Bradley Fork

Great Smoky Mountains National Park encompasses 800 square miles of land and 95 percent of it is forested. In the park, the Appalachian Trail follows the ridges between the states of North Carolina and Tennessee, and it crosses the highest point on the entire Trail at Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet. The Smokies get more annual visitors than any other National Park in the U.S., but surprisingly most people never see the backcountry which has some of the most pristine wilderness in the Southeast.

This loop hike is on the western side of an area known as Hughes Ridge near Smokemont Campground. It starts around 2500 feet, climbs the ridge to roughly 5000 feet, and descends back to the campground following both the Chasteen Creek and Bradley Fork drainages.