Parking
Park at Sugarlands Visitor Center and walk behind the building, past the restrooms and brick headquarters, to the Gatlinburg Trail. A parking tag is required for visits longer than 15 minutes.
Overview
About Gatlinburg Trail
Why go
- Riverside forest walk with a footbridge and historic stone chimneys
- Dogs and bicycles are allowed
Heads up
- Sidewalk and roadside approach from Sugarlands
- Roots, rocks and a few steeper sections interrupt the mostly easy tread
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Great Smoky Mountains map
Full mapElevation1,334–1,465 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 Gatlinburg 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
Sugarlands Visitor Center0:00 / 0:34
“You're coming up on Sugarlands Visitor Center, a useful stop if you want help choosing a walk that fits your day.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Sugarlands Riding Stables
- Sugarlands Valley Nature Trail
- A Bear Den Above the Ground
- Taking Attendance in the Smokies
- 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 Gatlinburg Trail
Easy miles beside the riverGatlinburg Trail is a shared out-and-back from Sugarlands Visitor Center to River Road at…
Gatlinburg Trail is a shared out-and-back from Sugarlands Visitor Center to River Road at Gatlinburg’s edge. It is about 4 miles round trip, or roughly 1.9 miles each way, and takes around 1.5–2 hours at an unhurried pace. Expect a mostly level walk through cove hardwood forest, with a few short steeper stretches.
The Sugarlands approachPark at Sugarlands Visitor Center and walk behind the building, past the restrooms and brick…
Park at Sugarlands Visitor Center and walk behind the building, past the restrooms and brick headquarters, to the trailhead. Sidewalk and roadside sections lead toward the North District Maintenance Center; beyond it the route becomes a wide, graded dirt path. The map line begins on Park Headquarters Road about 175 meters from the Visitor Center point, so follow the signed approach for that short access segment.
River, footbridge and chimneysThe wooded section runs beside the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River.
The wooded section runs beside the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River. A pedestrian footbridge and historic stone chimneys are among the things to look for along the way. At River Road, turn around and return on the same path.
Footing and trail rulesThe tread shifts from paved sidewalk and roadside to crushed stone and uneven dirt, with…
The tread shifts from paved sidewalk and roadside to crushed stone and uneven dirt, with exposed roots, occasional rocks and a few steeper sections. Dogs are allowed, and bicycles share the route. It is not ADA accessible.
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.
