Parking
Start at the Indian Gap parking area on Kuwohi Road, beside the Appalachian Trail. Kuwohi Road is seasonal and can close early for snow or ice. The other end meets Chimney Tops Trail; its road parking is about another mile along that trail.
Overview
About Road Prong Trail
Why go
- A surviving mountain turnpike gives the creek walk a story
- Indian Gap access also meets the Appalachian Trail
Heads up
- Loose rocks and repeated crossings make footing slow
- A through-hike needs a shuttle; the return to Indian Gap climbs
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Great Smoky Mountains map
Full mapElevation3,904–5,335 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 Road Prong 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 Beetle That Clicks Upright0:00 / 0:29
“A click beetle can get back on its feet by throwing itself into the air. It has a peg and a little ledge on the underside of its body.”
Plays on the road 0.1 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Luftee Overlook
- Spruce-Fir Nature Trail
- Newfound Gap and the Rockefeller Memorial
- Alum Cave Trailhead
- 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 Road Prong Trail
What this walk isRoad Prong Trail is a rough 2.
Road Prong Trail is a rough 2.4-mile, one-way route between Indian Gap and the Chimney Tops Trail, following a high-elevation creek corridor along part of the old Oconaluftee Turnpike. It’s point to point, not a loop. With a shuttle, it makes a compact but rugged creek walk; without one, turn around for about 4.8 miles total. From Indian Gap the trail drops roughly 1,400 feet and takes about two hours one way. The return climbs that same grade.
Creek crossings set the paceThe upper stretch runs between Sugarland Mountain and Mingus Lead through dense, high-elevation…
The upper stretch runs between Sugarland Mountain and Mingus Lead through dense, high-elevation forest over loose rock. After about half a mile, the trail starts crossing Road Prong repeatedly, then crosses a tributary and passes Indian Grave Flats. One broad crossing has no footlog; after it, the trail reaches Beech Flats and joins the Chimney Tops Trail. High water can make that crossing unsafe, so don’t treat the short mileage as an easy stroll.
A road through the SmokiesThe trail follows surviving sections of the Oconaluftee Turnpike, a rough wagon road built…
The trail follows surviving sections of the Oconaluftee Turnpike, a rough wagon road built across Indian Gap in the 1830s along an older Cherokee route. It carried livestock over the crest before Newfound Gap Road became the main way through. The old route gives this walk a little more story than a creek hike alone.
Plan around the trailheadsIndian Gap has a roomy parking area beside the Appalachian Trail, reached by Kuwohi Road.
Indian Gap has a roomy parking area beside the Appalachian Trail, reached by Kuwohi Road. That road is seasonal and can close early for snow or ice, so check its status before driving up. At the other end, Road Prong meets Chimney Tops Trail; the Chimney Tops road parking is about another mile along that trail, so a through-hike needs a shuttle. Dogs aren’t allowed on this trail.
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.
