Noland Creek Trail

Noland Creek Trail is an 18.3-mile out-and-back from Lakeview Drive to the Noland Divide Trail junction and back. It follows a former gravel road beside Noland Creek and climbs about 2,300 feet toward the divide. The road is broad and the grade is steady, but 9.1 miles each way makes this a hard, all-day hike; plan around 12 hours and turn around earlier if that is too much.

From the Noland Creek Trailhead, the route quickly leaves the road and follows the wooded creek corridor. The old gravel tread is easier underfoot than a narrow mountain path, with sycamore and beech along the water and several bridges across the creek. It keeps climbing toward the upper junction rather than making a short loop; the return is the same way.

The valley holds quiet traces of the communities that lived here before the park: boxwoods mark an old homesite, and a narrow, steep side path reaches a cemetery. Farther along are the concrete base and supports of a small hydroelectric plant, a school site, a stone wall and Branton Cemetery, where 29 graves are recorded. These remnants are easy to pass, so slow down when you reach them and stay on established paths.

Lakeview Drive is the unfinished North Shore road often called the Road to Nowhere. The planned road ended in the backcountry after Fontana Dam flooded North Shore communities; the trail follows part of that old access corridor.

A local route account describes an 8.4-mile round trip to Campsite 64 as a shorter northern outing. The separate walk south from Lakeview Drive toward Fontana Lake is about 2 miles round trip, but high lake water can cover its creek-mouth approach. That is a different direction from the mapped northern hike, and the shoreline is not a dependable through-route.

Start at the paved Noland Creek Trailhead parking area on Lakeview Drive; accessible spaces are available. Food, potable water and toilets were not verified at the trailhead, so carry what you need for the day. Dogs are not allowed on this trail. Overnight stays at backcountry campsites require a reservation and permit; those rules do not describe a day hike.