Sight · Great Smoky Mountains National Park
An open summit of flame azaleas, earned by a long Smokies hike.
Overview
Gregory Bald is an open, roughly 10-acre grassy summit above Cades Cove, at about 4,900 feet. It is one of two grassy balds the park maintains, with broad views across the cove and surrounding ridges. Make this a destination hike: even the shortest official approach is 9 miles round trip. It is no roadside pullout.
Parkwolf’s verdictA summit worth the long climbMap
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 place
Gregory Ridge Trailhead for Gregory Bald“The Gregory Ridge trailhead is ahead, the start of a long climb to Gregory Bald's grassy summit.”
Plays as you drive up to Gregory Bald in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“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
The National Park Service lists a 9-mile round trip via Gregory Bald Trail, an 11.4-mile approach via Gregory Ridge Trail, and two longer options at 14.2 and 17.5 miles. The Twentymile option is a loop using the Appalachian and Wolf Ridge trails; bring a map for that route. Pick your approach before setting out, because all of them make this a substantial walk.
The flame azaleas are a big part of Gregory Bald's appeal. Their colorful display usually peaks here in late June or early July, later than at lower elevations in the park. Bloom varies from year to year, and this is the busier time on the summit, so aim for those weeks if the flowers are part of the reason you are going.
The park actively maintains this open summit. The National Park Service says grazing animals may have helped keep grassy balds clear in the past, with mastodons or mammoths and later bison, elk, and deer among the possibilities. That is a proposed explanation, not a settled origin story, which makes the meadow itself worth noticing.
This is a scenic viewpoint as well as a summit. When the azaleas are blooming, frame a flowering shrub against the layered ridges so the picture shows both the flowers and the scale of the open mountain view.
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
ChallengingGregory Bald Trail9 mi · 5.5 hr · 2.2 mi awayFlame azaleas, a grassy summit and open views reward a long climb.
ModerateHannah Mountain Trail9.4 mi · 5 hr · 2.2 mi awayA long backcountry traverse ends at an unbridged creek ford.
ChallengingLong Hungry Ridge Trail4.6 mi · 3.5 hr · 3 mi awayA backcountry ridge link with several unbridged creek crossings.ChallengingGregory Ridge Trail11.4 mi · 7 hr · 3.1 mi awayA steady climb to a grassy bald with wide mountain views.
ChallengingLost Cove Trail2.7 mi · 2 hr · 3.6 mi awayA steep, shaded descent from the A.T. to Lakeshore Trail.
EasyTwentymile Cascade Trail1.2 mi · 45 min · 3.7 mi awayA short creekside walk ends beside a mossy cascade.
ChallengingTwentymile Trail10.1 mi · 7 hr · 3.7 mi awayA quiet 10-mile climb from Twentymile Creek to the AT.
ChallengingWolf Ridge Trail to Sheep Pen Gap13.7 mi · 9 hr · 3.7 mi awayA steep, remote out-and-back to Sheep Pen Gap.
Sight · 3.4 mi awayTwentymile CascadeA short creekside walk to a 22-foot sandstone cascade.
Sight · 3.8 mi awayShuckstack Fire TowerA ridge climb ends at a steel lookout above Fontana Lake.
Sight · 4.3 mi awayHenry Whitehead PlaceSpot the “granny hole” in Cades Cove’s older cabin.
Sight · 4.6 mi awayCable Mill Historic AreaSee an 1870s mill where water powered a working cove.
Visitor center · 4.6 mi awayCades Cove Visitor CenterA handy loop break with a water-powered mill right beside it.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.
