Parking
Beech Gap Trailhead Parking #2 is on Straight Fork Road at Round Bottom; a short access spur meets the east arm. A parking tag is required for stays longer than 15 minutes.
Overview
About Beech Gap I Trail
Why go
- Connects directly to Balsam Mountain Trail.
Heads up
- The outbound leg is a steady climb.
- Loose stones can disappear under autumn leaves.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Great Smoky Mountains map
Full mapElevation3,192–5,112 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
7 active Great Smoky Mountains alerts
- ClosureStraight Fork and Heintooga Round Bottom roads closedMentions Straight Fork, referenced in this guideStraight Fork Road and the one-way section of Balsam Mountain Road (Heintooga Round Bottom Road) are closed.Official details
- ClosureHurricane Helene backcountry trail closures and hazardsHurricane Helene damage has closed backcountry trails and left hazardous crossings; avoid closed routes and heed trail-specific restrictions.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide
Your drive to Beech Gap I Trail, narrated.
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
Margaret Stevenson's Mountain0:00 / 0:29
“Margaret Stevenson hiked to Mount Le Conte seven hundred eighteen times. She was forty-eight when she made her first recorded trip, in nineteen sixty.”
Plays on the road 0.3 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Jay’s Hidden Acorns
- Hyatt Ridge Trailhead
- A Tiny Frog with a Big Voice
- The Magnolia with Ears
- 188 audio storiesacross Great Smoky Mountains’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Black Bear, Elk, Bald Eagle, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 197 trails, 100 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“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!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Beech Gap I Trail
The east arm to Balsam Mountain TrailBeech Gap I is the east arm of Beech Gap Trail: a five-mile out-and-back from Round Bottom to…
Beech Gap I is the east arm of Beech Gap Trail: a five-mile out-and-back from Round Bottom to the junction with Balsam Mountain Trail, with about 1,900 feet of climbing. Allow roughly four hours. The outward leg is a sustained woods climb, so choose it for a longer mountain walk rather than a quick stop.
Stay on the Beech Gap treadThe path follows an old railroad grade briefly, then turns sharply right and climbs.
The path follows an old railroad grade briefly, then turns sharply right and climbs. Keep to the Beech Gap tread; the old grade runs toward Straight Fork and is not the route to Balsam Mountain Trail. Turn around at the junction and retrace the same corridor. Loose rocks can hide beneath fallen leaves on the descent, so slow down when leaf cover obscures the tread.
Trailhead and rulesStart at Beech Gap Trailhead Parking 2 on Straight Fork Road in Round Bottom.
Start at Beech Gap Trailhead Parking #2 on Straight Fork Road in Round Bottom. A park parking tag is required for vehicles parked longer than 15 minutes. Dogs are prohibited on this route. Food, drinking water and toilets were not confirmed at the lot or along the walk, so bring what you need.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Great Smoky Mountains
1,566 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
899 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.
