Cascade along the Middle Prong Trail at Great Smoky Mountains National Park
See the Tremont Region web page for an interactive location map.
Length: 1.3 mile round trip to scenic cascades (entire trail is 4.1 miles long, one way)
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
The Middle Prong Trail is located at the very end of Tremont Road. If you are entering Great Smoky Mountains National Park from Townsend or Gatlinburg, Tennessee, you pass Tremont Road on your way to Cades Cove. Look for a road sign for the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont. The road is paved for half the way, then it turns to dirt. Any vehicle can travel on it—you don’t need 4-Wheel Drive. The scenery is fantastic once you hit the dirt road, making the drive alone worth a visit to the area.
Middle Prong Little River along Tremont Road in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
The Middle Prong Trail runs 4.1 miles to the intersection with the Lynn Camp Prong and Greenbrier Ridge trails, but I only hiked it for .65 mile to a series of scenic cascades and waterfalls. Oddly enough, the trail does not follow the Middle Prong Little River, but instead follows the Lynn Camp Prong. Thunderhead Prong and Lynn Camp Prong merge near the parking lot to form the Middle Prong Little River, which then follows Tremont Road until it merges with the West Prong Little River at Laurel Creek Road, the road to Cades Cove.
From the parking lot, cross Lynn Camp Prong via a footbridge. You can get a great photo of the creek from the bridge. If you have an SLR camera and want to use a slow shutter speed to obtain the fog-like flowing water effect but don’t have a tripod, the railing of the bridge is perfectly level. Rest your camera on it and use your camera’s timer to trigger the shutter.
Footbridge over the Lynn Camp Prong at the start of the Middle Prong Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Lynn Camp Prong in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
When you get across the bridge, take a left to begin the hike on the Middle Prong Trail. The trail is very wide and—other than a patch here and there—is free of large rocks and roots that plague most trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was once a track bed for a railroad used to haul lumber from the area. You’ll be heading up a gentle hill all the way to where the cascades begin, and the Lynn Camp Prong is always close by. For a hike in the Smokies, this is about as easy as you’ll find.
Typical terrain on the first mile of the Middle Prong Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Middle Prong Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park follows closely to Lynn Camp Prong
The first cascade comes about .4 mile into the hike and is known as Lower Lynn Camp Falls. I saw some people at the top, but you have to walk down what is essentially the side of a cliff to get there. A man told me that the view is awesome, but unfortunately I’m getting too old for such things. Photos from the trail are not that great due to tree branches and other vegetation getting in the way.
Lower Lynn Camp Falls in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Just a little farther up is a second cascade. This can be seen from the trail, but for a good photo you must to work your way down a rocky side trail (this is the cascade in the photo at the top of the page).
I later learned that the actual Lynn Camp Falls was just up ahead, but not knowing this at the time, I decided to turn around and head back to the parking lot. Thus, if the waterfalls are what you are seeking, be sure you see three of them before heading back (they should all be within a mile of the start). For those interested in hiking the entire trail, the Hiking in the Smokys website has complete details.
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Last updated on February 17, 2025
