Parking
Use the Kanati Fork Trailhead parking area on Newfound Gap Road; look for the Quiet Walkway marker beside the lot.
Overview
About Kanati Fork Quiet Walkway
Why go
- A quick route to Beech Flats Prong
- A small footbridge makes the short woodland walk distinctive.
Heads up
- The mapped walk is brief and returns along the same path.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Great Smoky Mountains map
Full mapElevation2,897–2,930 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 Kanati Fork Quiet Walkway, 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
Kanati Fork Trailhead and Quiet Walkway0:00 / 0:29
“Kanati Fork trailhead is ahead, a stop to consider for spring wildflowers, especially in April. Trilliums and trout lilies grow along the lower miles, so you can turn back before committing to the full climb.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Kephart Prong Trailhead
- A Flower with Ten Catapults
- Gliding Through the Dark
- A Stone Case That Walks
- 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 Kanati Fork Quiet Walkway
A very short streamside walkKanati Fork Quiet Walkway is an easy out-and-back from the Kanati Fork Trailhead area on…
Kanati Fork Quiet Walkway is an easy out-and-back from the Kanati Fork Trailhead area on Newfound Gap Road to Beech Flats Prong. The mapped path is about 0.18 mile each way; retracing it makes the visit about 0.37 mile round trip. Allow roughly 15 minutes with a brief pause at the water. It is a quick forest break, not a substantial hike.
Follow the footbridgeLook for the Quiet Walkway marker beside the parking area.
Look for the Quiet Walkway marker beside the parking area. Several stone steps descend to a natural-surface path and a small wooden footbridge. At the fork, the left branch wanders briefly to a wooded dead end; the right continues toward the prong. The steps and uneven tread may be awkward for some walkers.
Where the water goesThe walkway reaches Beech Flats Prong just above its confluences with Kanati Fork and Kephart…
The walkway reaches Beech Flats Prong just above its confluences with Kanati Fork and Kephart Prong; downstream, the prong becomes the Oconaluftee River. Spring visits may bring painted trilliums along the route. This is a gentle alternative to the much steeper Kanati Fork Trail across the road. Dogs are not allowed on this trail; only the Gatlinburg and Oconaluftee River trails permit leashed pets.
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.
