Noland Divide Trail

Noland Divide Trail is an 11.5-mile point-to-point route from Deep Creek to Kuwohi Road. It climbs from the lower end through Noland Divide and Beaugard Ridge into high spruce-fir country. Expect about 4,800 feet of climbing and allow 6½ to 7 hours on foot, plus a car shuttle. The 6.7-mile Lonesome Pine walk is a separate out-and-back that uses the lower part of this trail and turns around at the overlook.

Start at the Noland Divide Trailhead in Deep Creek, across from the bridge into Deep Creek Campground; the trail parking is by the horse-trailer lot. The other end is a small roadside pull-off on Kuwohi Road, so arrange a pickup or leave a second car. Keep the NPS gate clear there. Kuwohi Road closes to vehicles in winter and can close when conditions are hazardous. Dogs aren’t allowed on this trail, and horses use it too.

The Deep Creek approach starts gently, then climbs steeply for nearly two miles. It crosses a tributary of Juney Whank Branch, winds into a narrow hollow, and switchbacks back out to Beaugard Ridge. This is the part to take steadily; the ridge and overlook are still ahead.

The ridge has several openings, then narrows to a spine near Lonesome Pine Overlook. A short spur reaches the wooded knob, but trees break up the summit view. The clearer look is often from the open ridge just below it, where the Nantahala Mountains rise beyond the Tuckasegee River valley and Bryson City.

Beyond the overlook, the trail crosses a wet stretch and descends to Lower Sassafras Gap, then drops to Upper Sassafras Gap and the Noland Creek Trail junction. From there it climbs steeply through rhododendron and laurel before the crest widens near a stand of fir. The route is not a steady climb: expect more ups and downs before reaching the road.

The upper end passes through spruce-fir forest and follows an old roadbed by a former pump station and an air-quality monitoring station. A state champion yellow birch grows just off the trail near the road end. The ridge separates the Deep Creek and Noland Creek watersheds, and a park field study recorded a previously unreported iron-loving lichen on one of its rock outcrops.

If you can reach Kuwohi Road but don’t have a shuttle, a roughly 4-mile round trip to the Roundtop Knob area and back samples the gentler upper section. It doesn’t reach Deep Creek or Lonesome Pine, and depends on the road being open.