Parking
Start at Twentymile Trailhead beyond Twentymile Ranger Station. A parking tag is required if your vehicle stays longer than 15 minutes.
Overview
About Wolf Ridge Trail to Sheep Pen Gap
Why go
- Parson Bald opens a view toward Gregory Bald.
- Creek crossings add variety to the shaded lower miles.
Heads up
- A long, steep climb with the full route to retrace on the way back.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Great Smoky Mountains map
Full mapElevation1,447–4,724 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 Wolf Ridge Trail to Sheep Pen Gap, 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
- 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 Wolf Ridge Trail to Sheep Pen Gap
Is this your hike?From Twentymile Trailhead, Wolf Ridge is a hard, forested out-and-back to Sheep Pen Gap: about…
From Twentymile Trailhead, Wolf Ridge is a hard, forested out-and-back to Sheep Pen Gap: about 6.8 miles one way and 13.7 miles round trip. Allow about 9 hours for the sustained climb and return. The route follows the Twentymile access trail for roughly 0.6 mile before joining Wolf Ridge, then turns around where Wolf Ridge meets Gregory Bald Trail. It does not reach Gregory Bald. Pets are prohibited on this trail, and a parking tag is required if your vehicle stays more than 15 minutes.
Along the creekThe lower Wolf Ridge section crosses Moore Spring Branch several times on footbridges, then…
The lower Wolf Ridge section crosses Moore Spring Branch several times on footbridges, then reaches Twentymile Loop. Past that junction the trail follows Dalton Branch, passes a spur for campsite 95 and then leaves the creek for the ridge climb. This part of the route has the most frequent junctions; follow Wolf Ridge toward Sheep Pen Gap rather than turning onto the loop.
The ridge and Sheep Pen GapThe climb steepens after Dalton Branch and uses several switchbacks on the way to Parson Bald,…
The climb steepens after Dalton Branch and uses several switchbacks on the way to Parson Bald, at about 4,732 feet. The small summit has a view toward Gregory Bald to the northeast. From there the route drops about 130 feet toward Sheep Pen Gap, then climbs again to the Gregory Bald Trail junction beside campsite 13, around 4,640 feet. Turn around here for the mapped out-and-back.
If you want Gregory BaldGregory Bald Trail continues east about 0.4 mile to the open grassy summit.
Gregory Bald Trail continues east about 0.4 mile to the open grassy summit. Going there and back adds roughly 0.8 mile; the summit is about 4,949 feet, with flame azaleas blooming in late June. NPS also describes a separate 17.5-mile loop through Twentymile, Appalachian, Gregory Bald and Wolf Ridge trails; that is a different route from the out-and-back mapped here.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Great Smoky Mountains
1,567 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.
