Watch elk, climb ridge on GSMNP day trail

Bugling bull elk at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Photo courtesy of Great Smoky Mountains NPS.

Topo map, Big Fork Ridge Trail.

Reintroduced
animal largest
in NC part of park 

Day hikers can see a rare herd of elk on the Big Fork Ridge Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The 3.6-miles round trip segment of this popular trail sits in the Cataloochee Valley of the park’s North Carolina section. Early morning and dusk during autumn marks the best time to catch the elk and their antics.

To reach the trailhead, from Interstate 40, take Exit 20 onto U.S. Hwy. 276 south. Next, turn right/west onto Cove Creek Road/Hwy. 1395 (in the park, it becomes Old Cataloochee Turnpike). Then go left/west onto Cataloochee Entrance Road; follow that road to its end, where there’s a parking lot for the Big Fork Ridge Trailhead.

Elk meadow
The parking lot faces large meadows where you usually can spot elk. Once a common sight in the southern Appalachian mountains, over-hunting and habitat doomed them. North Carolina has not had any native elk since the late 1700s – until reintroduction efforts began in the park during the early 2000s.

Adult male elk weigh about 600-700 pounds and stand up to 4 feet at the shoulder, easily making them the largest animals in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Female elk average 500 pounds. Be sure to bring binoculars, as the meadow is off limits to people.

September often marks the best time to hike the trail, as the bull elk gather females and the newborns have lost their spots so are easier to see. You may even get to hear a male elk bugling. If you don’t see any elk, they’re probably hanging out in the nearby forest.

After taking in the view of the elk, carefully cross the road, following the trail roughly southeast. The trail immediately crosses the Rough Fork and begins its ascent. Though gradual at first, you’ll gain about 750 feet over the next couple of miles.

The trail heads through a mixed hardwood forest of maples, pine and mountain laurel with rhododendron in the understory, making for a beautiful autumn walk of yellow and red leaves. Along the walk, you may notice a number of dead giant gray trees; these are hemlocks, some standing a hundred feet tall, robbed of life by the hemlock woolly adelgid blight.

Ridge summit
About 0.8 miles in, the trail crosses a stream that flows into Rough Fork.

At 1.8 miles, you’ll reach the summit of Big Fork Ridge at about 3600 feet elevation. There are no views unless hiking late in autumn when the leaves have fallen. The summit marks a good spot to turn back.

You can continue on, however, and many backpackers do as part of a large loop that includes connecting trails. The Big Ridge Trail itself goes down the highlands’ southside through a forest of sassafras and mountain laurel. Along the way, there are good views of Caldwell Fork Valley’s northern end then a crossing of Caldwell Fork. The trail ends at 3.2 miles when it junctions with the Caldwell Fork Trail.

The Big Fork Ridge Trail often is used by horse riders and following a rain can be muddy.

Learn about other great trails at this national park in Best Sights to See at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Best trails for seeing Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s wonders

Mingus Mill. Photo courtesy of Great Smoky Mountains NPS.

Click for interactive map to find trailheads.

Among the best ways to see Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s top sights is via a day hike. Just five short trails will allow you to enjoy each of the park’s highlights – the third highest point this side of the Mississippi, a historic water mill from the 1800s, the tallest concrete dam east of the Rockies, a rare herd of elk, and a scenic waterfalls.

Clingmans Dome
At 6625 feet, Clingmans Dome is the highest point in the national park and anywhere along the 2175-mile Appalachian Trail, as well as the third highest east of the Mississippi River. From its summit on a clear day, hikers can see for more than 100 miles across Tennessee to the north and North Carolina to the south and east. The Clingmans Dome Trail runs 1-mile round trip from the visitor center to the summit, which sports an observation tower on top.

Historic Mingus Mill
Before electricity, people depended upon water wheels to power grist mills. The Mingus Mill, built in 1886, still stands today and can be seen via the Mingus Creek Trail, which heads along its namesake in North Carolina. When done hiking, drive a half-mile south of the trailhead to the Mountain Farm Museum and explore a farmhouse, barn, applehouse, springhouse, and smokehouse also all built in the 19th century.

Fontana Dam
Built only a few decades later than the mill, Fontana Dam rises 480 feet high to impound the Little Tennessee River and ranks as the tallest concrete dam this side of the Rocky Mountains. The Appalachian Trail enters the park near the North Carolina dam. Leave your vehicle in the parking lots for the Fontana Village Resort Marina off of Fontana Dam Road (north of Fontana Road) and walk a segment of the AT north to the dam, for a 3.75-miles round trip.

Elk herd
At one time, elk were common in the southern Appalachian Mountains but were overhunted with the last one killed during the late 1700s. More than two centuries later, 26 elk were transplanted in the national park’s picturesque Cataloochee Valley; today, there are more than 140 in the herd. To see them, bring a binoculars and hike the Big Fork Ridge Trail 1.8 miles (3.6-miles round trip) to its summit, which rises 810 feet above a valley the herd often grazes.

Midnight Hole and Mouse Creek Falls
Among the park’s prettiest stretches of water is a half-mile run of Big Creek in North Carolina. Take the Big Creek Trail on a 4-mile round trip to where the stream spills between two large boulders to form the Midnight Hole, then a half-mile later come to where Mouse Creek empties into Big Creek via a 35-foot waterfalls.

Learn more about national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks guidebook.