On the Trail in the Smokies: Porters Creek Trail
Fall color frames the John Messer double-cantilevered barn, built in 1875, in the Porters Flat area.
In 2016, coinciding with the National Park Service centennial, I completed 40-day hikes on more than 70 trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park with the ultimate goal of writing a book titled Smokies Chronicle. I selfishly selected hikes—10 in each season—that I thought would be especially interesting and enjoyable to hike and write about, ranging in round-trip trail mileage from four to 20.
One that I should have hiked in its entirety, rather than partially, is Porters Creek Trail in the Greenbrier section of the park. It’s a fine hike anytime of year, though especially appealing in spring and fall.
I did venture up Porters Creek Trail in October of that year, but only for a mile or so to an area called Porters Flat. But at that point I veered right to pick up Brushy Mountain Trail, a much more strenuous route that leads to, yes, soaring Brushy Mountain. You should bear left at Porters Flat in order to continue on the moderate Porters Creek Trail, which offers its own rewards if not magnificent long-range views as Brushy does.
Porters Creek is best known for its exceptionally varied profusion of wildflowers in early to mid spring. But the trail also has much to offer in autumn with a notable display of fall color, not to mention 40-foot-high Fern Branch Falls about halfway along its 3.6-mile route. Although its out-and-back mileage is slightly more than seven miles, the trail is relatively easy to hike with a mostly moderate grade.
From the parking area the trail follows an old roadbed that takes you farther up a cove that was home to a sizable number of European-American settlers before the park was established. Its grade is gradual, easy to walk. Shortly before you reach Porters Flat, you’ll see stone steps on your right that lead to the old Whaley cemetery. The road ends in a turnaround where you should head left to follow Porters Creek Trail.
On the Trail in the Smokies: Porters Creek Trail
A springhouse can be found near the John Messer barn.
Upon exiting the turnaround the trail narrows and follows lovely Porters Creek, soon crossing it on a long, doglegged foot log. Porters Mountain rises on your left, with Fern Branch Falls tumbling from its lower slopes in another one-third mile. At this point you may choose to return to the trailhead, but I recommend continuing up the path if you have the time and energy to do so.
The trail rises above the creek, the understory becoming even lusher with ferns and moss. The numerous eastern hemlocks are struggling to survive because of the onslaught of the non-native hemlock woolly adelgid. The exotic insect arrived in the Smokies around the turn of the century and has been a destructive force ever since, killing countless trees and adversely affecting stream ecology in the process.
Soon the trail arrives at backcountry campsite 31, aka Porters Flat, one of the most attractive camps in the entire park. The campsite features several level tent sites in two separate areas above Porters Creek, as well as a few logs that make for good lunch spots.
At one time Porters Creek Trail continued steeply up to the Smokies crest, gaining nearly 2,000 feet in elevation in its final rugged mile before meeting the Appalachian Trail at 5,400-foot-high Dry Sluice Gap. Today it’s somewhat difficult to imagine that Cherokee and then white settlers followed the old trace up and over the crest into the Oconaluftee River valley. For obvious reasons the trail is no longer maintained past the handsome Porters Flat camp. But you will not feel deprived at returning to the trailhead after having reached the campsite’s handsome setting at an elevation of 3,400 feet. The destination is one that inevitably invites you to linger, whether backpacking or day hiking.
Go for a hike
- Trailhead: Terminus of Greenbrier Cove Road, four miles off U.S. 321
- Length: 7.2 miles round trip if entire route is hiked
- Difficulty: Moderate