Parking
Start at Caldwell Fork Trailhead just beyond Cataloochee Campground. The loop begins with about 0.8 mile on the Caldwell Fork approach before the Boogerman junction.
Overview
About Boogerman Loop Trail
Why go
- Old-growth tulip-poplars, white pines and eastern hemlocks.
- Palmer and Carson Messer homestead traces add a human history layer.
Heads up
- Repeated, sometimes muddy creek crossings make the loop slower than its mileage suggests.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Great Smoky Mountains map
Full mapElevation2,730–3,688 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
7 active Great Smoky Mountains alerts
- 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
- CautionBear-related trail, road, shelter, and campsite restrictionsBear activity has closed trails, a shelter, and campsites and restricted pedestrian access on Cherokee Orchard Road; follow the vehicle restrictions and avoid closed areas.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide
Your drive to Boogerman Loop 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 trailhead
Cataloochee Campground and Caldwell Fork0:00 / 0:34
“You're nearing Cataloochee Campground and the Caldwell Fork trailhead. The campground has just twenty-seven sites, a good fit for a quiet night in the valley if you're happy without showers or hookups.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Jarvis Palmer House
- A Turnpike Full of Hooves
- Palmer Chapel
- Beech Grove School
- 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 Boogerman Loop Trail
What you getBoogerman Loop is a roughly 7.
Boogerman Loop is a roughly 7.5-mile loop from Caldwell Fork Trailhead, joining an old-growth stretch of Boogerman Trail with a creek-side return on Caldwell Fork. Allow about five hours for moderate hiking. There is a short steep climb, and repeated crossings slow the pace; the draw is the giant trees and traces of mountain homesteads.
Follow the loop in sequenceFrom the trailhead, follow the broad, fairly level Caldwell Fork approach about 0.
From the trailhead, follow the broad, fairly level Caldwell Fork approach about 0.8 mile to the first Boogerman junction and turn left. Boogerman climbs early, then briefly steepens again near its middle. Around 2.3 miles from the start, it passes Robert Palmer's former homesite. At about 4.7 miles, it descends to Caldwell Fork; turn right for the return. You reach the first junction again around 6.5 miles, then retrace the short approach to the trailhead.
The old-growth standWhite pine, yellow-poplar and eastern hemlock are among the large trees along Boogerman Trail.
White pine, yellow-poplar and eastern hemlock are among the large trees along Boogerman Trail. Many hemlocks have been killed or weakened by hemlock woolly adelgid. Robert Palmer, whose childhood nickname inspired the trail's name, reportedly turned down lumber-company offers to log his land, leaving this pocket of old forest standing.
Traces of earlier homesThe route passes Palmer's homesite, then a long stone wall from the Carson Messer homestead,…
The route passes Palmer's homesite, then a long stone wall from the Carson Messer homestead, roughly 70 to 80 feet long and about three feet high. Other walls remain farther down. They are the quiet remnants of valley homes, easy to pass if you focus only on the tread.
The Caldwell Fork returnThe return follows the stream and crosses Caldwell Fork repeatedly, with more unbridged…
The return follows the stream and crosses Caldwell Fork repeatedly, with more unbridged crossings on Snake Branch. Horse fords branch off some hiker crossings, and the tread can be muddy. At one short stretch the path follows the creek bed for about 50 feet before picking up again on the opposite bank.
Access and rulesStart at Caldwell Fork Trailhead just beyond Cataloochee Campground. The route includes about 0.
Start at Caldwell Fork Trailhead just beyond Cataloochee Campground. The route includes about 0.8 mile of approach to the Boogerman junction and the same path at the end. Pets are not allowed on this trail.
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.
