Sight · Great Smoky Mountains National Park
A ridge climb ends at a steel lookout above Fontana Lake.
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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
Shuckstack Fire Tower Trailhead“You're nearing the trailhead for Shuckstack, a nineteen thirty-four fire lookout above Fontana Lake. The six point eight-mile round trip is a steep five-to-six-hour hike, with roughly twenty-one hundred feet of climbing.”
Plays on the road 1.7 mi from Shuckstack Fire Tower in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
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Guide
Shuckstack Fire Tower is a decommissioned, roughly 60-foot steel lookout on Twentymile Ridge near the park’s southwest edge. The windowed cab is known for a wide view over Fontana Lake and the surrounding mountains. Reaching it takes a strenuous hike; this is not a roadside stop.
One common approach from Fontana Dam is about 7 miles round trip, with roughly 2,100 feet of climbing and a short spur to the tower. Route accounts use different starting points and distances, and current dam-crossing access is unclear, so confirm your trailhead and mileage before setting out. The tower received partial repairs, but its present structural condition has not been confirmed. Check with the park before climbing; treat the stairs as off-limits unless staff confirm the tower is open and safe. Bring the food and water you need for a backcountry hike, and check current trail conditions.
The tower stands near the 4,000-foot summit of Shuckstack Mountain. From the cab, the panorama can include Fontana Dam and Lake, the Unicoi, Snowbird and Nantahala ranges, the Blue Ridge, and the Smokies. Clear weather gives the far ridges their definition; from below, trees screen much of the view. If the park confirms the cab is safe to enter, the multi-pane windows make a distinctive frame for the lake and layered ridgelines.
The 60-foot Aermotor lookout was built in 1934 by the Public Works Administration and the National Park Service. Rangers once watched the surrounding forest for smoke from its elevated cab. As aircraft became a cheaper way to spot fires, Shuckstack and many other Southern Appalachian towers were retired.
A separate one-room cabin once stood near the tower for the lookout’s ranger. Its stone fireplace remains by the site, a quieter reminder that this summit was once a working post as well as a destination.
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
ChallengingLost Cove Trail2.7 mi · 2 hr · 0.3 mi awayA steep, shaded descent from the A.T. to Lakeshore Trail.
ChallengingLong Hungry Ridge Trail4.6 mi · 3.5 hr · 1.2 mi awayA backcountry ridge link with several unbridged creek crossings.ChallengingShuckstack Fire Tower Trail6.8 mi · 5.5 hr · 1.7 mi awayA steep Appalachian Trail climb ends at a tower above Fontana Lake
ChallengingEagle Creek Trail8.6 mi · 6.5 hr · 2.3 mi awayA rugged creek-to-ridge traverse ending above Cades Cove.
ChallengingAppalachian Trail71.1 mi · 2 days · 2.3 mi awayA week on the high ridge, with spruce-fir and rocky overlooks.
ChallengingBenton MacKaye Trail93.4 mi · 3.3 days · 2.4 mi awayA 93-mile Smokies crossing from Fontana Dam to Big Creek.
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.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.
