Spruce-fir Trail
| Trail Features: | Spruce-fir Forest |  |
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| Trail Location: | Clingmans Dome Road | ||||
| Roundtrip Length: | 0.35 Miles | ||||
| Total Elevation Gain: | 25 Feet | ||||
| Avg. Elev Gain / Mile: | 143 Feet | ||||
| Highest Elevation: | 5684 Feet | ||||
| Trail Difficulty Rating: | 0.40 (easy) | ||||
| Parking Lot Latitude | 35.5957 | ||||
| Parking Lot Longitude | -83.45882 | ||||
Directions to Trailhead:
From the Sugarlands Visitor Center near
Gatlinburg, drive
13.2 miles south along Newfound Gap Road to Clingmans Dome Road. Turn
right
onto Clingmans Dome Road and drive another 2.7 miles to the parking
area on the
left for the Spruce-Fir Nature Trail. Just before reaching the parking
area
you'll see a small sign on the right side of the road for "nature
trail", indicating the approach of the trailhead.
From Cherokee, drive 20 miles north on
Newfound Gap Road to
reach Clingmans Dome Road.
Trail
Description:
The Spruce-Fir Trail isn't on the official
trail map, but it
is a trail maintained by the National Park Service. At the trailhead
you'll see
a comment on the large National Park sign regarding a section of trail
that climbs
at a 12% grade. I'm not sure what they're talking about here. This is
virtually
a flat trail, with an elevation change of only 25 feet along the entire
course of
the trail.
This is a short easy hike through a beautiful spruce-fir forest, as the name would imply. Spruce-fir forests are found at the park's highest elevations. While red spruce and Fraser firs are the main components, yellow birch, mountain-ash, hobblebush, and blackberries can also be found. The climate of the spruce-fir forests in the Great Smoky Mountains is similar to that of the boreal forest in Maine, and Quebec, Canada.
Most of the trail follows along wooden
boardwalks as you
walk through a lush green forest. Unfortunately, the forest is under
attack
from the balsam woolly adelgid, an insect from Europe that is killing
fir trees throughout
the Smokies. You'll notice a lot of dead trees lying on the ground as
you hike
this loop trail.
As you wind your way around the loop,
you'll also notice
several large quartz rocks on the ground, which, at first glance, look
like
blocks of leftover ice and snow.
The day we hiked this trail a cold wind howled above us, however, the evergreen trees provided a sufficient wind break that kept us relatively warm.
