Parking
Park at Rough Fork Trailhead at the dead end of Cataloochee Road, past the campground, ranger station, Messer Barn and Palmer Chapel. A parking tag is required for stays longer than 15 minutes.
Overview
About Rough Fork Trail to Steve Woody House
Why go
- A mostly level creekside path ends at a real Cataloochee homestead.
Heads up
- A couple of narrow footlog crossings demand careful footing.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Great Smoky Mountains map
Full mapElevation2,827–2,969 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 Rough Fork Trail to Steve Woody House, 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
Rough Fork Trailhead and Steve Woody House0:00 / 0:23
“Up ahead is Rough Fork Trailhead, for a creekside walk to Steve Woody House. The two-mile round trip takes about an hour to an hour and a half, on a broad, mostly level path with a couple of narrow log footbridges.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Caldwell Place
- Beech Grove School
- Palmer Chapel
- Cataloochee Campground and Caldwell Fork
- 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 Rough Fork Trail to Steve Woody House
The short walk to Woody HouseRough Fork Trail to Steve Woody House is a 2-mile out-and-back from Rough Fork Trailhead at the…
Rough Fork Trail to Steve Woody House is a 2-mile out-and-back from Rough Fork Trailhead at the end of Cataloochee Road. The wide, well-graded path follows a mountain stream through hardwood forest before coming out in open fields around the old Woody homesite. Allow about 1 to 1.5 hours with time to look around. It is a good choice if you want an easy valley walk with a real destination rather than a long climb.
This listing ends at the house. Rough Fork continues beyond the homesite toward Polls Gap, so treat that continuation as a much longer trip.
Along the creekThe natural-surface path stays broad and mostly level beneath the hardwoods.
The natural-surface path stays broad and mostly level beneath the hardwoods. Rough Fork Creek is the thread to follow, with a couple of crossings on narrow log footbridges. Those crossings take more care than the grade; check current park notices before setting out because storm damage can change them.
The Woody homesiteThe white house stands in open Cataloochee fields after the forested approach.
The white house stands in open Cataloochee fields after the forested approach. The former homestead also had a barn, chicken house, tool house, canning house, spring house and woodshed. At the clearing, step back enough to include the house and treeline in one photo; that shows the open setting that makes this feel like a destination, not just a creek walk.
Parking and rulesFollow Cataloochee Road past the campground, ranger station, Messer Barn and Palmer Chapel to…
Follow Cataloochee Road past the campground, ranger station, Messer Barn and Palmer Chapel to its dead end, where the Rough Fork Trailhead parking area begins. A parking tag is required if you park for more than 15 minutes. Dogs are not allowed on this trail. The nearest restroom is at Cataloochee Campground, which closes seasonally. Check park notices for current road access and trail conditions.
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.
