Parking
Twentymile Trailhead is at the end of the road beyond Twentymile Ranger Station; the lot is small. A parking tag is required for stays over 15 minutes.
Overview
About Twentymile Loop Trail
Why go
- Mossy cascades, creek corridors, and log bridges
- A complete loop through a remote corner of the park
Heads up
- A four-to-five-hour commitment with a steady climb
- Narrow, muddy, or rocky sections and a few confusing trail splits
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Great Smoky Mountains map
Full mapElevation1,316–2,526 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 Twentymile Loop 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 trailhead
Twentymile Trailhead and Cascade0:00 / 0:27
“You're nearing Twentymile trailhead, where a short creekside hike leads to Twentymile Cascade. Allow about forty-five minutes for roughly a mile and a quarter there and back, mostly on a broad gravel roadbed.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Shuckstack Fire Tower Trailhead
- Fontana Dam
- 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 Twentymile Loop Trail
The full loop, not just the connectorThe 7.6-mile Twentymile loop is a full circuit from the Twentymile Trailhead and back.
The 7.6-mile Twentymile loop is a full circuit from the Twentymile Trailhead and back. It links Twentymile Trail, Wolf Ridge Trail, and the trail actually named Twentymile Loop Trail; that last one is a connector, not a loop on its own. Allow about 4.5 hours for a moderate half-day hike. The mapped line measures about 7.64 miles, while some hike descriptions round the loop to about eight.
Across Wolf RidgeThe route starts on a broad gravel roadbed beside a mountain stream and reaches its first…
The route starts on a broad gravel roadbed beside a mountain stream and reaches its first junction after about half a mile. Turn onto Wolf Ridge, which climbs through shaded hardwoods. It crosses Moore Springs Branch several times on narrow log bridges. Unmarked horse fords near some bridges can look like tempting branches, so stay on the marked main trail.
The connector and creek returnThe named Twentymile Loop Trail connector narrows, with muddy and rocky stretches.
The named Twentymile Loop Trail connector narrows, with muddy and rocky stretches. After it joins Twentymile Trail, the return is wider and less undulating, following Twentymile Creek past smaller cascades before retracing the short approach to the trailhead. The payoff is a long, shaded walk along two creeks rather than one single overlook.
Add the waterfall as a short detourTwentymile Cascade is reached by a separate 1.
Twentymile Cascade is reached by a separate 1.2-mile round-trip walk from the lot: follow the first half-mile to the junction, then take Wolf Ridge and the short footpath to the right near the first bridge. That outing shares part of the loop's approach; the exact extra distance when added during the full circuit is not published. The cascade is a series of drops over mossy rock ledges. For a phone photo, stay at the established access and include the mossy ledges in the foreground; the closer downstream view requires leaving the path through brush.
Parking, pets, and what to carryTwentymile Trailhead is at the end of the road just beyond Twentymile Ranger Station.
Twentymile Trailhead is at the end of the road just beyond Twentymile Ranger Station. The lot is small, and a parking tag is required for stays over 15 minutes. Pets are not allowed on park trails. No food, drinking-water source, or restroom was confirmed on the route; the nearest listed restrooms are near Deep Creek or outside the park, so bring water and food and use facilities before the drive in.
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.
