Read an Excerpt
Twentymile Loop
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Trail Use: Day Hiking, Backpacking, Horses
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Length: 7.6 miles, 3.5–4.5 hours
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Vertical Feet: +1,300
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Difficulty: 3
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Trail Type: Loop
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Features: Stream, Waterfalls, Autumn Colors, Wildflowers, Backcountry Camping, Swimming, Secluded
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Facilities: Picnic Tables
Leave a quiet trailhead to circle past Twentymile Cascades. Bisect dry ridges to reach Moore Spring Branch watershed. Numerous footlog bridge stream crossings present panoramas of deep pools and frothier cascades.
Best Time
Late winter and spring offer the most water to enjoy Twentymile Cascades and all the other unnamed falls on Twentymile Creek and Moore Spring Branch. The watersheds are also rich wildflower areas.
Finding the Trail
From the junction of US 321/TN 73 and East Lamar Alexander Parkway in Townsend, Tennessee, take US 321 west and then north 7.5 miles, and exit left (west) onto Foothills Parkway. Follow Foothills Parkway 16.9 miles south to its end at US 129 in Chilhowee. Turn left (south) onto US 129 and follow it 15 winding miles into North Carolina to reach NC 28. Turn left (east) onto NC 28 and follow it 2.6 miles to Twentymile Ranger Station, on your left.
From the intersection of US 19 and Veterans Boulevard in Bryson City, North Carolina, take US 19/US 74 south for 8.8 miles. Then veer right (west) and follow NC 28 for 11.4 miles to the intersection with NC 143. Zero your trip odometer here, and continue 17.7 miles west on NC 28 south to the Twentymile Ranger Station, which will be on your right about 5 miles past the turnoff to Fontana Dam Marina and Visitor Center.
Trail Description
This streamside loop hike never gets too far from the sound of falling water—a key ingredient that makes the Smokies what they are. First, walk along Twentymile Creek, with its big pools that far outsize the amount of water it carries to Cheoah Lake. Stay with the Twentymile Trail, shortly reaching tiered Twentymile Cascades, an accessible waterfall that is fun to play around. Continue up the stream, bridging Twentymile Creek numerous times, getting looks into the fast-dropping stream as it dashes white through a green cathedral. Make a trail junction at now-grown Proctor Field Gap. Veer left on the hiker-only Twentymile Loop Trail, bridging Twentymile Creek one last time. Rise into silent wooded Long Hungry Ridge. Moore Spring Branch, a fine trout stream, serenades your downgrade. A short backtrack leads you to the trailhead.
Start your circuit on the Twentymile Trail on a wide, roadlike path. Twentymile Creek stairsteps south for Cheoah Lake. A forest of beech, black birch, and rhododendron rises from the ferny forest floor. Your hillside vantage allows views into the deep pools of Twentymile Creek, bordered by mossy rocks. The stream carries a higher amount of sediment relative to other Smoky Mountain streams and thus has a brownish tint. The sediment also causes the stream to cloud up after thunderstorms. It doesn’t affect the fishery, though. Feisty rainbow trout can be found in every pool. A skilled angler will have a ball battling these colorful fish. At 0.5 mile, bridge Moore Spring Branch just before it meets Twentymile Creek. Reach a trail junction.
Turn right, staying with Twentymile Trail as the Wolf Ridge Trail, your return route, leaves left. Make a short, quick climb, then reach the spur trail to Twentymile Cascades. From the main path, you can already gain a wide perspective of the cascades as they drop 40 or so feet over a distance of 30 yards, making multiple falls and rock slides into multiple pools divided by multiple ledges. The largest descent is the last one, as the creek pours over a sloped rock slab. Ample dunking pools beckon. Smooth gray sunning rocks give you a spot to dry.
Resume your ascent along Twentymile Creek, which continues splashing over big boulders into shadowy pools, backed against a rising wall of rhododendron. Scan for big boulders scattered in the forest. Bridge the stream at 1.5 miles and then again at 1.7 miles to reach recommended Twentymile Creek backcountry campsite 93, located in a flat on the curve of the stream. The main trail bridges Twentymile Creek again at the upper end of the campsite at 1.8 miles.
Cross a stream flowing out of Turkey Cove at 2.2 miles. Rise deeper into the mountains. Span Twentymile Creek at 2.5 miles, just below a boulder-strewn cascade. Watch for a big gravel bar and pool before bisecting the stream again at 2.6 miles. Here, the path turns away from the creek into piney woods to reach Proctor Field Gap and a trail junction at 3.2 miles. The forest has overtaken the field from which it drew a name. Here, the hiker-only Twentymile Loop Trail leaves left, while the Long Hungry Ridge Trail keeps straight for Campsite 92. The Twentymile Trail leaves right for the Appalachian Trail.
Take the narrow Twentymile Loop Trail as it drifts downhill to bridge an unnamed streamlet. Next, cross Twentymile Creek on a footlog. Here, the force of the stream pounds into a mossy stone bluff, then slows as a pool before pushing over boulders. The path weaves up Long Hungry Ridge in a dry forest of white pine, oak, and hickory. The secluded woodland is an ideal place for contemplative solitude, to absorb the essence of the Southern Appalachians. Split a gap on Long Hungry Ridge at 4.5 miles. Continue in upland forest, and bisect a second gap at 4.9 miles. Views open across the valley of Wolf Ridge.
Descend to reach Moore Spring Branch at 5.8 miles in a rocky glen, where a 5-foot aquatic curtain drops into a deep pool. Turn down Moore Spring Branch and join the Wolf Ridge Trail at 5.9 miles. Keep downstream, bridging Moore Spring Branch on footlogs at 6.0, 6.3, 6.6, 6.7, and 6.8 miles. They are fun to cross because they also give you enhanced vistas into the water. Deep pools, rock slides, and white frothy cascades cloaked in greenery characterize this superlatively scenic Smoky Mountain stream. Pass by a rare-for-the-Smokies dry rock overhang just before your loop ends at 7.1 miles. It’s just a half-mile backtrack to the trailhead.
