Parking
Use the roadside pull-off at Bote Mountain Trailhead on Laurel Creek Road, across from Schoolhouse Gap Trail. A parking tag is required for a stay longer than 15 minutes.
Overview
About Bote Mountain Trail
Why go
- Spence Field’s open grassy bald rewards the long climb.
Heads up
- The rocky ascent becomes a long return over the same route.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Great Smoky Mountains map
Full mapElevation1,647–4,902 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
7 active Great Smoky Mountains alerts
- ClosureHurricane Helene trail damage and backcountry restrictionsHurricane Helene damage has restricted backcountry trail access; avoid damaged crossings and observe trail-specific limits.Official details
- CautionBear-related trail, campsite, and road restrictionsBear activity has closed trails, a shelter, and campsites and restricted pedestrian access on Cherokee Orchard Road; stay out of closed areas and follow vehicle-only rules.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide
Your drive to Bote Mountain 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
Schoolhouse Gap Trailhead0:00 / 0:27
“Up ahead is Schoolhouse Gap trailhead, my pick here for a mostly gentle forest walk beside Spence Branch.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- A Mayfly's Longer Life
- Under the Fern Fronds
- Lead Cove and Finley Cane Trailheads
- Tremont and Spruce Flats Falls
- 200 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, 137 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 Bote Mountain Trail
A full-day climb to Spence FieldBote Mountain Trail is a 13.
Bote Mountain Trail is a 13.7-mile out-and-back from Laurel Creek Road to the Appalachian Trail near Spence Field. It climbs roughly 3,500 feet through forest and rocky tread to a high grassy bald at about 4,920 feet. Allow about eight hours; this is a hard, all-day hike, not a short walk to an overlook.
The ridgeThe outbound leg climbs for nearly seven miles, with rocky sections that slow the pace.
The outbound leg climbs for nearly seven miles, with rocky sections that slow the pace. Most of the route is wooded; in winter, leaf drop opens east- and west-facing views along the Bote Mountain ridgeline. Bring enough time for the same long descent on the way back.
Spence FieldAt the upper end, Bote Mountain meets the Appalachian Trail near Spence Field, an open grassy…
At the upper end, Bote Mountain meets the Appalachian Trail near Spence Field, an open grassy meadow high on the ridge. A shelter is nearby on the Appalachian Trail. Continuing toward Thunderhead Mountain or Rocky Top is a separate extension and adds mileage beyond this out-and-back.
A shorter way to see the ridgeThe 6.9-mile Finley Cane–Bote Mountain–Lead Cove loop uses only 2.
The 6.9-mile Finley Cane–Bote Mountain–Lead Cove loop uses only 2.4 miles of Bote Mountain Trail and returns to Laurel Creek Road. It offers a shorter taste of the ridge but does not reach Spence Field.
Start and rulesThe trail begins at the roadside Bote Mountain Trailhead on Laurel Creek Road, across from…
The trail begins at the roadside Bote Mountain Trailhead on Laurel Creek Road, across from Schoolhouse Gap Trail. A parking tag is required for a stay longer than 15 minutes, and pets are not allowed on this trail.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Great Smoky Mountains
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.
