Great Smoky Mountains National Park, TN · NC
Rhododendron, a spring crossing, and old forest on a ridge connector.
Overview
Map & elevation
Plan your hike
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide
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
Cades Cove Picnic Area“Ahead is Cades Cove Picnic Area, at the entrance to the one-way loop road. I'd use it for a lunch break under the trees, with tables between Abrams Creek and Green Branch Creek.”
Plays on the road 1.1 mi from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“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
Scott Mountain Trail is a 3.76-mile, one-way connector between the Crooked Arm Ridge/Indian Grave Gap junction and the Schoolhouse Gap/Chestnut Top junction. It crosses a wooded ridge, a former power-line clearing and rhododendron, then drops past Campsite 6 and a small spring toward Whiteoak Sink. Allow about 2.5 hours for the named segment alone; the approach from Cades Cove and a ride or return connection add time. It makes the most sense as part of a longer hike, not as a short walk from a car park. Dogs are not allowed on this trail.
West to east, the route loses about 1,200 feet overall, with a small rise near the start and rolling ground before the longer descent. Expect wooded tread, narrow and eroded patches, a small spring crossing that calls for a rock-hop, and switchbacks as the path drops from the ridge. Near its end it follows the park boundary past homes outside the park. There are few open views; the most noticeable one is a brief look toward the ridges through the trees near Schoolhouse Gap.
The lower part of the route reaches Whiteoak Sink, known for spring wildflowers and a small waterfall. The power-line clearing near Campsite 6 recalls the corridor that once carried electricity toward Cades Cove; nearby woods also regrew after early twentieth-century logging. Stay on the established tread around the sink, and treat the nearby cave as off-route rather than part of the hike.
Wildlife
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.
Keep exploring
ChallengingRocky Top and Thunderhead Mountain Trail13.9 mi · 9.5 hr · 1.1 mi awayA steep day to Rocky Top and Thunderhead's quiet high point.ChallengingSpence Field and Russell Field Loop13.2 mi · 8 hr · 1.1 mi awayA strenuous loop from Anthony Creek to two high Smokies meadows.
ChallengingCrooked Arm Ridge Trail4.3 mi · 3.5 hr · 1.1 mi awaySteep forest gives way to a late view into Cades Cove
ModerateRich Mountain Loop Trail8.5 mi · 5 hr · 1.1 mi awayAn 8.5-mile loop with a cove view and a waterfall finish
EasyCades Cove Horse Trail2.3 mi · 1.5 hr · 1.2 mi awayA wooded point-to-point trail shared with horses.
ChallengingRussell Field Trail9.6 mi · 6.5 hr · 1.3 mi awayA steep climb to a small meadow reclaimed by forest.
ModerateAnthony Creek Trail7 mi · 4.5 hr · 1.3 mi awayA shaded creek climb to the Bote Mountain junction.
EasyCades Cove Nature Trail0.8 mi · 30 min · 1.5 mi awayA shaded sub-mile loop with a creek crossing.
Picnic area · 1.1 mi awayCades Cove Picnic AreaCreekside lunch tables and charcoal grills at the loop entrance.
Sight · 1.2 mi awayCades Cove Riding StablesA horse, carriage or hayride gives the cove a different pace.
Store · 1.3 mi awayCades Cove Campground StoreBike rentals, camp supplies and soft-serve before the loop.
Campground · 1.3 mi awayCades Cove CampgroundA woodland base for the cove's historic loop and wildlife.
Sight · 1.7 mi awayJohn Oliver CabinA short walk to Cades Cove’s oldest preserved cabin.
Sight · 2.8 mi awayCarter Shields CabinA last-loop homestead cabin with a stream just behind it.
Sight · 2.9 mi awayCades Cove Primitive Baptist ChurchA hand-built 1887 church beside the cove’s oldest cemetery.
Sight · 2.9 mi awayCades Cove Methodist ChurchA modest church with two doors and one surprising congregation story.Parkwolf’s Great Smoky Mountains ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
