Sight · Great Smoky Mountains National Park
A streamside walk ends at Cataloochee's historic farmstead.
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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 place
Rough Fork Trailhead and Steve Woody House“Up ahead is Rough Fork Trailhead, for a creekside walk to Steve Woody House. The two-mile round trip takes about an hour to an hour and a half, on a broad, mostly level path with a couple of narrow log footbridges.”
Plays as you drive up to Steve Woody House 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
Steve Woody House is the surviving historic house at the center of a larger homestead in Cataloochee Valley. Reaching it takes a 2-mile round trip from Rough Fork Trailhead, along a hardwood path beside a mountain stream before the valley opens around the house. I'd save it for a day when you want a real walk with the history; it isn't a pull-off cabin.
The homesite once held a barn, chicken house, tool house, canning house, spring house and woodshed as well as the house. The building list makes this feel like a working family place rather than a lone cabin. Today, the house stands among the open fields of Cataloochee Valley.
The open field around the house is part of the scene. Leave some of it in the frame instead of cropping tight to the siding; it shows where the house sits in the valley. Getting that view means walking in from Rough Fork Trailhead.
Follow Cataloochee Road past the campground, ranger station, Messer Barn and Palmer Chapel to Rough Fork Trailhead. From there, the house is reached on foot. A parking tag is required if you leave the car for more than 15 minutes, and pets aren't allowed on this trail. The nearest listed restroom is at Cataloochee Campground, which closes seasonally.
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
EasyRough Fork Trail to Steve Woody House2 mi · 1.3 hr · 0.7 mi awayA gentle creekside walk to a historic Cataloochee homestead.
ModerateBig Fork Ridge Loop Trail9.3 mi · 5.5 hr · 0.8 mi awayRugged 9.3-mile loop with creek crossings and a Balsam Mountain view.
EasyCataloochee Horse Trail3.1 mi · 1.5 hr · 1.6 mi awayA creekside walk along the old road through Big Cataloochee.
ChallengingLittle Cataloochee Trail12.1 mi · 6.5 hr · 1.6 mi awayA long, rolling hike to cabins, a church, and mountain history
ChallengingPretty Hollow Gap Trail10.9 mi · 7.5 hr · 1.6 mi awayFollow a creek into a steep climb toward the Smokies ridge.
ModeratePalmer Creek Trail9 mi · 6 hr · 1.6 mi awayA long creekside climb to the high mountain road
ModerateBoogerman Loop Trail7.5 mi · 5 hr · 2.8 mi awayCreek crossings, giant old-growth trees, and mountain homestead traces
ModerateCaldwell Fork Trail6.3 mi · 4 hr · 2.8 mi awayCreekside miles past old farm traces and a school site
Sight · 1.2 mi awayCaldwell PlaceOld newspaper still lines the walls of this mountain home.
Sight · 1.6 mi awayBeech Grove SchoolA 1901 schoolhouse with a local story about fire.
Campground · 1.7 mi awayCataloochee Horse CampSeven sites for horse camping beside Cataloochee Creek.
Sight · 1.7 mi awayPalmer ChapelA small valley church with a big role in Cataloochee's story.
Sight · 2.5 mi awayWill Messer BarnA quick stop for a piece of Little Cataloochee's history.
Campground · 2.9 mi awayCataloochee CampgroundCamp in a remote valley of old homesteads and elk country.
Sight · 3.5 mi awayJarvis Palmer HouseTwo log cabins under one roof became a Cataloochee homestead.
Sight · 3.7 mi awayCook CabinA restored 1850s cabin rewards the walk through Little Cataloochee.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.
