13 Walker Sisters Home
History lovers will find this hike especially rewarding, as it passes by an old combination schoolhouse-church and ends at a particularly fine homesite featuring an old cabin, springhouse, and corncrib with overhanging eaves. And although you probably won’t have it all to yourself unless you go in the dead of winter, you won’t have to share the trail with hordes of hikers.
(See map for Hike 7: Laurel Falls and Cove Mountain.)
Start: Metcalf Bottoms trailhead near Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area
Distance: 3.2 miles out and back
Hiking time: About 2 hours—day hike
Difficulty: Easy, with some moderate sections
Trail surface: Forest trail and old roadbed
Other trail users: Hikers only
Maps: Wear Cove USGS quad; Trails Illustrated #229 Great Smoky Mountains; Trails Illustrated #316 Cades Cove Elkmont
Other: There’s usually room for a few vehicles along the road. Otherwise, you can park back at the picnic area. You pass restroom facilities as you drive through the picnic area.
Finding the trailhead: The trail begins from Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area, located roughly halfway between Sugarlands Visitor Center and the Townsend Y on Little River Road. Turn into the picnic area and cross the bridge over Little River. The trail starts on the right side, immediately beyond the bridge on the upstream side of the creek. GPS: N35 40.751' / W83 38.844'
The Hike
Metcalf Bottoms Trail begins as a gravel road heading upstream. The trail soon swings away from Little River and climbs rather steeply, passing a water tower on the right and an old homesite across from the tower. After the climb the trail descends through a rhododendron tunnel to Little Brier Branch and follows the branch upstream, crossing it twice on foot logs, to the old Little Greenbrier School building.
If you make this hike from spring through fall, you might find cars at the school. A narrow, winding, gravel road leads to the school from the paved road between Metcalf Bottoms and Wear Cove. You can drive here too, and cut 1.2 miles off the hike, but hiking the Metcalf Bottoms Trail is the better option if you want to experience this part of the park fully. It’s the only option during winter, when the road is closed.
After exploring the old schoolhouse, continue your hike on Little Brier Gap Trail. It begins beyond the gate on the gravel road above the cemetery. After about 0.75 mile of mostly easy walking, Little Brier Gap Trail continues straight ahead, while your hike swings around to the right and continues less than 0.25 mile to Walker Sisters Home. Here you find a springhouse, corncrib/gear shed, and the cabin where the five Walker sisters lived. When the park was established, the sisters adamantly opposed leaving their home. They agreed to a compromise that allowed them to live out their lives on the land with a “lifetime lease.” The last sister died in 1964.
Miles and Directions
0.0Start at the Metcalf Bottoms trailhead.
0.6Reach Little Greenbrier School. Walk through the schoolyard, climb the bank beside the cemetery, and begin hiking on the gated road, which is Little Brier Gap Trail.
1.4Little Brier Gap Trail continues straight ahead, while the old road swings sharply around to the right. Stay on the road.
1.6Reach Walker Sisters Home. Return the way you came.
3.2Arrive back at trailhead.
Options: Little Brier Gap Trail continues about 0.4 mile to Little Brier Gap and the junction with Little Greenbrier Trail. With a second vehicle left as a shuttle, you could go west from the gap to Wear Cove Road, a little more than a mile above Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area, or head east and pick up Laurel Falls Trail and take it back to the trailhead on Little River Road.