Husky Gap Trail - Hike Husky Gap Trail in the Smoky Mountains

Husky Gap (via Little River Trail)
Trail Features:		Stream / Wildflowers / Historical
Trail Location:		Elkmont
Roundtrip Miles:		10.0 miles
Total Elevation Gain:		1080 feet
Avg. Elev Gain / Mile:		216 feet
Highest Elevation:		3206 feet
Trail Difficulty Rating:		12.16 (strenuous)
Parking Lot Latitude:		35.65365
Parking Lot Longitude:		-83.58018

Directions to Trailhead:

From the Sugarlands Visitor Center near Gatlinburg, drive 4.9 miles on Little River Road to the Elkmont Campground turnoff on your left. After turning into Elkmont, drive 1.4 miles until you reach the campground. Instead of proceeding into the campground, you will need to turn left to reach the parking area for the Little River Trail. The parking lot for the Little River Trail will be 0.6 miles from the campground. The Husky Gap Trail is accessed via the Little River Trail.

Trail Description:

To reach the Husky Gap Trail, you’ll first need to hike almost 3 miles up the Little River Trail. The Little River Trail is a gentle climb along an old gravel road, paralleling the river of the same name for the entire length of the trail. The river is a beautiful cascading stream with large boulders and several small waterfalls.

At the beginning of the trail you’ll pass by a couple of the old resort cottages of Elkmont. The cottages were built in the 1920s and were used as summer homes by the affluent from Knoxville. The homes are now in disrepair and are off limits to the public.

Along the early portions of the Little River Trail you’ll stroll past several patches of rhododendron. As we proceeded up river we noticed yellow trillium, dwarf cinquefoil, stonecrop and other wildflowers.

At roughly 2.2 miles, a small 20-foot waterfall tumbles into the Little River. The waterfall flows down the slope of the hill next to the trail before running underneath a footbridge.

At just under 2.5 miles you’ll reach the Cucumber Gap Trail Junction. To reach the Husky Gap Trail junction, continue on for another 0.4 mile, just past the old bridge that passes over the Little River. Turn left onto the Husky Gap Trail.

Once past the river, you’ll soon notice how much quieter this trail is compared to the Little River Trail.

Almost immediately after turning onto the Husky Gap Trail you’ll begin a short climb. After cresting this relatively easy hill, you’ll descend into a meadow carpeted with ferns. During this section of trail we began to notice a fair amount of yellow trillium.

This, however, was nothing compared to what we saw later on. Roughly half-way up the trail to the gap we ran into a riot of flowers: yellow, white and painted trillium, blue phlox, hepaticas, violets, we even saw a yellow lady’s slipper. There were a couple of hillsides throughout this section of trail that were literally covered in wildflowers.