Ben Anderson photo
Walking Across the Old North State
The weathered trail sign for Fork Ridge Trail is just a few steps from Clingmans Dome Road.
North Carolina’s wondrously diverse Mountains-to-Sea Trail zigs and zags nearly 1,200 miles, from Clingmans Dome in Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Jockey’s Ridge on the Outer Banks. It offers quite a journey across the Old North State, one that actually stretches more than half the entire distance of the Appalachian Trail from north Georgia to central Maine.
The first (westernmost) 3½ miles piggyback the AT northbound before taking a right across Clingmans Dome Road to follow a path that itself is remarkably diverse, especially for its short length: Fork Ridge Trail. The trailhead also marks what is currently the longest section of the entire MST lacking nearby road access: almost 23 miles in the Smokies’ deep woods.
At a soaring elevation of 5,880 feet, the Fork Ridge trailhead is among the highest in the Smokies park. But be aware that the trail loses elevation fairly rapidly, dropping all the way to about 3,000 feet in its roughly 5-mile descent to storied Deep Creek. Hiking the entire route out and back easily qualifies as a strenuous hike, so you may wish to hike only a piece of it—a worthwhile outing nonetheless, particularly since summertime temps likely won’t rise much until you have dipped below about 4,500 feet elevation.
The name Fork Ridge is quite common in the southern Appalachian Mountains. This one comes by its name honestly, as the steep ridge falling from the Smokies crest separates the Left Fork of Deep Creek from the main stem itself. Although it courses through rugged terrain, Fork Ridge Trail is generally well graded and easily traversed, though you may encounter blowdowns at any given time. The weather and winds this high up can be fierce, wreaking havoc especially on shallow-rooted trees. You also may find the trail to be wet and not just rocky as you begin your descent, no surprise since the path pierces a temperate rain forest with annual precipitation approaching 90 inches or more in the wettest of years.
Ben Anderson photo
Walking Across the Old North State
Spruce and fir trees along the trail are often bathed in clouds.
The hike begins in spruce-fir country, an ecosystem found in only a few high-elevation pockets of the southern Appalachians. Below 5,500 feet, reached in a short distance, Fraser fir trees will become scarce and soon give way altogether to red spruce and northern hardwoods, beautiful trees themselves. Fraser firs have been under attack in the park by the balsam woolly adelgid since the early 1960s, though in recent years younger firs seem to have been thriving and perhaps developing resistance to their deadly nemesis. Acid precipitation likely hastened the demise of many older firs as they are frequently bathed in clouds.
As the trail continues descending to roughly 4,000 feet elevation, passing through some beech stands, you might hear the faint sound of a little-seen, but well-chronicled, tributary of Deep Creek’s Left Fork: Keg Drive Branch. During the merciless Trail of Tears, Cherokee fugitive Tsali temporarily eluded capture by federal troops by reputedly hiding beneath a large rock overhang along Keg Drive Branch, in the rough terrain below the present-day Fork Ridge Trail. (Although stories differ on the origin of the branch’s name, it’s safe to say that the Left Fork tributary didn’t get its name from a fraternity keg party.) Because it’s no easier to reach the remote location of Tsali’s hideout today than it was in 1838, I have always been perfectly content to remain on the safe, maintained trail above it despite my curiosity about the reputed spot.
At a slight gap, looking north through the foliage, you may get a glimpse of 5,800-foot-high Mount Mingus, rising to the northwest of Newfound Gap. As the trail continues along the ridgeline, in an area of numerous flowering shrubs, you will likely hear the Left Fork of Deep Creek before you descend to Deep Creek Gap, where the sounds of Deep Creek overtake those of the fork. From there, the trail drops sharply through a pine-oak forest—quite a contrast to the spruce-fir at the outset—and a cove of mostly oaks and poplar.
Soon the rapidly descending path arrives at a challenging crossing of Deep Creek, especially so after recent rainfall producing swift and perhaps knee-high water. Mountains-to-Sea hikers wishing to continue onto Deep Creek Trail and the Poke Patch backcountry campsite should exercise extreme caution in such conditions. Out-and-back hikers, however, can simply admire the clear, rushing water of one of the Smokies’ loveliest streams before returning to the Fork Ridge trailhead.
Go for a hike
- Trailhead: Fork Ridge Trail on Clingmans Dome Road, 3.5 miles from Newfound Gap
- Length: 10.2 miles round trip if hiking entire trail to Deep Creek
- Difficulty: Strenuous if hiking the entire distance