Parking
Start at the Little Cataloochee trailhead off Mount Sterling Road; the approach uses gravel roads. Follow Little Cataloochee about a mile to Long Bunk. A parking tag is required for stays longer than 15 minutes.
Overview
About Long Bunk Trail
Why go
- Hannah Cemetery and homestead remains add real history to the woods.
Heads up
- About a mile of approach each way comes before Long Bunk begins.
- Two rock-hop crossings and a steep climb make the far end more demanding.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Great Smoky Mountains map
Full mapElevation3,005–4,278 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 Long Bunk 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
The Sycamore's Patchwork0:00 / 0:28
“White branches above a patchwork trunk are a good clue to an American sycamore. These trees often grow beside streams, where their outer bark flakes away to reveal patches of brown, gray and creamy white.”
Plays on the road 0.5 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Guests Before the Park
- The Opossum's Bundle
- Mount Sterling Gap Trailhead
- Two Baskets in One
- 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 Long Bunk Trail
A full day in CataloocheeLong Bunk Trail is an out-and-back from the Little Cataloochee trailhead on Mount Sterling Road.
Long Bunk Trail is an out-and-back from the Little Cataloochee trailhead on Mount Sterling Road. Follow Little Cataloochee about a mile to Long Bunk, then continue roughly 3.6 miles to the Mount Sterling Trail junction and turn around. The complete walk is about 9.2 miles round trip; allow around six hours. It is moderate but long, mostly wooded, and best for hikers who want a full day among Cataloochee’s old home sites and creek hollows.
Find the right junctionThe first mile is on Little Cataloochee Trail, so count it both ways.
The first mile is on Little Cataloochee Trail, so count it both ways. At the junction, turn uphill and right onto Long Bunk. Continue to its meeting with Mount Sterling Trail, then retrace the same corridor. The route’s payoff is the old-settlement landscape and the walk through the coves, not a single summit destination.
Cemetery and hardwoodsAbout a quarter-mile after the Long Bunk junction, a fenced cemetery holds more than 50 markers.
About a quarter-mile after the Long Bunk junction, a fenced cemetery holds more than 50 markers. Past it, an old roadbed narrows to singletrack and passes home-site traces and an oak grove. One stretch is relatively level; after acorns, hickory nuts, and buckeyes fall, they can roll underfoot, so take care on the leaf-covered tread.
Correll Branch CoveA short steep climb reaches Dude Branch, followed by a narrower, rolling section.
A short steep climb reaches Dude Branch, followed by a narrower, rolling section. Near mile three on Long Bunk, the path crests an oak ridge and drops into Correll Branch Cove. It crosses two forks of Correll Branch by rock hops, with a grassy cove between them, then climbs steeply for about a quarter-mile to Mount Sterling Trail. Stone foundations and a spring house from the David Nelson homestead remain near the cove.
Access and trail rulesStart at the Little Cataloochee trailhead off Mount Sterling Road; the approach uses gravel…
Start at the Little Cataloochee trailhead off Mount Sterling Road; the approach uses gravel roads, and Long Bunk itself begins about a mile into the walk. The park requires a parking tag for stays longer than 15 minutes. Hikers and horses are both permitted here, but pets are prohibited on this trail. Food, drinking water, and toilets were not verified at the trailhead or on route, so carry what you need for the full outing.
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.
