Family-friendly walks in the Smokies: Nature trails part 2

Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers more than a dozen family-friendly nature and historic walking trails. They’re perfect for a quick walk in the woods to see the park’s flora, fauna, and remnants of the past.

This is the second in a three-part series of blog posts describing these trails. 

In my last blog, I covered four family-friendly nature trails in the Smokies: Fighting Creek, Sugarlands Valley, Cove Hardwood, and Spruce-Fir. In part two of this series, we’ll look at five more nature trail options your family can explore.

Make sure to tune back in for the third and final part in this series for information on the park’s historic walking trails.

1. Elkmont—Round trip: 0.8 miles

This nature trail starts in the middle of the popular Elkmont Campground. To get there, take the turnoff for the campground from Little River Road, and then take the far-left turn just before the check-in office for the campground. The trailhead is a short distance from here.

The Little River Lumber Company once heavily logged this land. Although new trees have grown to replace the virgin stands the loggers decimated, much evidence remains to tell the tale. Although there are no buildings left from the logging days, look for the stone steps and flagstones near the end of the trail for evidence of what was once here before the national park.

2. Cades Cove—Round trip: 0.5 miles

You’ll find this half-mile nature trail in section C of the Cades Cove Campground. To get there, take the turnoff on the left before the start of the Cades Cove Loop Drive, and then stay right at the split toward the campground (the other way leads to the picnic area). You’ll pass the stables on your right, continuing toward the campground.

Unless you’re camping at Cades Cove, you’ll have to park in the large lot behind the camp store, next to the ranger’s station, and walk the one-quarter mile down the campground road to the trailhead, which is across from campsite 17. (Note: This will actually make for a total hike of one mile.)

Feel free to use the restrooms behind the camp store, which also houses a snack bar if you need quick fortification.

Parts of this trail navigate a fairly steep slope, but you’ll be rewarded for your efforts with a narrow but pleasant view from the top.

3. Cosby—Round trip: 1 mile

This purely magical nature trail sits in the middle of the Cosby Campground. To get there from Sugarlands, drive east from Gatlinburg along US Route 321, the northern boundary of the park. Turn right into the Cosby entrance, eventually passing the trailhead for the Gabes Mountain Trail to Hen Wallow Falls (4.4 miles roundtrip to the falls and back). Immediately after that is the Cosby Picnic Area and then the campground check-in point. Continue to the center of the campground and park at the amphitheater. The trailhead is near the parking lot, by the bridge over Cosby Creek.

If ever there was a fairyland, surely this wooded nature trail hopping over the creek again and again must be it. The trail is certainly blessed with a profusion of wildflowers in the spring. But the moss-covered rocks, trees, and logs and the multiple miscellaneous fingers and rivulets of creek gurgling and bubbling over the river stone on both sides of the winding trail make it enchanting year-round.

You’ll find plenty of odd-looking stilted or tented roots here (for an explanation, see the description of the Spruce-Fir Nature Trail in Part 1), as well as a pile of stones that once was a chimney. You’ll pass an old rock wall or two, and a spring where mountain folk got their water. Across the large bridge near the end, your kids will positively marvel at the hollowed-out stump with holes worn through it, filled with rocks.

4. Balsam Mountain—Round trip: 1 mile

The drive to get to this nature trail is a scenic trip itself. From Oconaluftee Visitor Center, take the Blue Ridge Parkway to milepost 458 and turn left at the big sign for Balsam Mountain onto Heintooga Ridge Road. (Note: This is closed in winter.)

The trailhead is eight miles up the road, just inside the entrance to the Balsam Mountain Campground, next to campsite 44.

During summer, the blackberry bushes along this narrow path (through hardwoods at first and then evergreens) are brimming with sweet treats. This trail isn’t a loop, and the end brings you out of the woods to a spot farther up the road. You can either retrace your steps to return or walk back to the campground via the road.

5. Quiet Walkways 

As you drive on the park’s roads, you’ll see several small signs that say “Quiet Walkway” sprinkled about here and there. Each of these gems offers a quarter-mile to half-mile, fairly level and easy trail that meanders back into the woods and away from the road. There’s no real destination—it’s just a chance to get away from it all. Walk as far as you want, and then turn around and return the way you came. (Note: Some loop back, but not all do.)

You’ll notice that there are only a few parking spots at each Quiet Walkway, ensuring they can’t get crowded. These tiny trails are a great way to get a taste of what it’s like being in the woods and surrounded by nature if you have limited time or energy. They’re also a great way of fitting another short hike into a day of exploring the park.