 4 hr · 4 mi awayA forest climb links Big Creek to the high ridge routes.
ModerateMount Sterling Ridge Trail5.3 mi · 3.5 hr · 4 mi awayA remote 5.3-mile traverse from Mount Sterling to Balsam Mountain Trail.
ChallengingGunter Fork Trail4.1 mi · 4.5 hr · 4.9 mi awayTwo cascades reward a long, steep backcountry climb.
Picnic area · 0.3 mi awayBig Creek Picnic AreaBreak by Big Creek before setting out on a nearby trail.
Campground · 0.4 mi awayBig Creek CampgroundTwelve tent sites by the creek, with big hikes close at hand.
Sight · 1.6 mi awayMidnight HoleA shaded Big Creek pool reached by a steep, rocky scramble.Sight · 2 mi awayMouse Creek FallsA 41-foot waterfall with Midnight Hole along the way.
Sight · 3.1 mi awayMount Cammerer Lookout TowerA rock summit and a 1930s fire tower reward a big climb.Sight · 3.7 mi awayMount Sterling Fire TowerA 1935 lookout atop a steep, remote Smokies summit.Parkwolf’s Great Smoky Mountains ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
