Bull Head Trail at Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Length:  7.1 miles (one way)
Time: 5-6 hours
Difficulty: Strenuous due to the length, but not extremely steep

The Bull Head Trail is one of five trails that lead to the top of Mount LeConte, the third highest peak in Great Smoky Mountains National Park at 6,600 feet in elevation. Most people on this trail are hiking to the LeConte Lodge, either because they are staying there or they just want to see it. My reason for hiking the trail was to take photos of the lodge for National Park Planner.

So that I didn’t have to see the same things twice, I made a loop out of the hike by taking the Bull Head Trail up the mountain and the Rainbow Falls Trail down. I can say without a doubt that the Bull Head Trail is the more scenic of the two, and from all of the trails I’ve hiked in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, it is the most beautiful. There are many open areas at high elevations where you can get fantastic views of the surrounding mountains. Sure, you’ll get to see a waterfall on the Rainbow Falls Trail, but once past it you have 5.1 more miles of hiking, and there’s only one short stretch where you’ll have a view. On top of that, the waterfall is not all that great.

As for difficulty, the average grade of the Bull Head Trail is 12%, and most people agree that 15% is where strenuous hiking begins. On the way up, there are four climbs separated by a short plateau (including the level area at the top) and the steepest has an average grade of 14.9%. Thus, the Bull Head Trail hovers right around the start of strenuous hiking, but never statistically gets there. What makes it strenuous is the fact that you have a nearly 7-mile continuous uphill walk, which quickly gets old. The only thing to take your mind off the slog is the scenery. (The grade is not the angle of the slope, but the calculation of rise—climb in elevation—divided by run—length of horizontal progress—expressed as a percentage ((rise/run) x 100). For example, using feet as the unit of measurement, a 10% grade means that a trail climbs 10 feet for every 100 feet in length.)

Most of the trail is very narrow, and you will often be brushing up against vegetation. I know there are briers on the trail, but I’m not sure about ticks and poison ivy. Regardless, I highly suggest wearing long pants, and since there are many areas out in the open, you might want to wear a hat or apply sunscreen if avoiding the sun is important to you.

The trailhead for the Bull Head Trail is located on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, a loop road near Gatlinburg, Tennessee. In fact, the road you must take to get there, Cherokee Orchard Road, actually begins in Gatlinburg, so you have to travel through the downtown area to reach it, and that alone can be a traffic nightmare. The actual parking area is the same one used for the Rainbow Falls Trail—the trail 99% of the people are hiking—and during the tourist season you won’t get near it if you arrive much after sunrise. Of course, if you are hiking round trip to the top of Mount LeConte, you’ll need to start first thing in the morning. I got there around 8 AM and still had to park pretty far down the road.

Parking situation along the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail near the popular trailheads, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The hike actually beings on the Old Sugarlands Trail, which is also at the Rainbow Falls parking area. It is an old dirt road, so follow this for .4 mile to the Bull Head Trail intersection. All trails and intersections are clearly marked with directional signage.

Start of the Old Sugarlands Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

On the way you will cross LeConte Creek on what I call an Indiana Jones bridge. These are single logs with a wood railing attached to them. If you were in an Indiana Jones movie and bad guys were chasing you as you tried to cross a chasm, they’d be rocking the log back and forth in an attempt to make you fall to your death.

Bridge over Leconte Creek on the Old Sugarlands Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The hike on the Bull Head Trail begins with a steady uphill trudge—not particularly steep—across rugged terrain full of rocks and roots. I started my hike in the fog, though the forecast called for sunny skies later in the day.

Typical terrain at the start of the Bull Head Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The first plateau comes at the 1-mile point on the Bull Head Trail and continues for .3 mile before hitting the next continuous uphill climb. There is a boulder that overhangs the trail, making a good place to stop if it is raining, and there are a few nice sitting-on rocks if you need to take a break. The trail is on a narrow ridge, with a steep cliff on one side and a steep mountain on the other. There is no way to step off it if you need to, for example, use the restroom.

Overhanging rock on the Bull Head Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Notice that many of the trees along the trail are dead. This is the result of the Gatlinburg Wildfire, a November 2016 wildfire that burned 18,000 acres. The Bull Head Trail was actually closed for two years. If there is a positive side to a fire that may have been started by two kids and that killed 14 people, it’s all the nice views you get now that the trees are out of the way. I knew there was something to see despite the area still being covered in fog.

Remnants of burned trees along the Bull Head Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The fog finally began to lift about 2.5 miles up the Bull Head Trail at an altitude of approximately 4,100 feet. This is also where the second plateau is located, and this one also goes on for nearly .3 mile. In the fall there are so many different colors that it’s like walking through a meadow, except you are on the side of a steep mountain. The sun illuminates the area perfectly in the morning; this is one of the most beautiful sights I have seen on a trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I remember thinking that though I hadn’t hiked any other trails to the top of Mount LeConte, I couldn’t image there was anything better than the Bull Head Trail.

Scenery 2.5 miles up the Bull Head Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Level section of the Bull Head Trail roughly 2.5 miles from the start, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The trail heads into a horseshoe-shaped cove, and the mountains you see directly across the valley are the same mountains you’ll be seeing until you eventually end up on the other side of the valley.

First views of the mountains on the Bull Head Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The steepest segment of the hike begins about 2.8 miles up the Bull Head Trail (3.3 miles from the parking lot). This is the segment with an average grade of right at 15%, so it’s not overly difficult, but the climb is definitely noticeable, and it lasts for a full two miles. For much of the ascent, the trail follows a predictable pattern of snaking into a wooded area with no view of the surrounding mountains and then coming back out into the open. At the start of every wooded area, the trail surface is full of rocks, and a small stream of water intersects with the trail, sometimes forming a little cascade. If you have on tennis shoes, they are most likely going to get wet and muddy, so hiking boots are definitely recommended. The hike through the first wooded area only lasts about ten minutes, then it’s back out into the sunshine with more spectacular views.

Small cascade of water on the Bull Head Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Panoramic view from a clearing on the Bull Head Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (click to enlarge)

By the time you get four miles up the Bull Head Trail, you will have passed through four wooded areas. At this point the trail is far away from the horseshoe-shaped cove, and I got the feeling that I had come to the last of the open spaces. The next time the trail veered into the forest, it stayed in the forest until reaching the top of the mountain.

Last mountain view on the Bull Head Trail, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Once in the forest for good, the trail gets extremely rocky. Rock, rocks, rocks. Stepping up. Stepping down. Stepping up and over rocks. If you are young and in shape, it’s probably no big deal, but if you are older, it isn’t long before the rough terrain becomes super annoying.

The third plateau comes about five miles up the Bull Head Trail and continues for nearly a mile. As with all the other plateaus, it’s not perfectly flat. The trail flows up and down tiny hills like a kiddie rollercoaster, but there is definitely a distinct difference between this segment and the last two miles. The rocks aren’t as bad either. However, there are no views of the surrounding mountains despite the trail following a ridge, but this is only because the 2016 forest fire did not burn this area.

Typical terrain 5 miles up the Bull Head Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Six miles up the Bull Head Trail (6.5 from the parking lot) is the intersection with the Rainbow Falls Trail. The trail sign mentions that the Rainbow Falls Trail is often impassible due to heavy water flow on LeConte Creek. If this is the case, you must return the same way you came up instead of making a loop. But how do you know if the Rainbow Falls Trail is passible? Just ask people at the LeConte Lodge, either fellow hikers or lodge staff. Plenty of people start the hike on the Rainbow Falls Trail, so if they got to the top, it’s passable.

View of the Rainbow Falls Trail from its intersection with the Bull Head Trail, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Bull Head Trail officially ends at the intersection, so the hike to the LeConte Lodge finishes on the Rainbow Falls Trail. From here it is another .6 mile to summit of Mount LeConte, or so the sign says. This may well be the longest .6 mile you’ll ever hike. The trail begins once again up a steep hill with a grade of 14%, but the trail surface isn’t that bad as far as rocks go. However, .6 mile farther ahead only puts you at the intersection with the Alum Cave Trail, a popular trail that most people hike partway to Alum Cave. It is another tenth of a mile to the lodge.

Final stretch of the Rainbow Falls Trail before reaching LeConte Lodge in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

In addition to visiting the LeConte Lodge, there are two observation points with excellent views: Cliff Top and Myrtle Point. I only had time to see Cliff Top, and while the view is fantastic as advertised, the hike to it is just short of mountain climbing. The trail begins near the lodge (a sign points the way) and heads up a short-but-very-steep hill with grades ranging from 20% to 25%. Luckily it is only .15 mile long. However, it is filled with the largest rocks you’ll stumble across on this hike.

Rugged trail to Cliff Top near the LeConte Lodge in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Panoramic view of the Smoky Mountains from the Cliff Top overlook near the LeConte Lodge (click to enlarge)

You can hike from Cliff Top to Myrtle Point without returning to the lodge. The trail to Cliff Top forms a small loop, so after visiting the overlook and observation tower, just keep hiking around the loop until the next intersection. Take a left to get back to the lodge and a right to continue to Myrtle Point. If you hike to Myrtle Point, you will eventually end up on the Boulevard Trail, another trail that leads to the summit of Mount LeConte.

Intersection with the trail back to LeConte Lodge and the one leading to Myrtle Point, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

To make it back down the mountain comfortably before dark, I should have departed around 2 PM, and it was already after 3 PM, so I decided to skip the side trip to Myrtle Point and return to the lodge. I made it to the bottom with just enough twilight to illuminate the tops of the rocks on the trail so that I could avoid tripping over them. Ten minutes after I got to my vehicle it was pitch black.

See the Rainbow Falls Trail report here on National Park Planner for details about this hike. It is written in the uphill direction, from the parking lot to the top of Mount LeConte, because I had previously hiked to the waterfall and written about it. I just reverse-engineered my hike down to write the report as if I hiked up.

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