Another Gatlinburg trail, that is in relative close proximity to the popular Smoky Mountain vacation town, the Huskey Gap Trail is a moderate 4.1 miles from Newfound Gap Road to the Little River Trail.
It’s a great trail if you’re just looking to get out in the woods for a bit, but you want to stay close to town.
Reaching the trailhead, all it takes a trip down Newfound Gap Road for 1.5 miles. You’ll be traveling southward from the Sugarlands Visitor Center and can park at the second quiet walkway that you come to on the left. The trailhead is across the road.
As you start out, notice the rock wall that follows the trail on the right and just below the path. As you’ve probably already guessed, this was once a Smoky Mountain homesite linking these dwellings to the Sugarlands community. This a wonderful trail to hike in the spring time as wildflowers align both sides of the path before you begin the upward hike.
Flint Rock Branch can be heard as you move along the trail, which you must pass over soon. Once you’ve reached that point, you can catch some great shots of Mount Harrison, English Mountain, and Mount LeConte to your right.
Approaching Huskey Gap, you can look off the trail and spot Gatlinburg and all the cabins and chalets that surround the popular Smoky Mountain town. Old Huskey Gap Road lies right below the gap on the right as you move on. Around the turn of the previous century, the Huskey Gap school even operated in this area educating children who lived in the Sugarland Branch community.
The Huskey Gap trail was a popular route for early Smokies settlers who worked in the Little River Lumber Camps. Soon you’ll pass the trail’s junction with the Sugarland Mountain Trail. You’ll soon cross Big Medicine Branch, then the trail will level off and make a more gradual decent to Little River where you’ll cross over a dry stream bed.
Backcountry campsite No. 21 comes up on the left moving along. Reservations are required to camp at this backcountry site. A few more steps and you’ve reached the junction with the Little River Trail and the completion of the Husky Gap Trail. Let us know your experiences on the Huskey Gap Trail in the comment section below. We’d love to hear them!