A llama train carrying supplies to LeConte Lodge passes behind Grotto Falls.
37 Mount LeConte via Trillium Gap
For a trip to Mount LeConte, both this route and the route described in Hike 35 feature wildflowers, a scenic waterfall, and views. You can’t go wrong with either hike. A feature of this hike is that it is wetter for much of the route, crossing numerous stream branches, and it is rife with verdancy. Hike 35 is dry along most of the upper portion of the hike. Another feature of Trillium Gap Trail is that it is the route used by the llama train to supply LeConte Lodge.
(See map for Hike 34: Rainbow Falls.)
Start: Parking area on Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail
Distance: 13.4 miles out and back
Hiking time: About 8 hours—day hike or overnighter
Difficulty: Strenuous
Trail surface: Rocky forest trail
Best season: Spring for the wildflowers
Other trail users: Equestrians; llamas use this trail as a route to supply LeConte Lodge
Maps: Mount LeConte USGS quad; Trails Illustrated #229 Great Smoky Mountains; Trails Illustrated #317 Clingmans Dome Cataloochee
Special considerations: The access road (Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail) is closed Dec 1–Mar 31. An alternate winter access route is to hike Trillium Gap Trail from the Rainbow Falls parking lot, but that access makes the hike 2.3 miles farther one-way, or 4.6 miles round-trip.
If you wish to spend the night at LeConte Lodge on Mount LeConte’s summit, you’ll need to make reservations well ahead of time. The backcountry shelter on Mount LeConte also requires reservations, as do all other shelters in the park. Read “Hiking to Mount LeConte” at the beginning of the Northeast section.
Other: The parking area holds several cars, but it fills up quickly on most days. When full, people park all along the road past the parking area, sometimes as far as 0.25 mile away. It isn’t safe to park alongside this road and it damages the environment, so try to get here early for a suitable parking space. Pit toilets are available at the parking area.
Finding the trailhead: From US 441 in Gatlinburg, turn at traffic light #8 onto Historic Nature Trail–Airport Road and drive 0.6 mile to a confusing intersection. Stay to the right and continue straight ahead. You soon enter the park on Cherokee Orchard Road. At 3.6 miles from traffic light #8, you come to Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail on the right. This one-way road passes old homesites and several trailheads before looping back to Gatlinburg. At 1.7 miles from the start of the motor nature trail, you come to the large parking area on the left for Grotto Falls. The trail begins across the road, at the far end of the parking area. GPS: N35 40.811' / W83 27.766'
The Hike
Start on the path from the parking area and hike a little more than 0.1 mile to join Trillium Gap Trail. Continue straight ahead and climb moderately on hard-packed dirt all the way to the falls. Along the way you pass through a once-impressive old-growth hemlock forest. Now the huge hemlock trees that anchor this forest are dead or dying. (See the sidebar for Hike 36.) In and out you weave until finally rounding a ridge into the Roaring Fork drainage. From here, a short and level path takes you to Grotto Falls. The trail passes behind the waterfall, giving you an interesting perspective and a great photo op.
Beyond the falls the trail is a little steeper and rockier, but it remains a pleasant hike through lush forest. You cross a couple of small streams, but you might want to hold off on filling your water bottle from them. The llamas have a habit of using the creeks as their restroom facilities. You should treat all water in the Smokies, but after you see an entire llama train doing their business in one of these creeks, filtering and boiling just doesn’t seem to be adequate! There are several springs farther up, the last one on LeConte’s summit. And there is treated drinking water from a pump at LeConte Lodge.
A llama train carrying supplies to LeConte Lodge passes behind Grotto Falls.
When you start to see grassy patches along the trail, you know you’re nearing Trillium Gap. This is a typical beech gap, covered in dense grass and dominated by American beech trees. In early spring, spring beauty carpets the ground with so many blossoms that it looks like freshly fallen snow. Brushy Mountain Trail intersects at the gap, having climbed up the opposite side, and it continues on the left (north) to the summit of Brushy Mountain. If you have time, perhaps on the hike back down, the short side trip to Brushy is highly recommended (see Hike 40).
Water, rocks, and verdancy characterize the remaining 3.6 miles to LeConte’s summit. The trail is steep and rocky, but the luxuriant vegetation takes your mind off the climb. Mosses, lichens, ferns, wildflowers, shrubs, and trees cover every square inch of ground except the rocky trail under your feet. You cross several creek branches, one below a postcard scene of a tiny waterfall flowing through mossy rocks. When you come to a sharp left-hand switchback after swinging around a broad ridge, look out over the drainage and see if you can see Twin Falls. The two falls are on small branches in the upper reaches of Roaring Fork. When the leaves are out, you probably won’t see anything.
When you enter a fir tunnel, you’re getting close to the trail’s end. Soon you pass a horse-hitching rack on the right and then a spring on the left. LeConte Lodge is on the right, and the junction with The Boulevard Trail and Rainbow Falls Trail is just ahead.
Miles and Directions
0.0Start from the north end of the parking area on the obvious trail.
0.1Trillium Gap Trail comes in from the right and goes straight ahead. Continue straight and follow Trillium Gap Trail to the falls.
1.3Walk behind Grotto Falls.
3.1Junction with Brushy Mountain Trail at Trillium Gap. Side trip to Brushy Mountain summit is to the left (north) for 0.4 mile. To continue the hike to Mount LeConte, turn right (south) and remain on Trillium Gap Trail.
6.7Arrive at LeConte Lodge on Mount LeConte summit. Return the way you came.
13.4Arrive back at trailhead.
Option: You can turn this hike into a loop by utilizing the 2.3-mile section of Trillium Gap Trail between the Rainbow Falls parking area and the Grotto Falls parking area. You could hike to Mount LeConte via Trillium Gap Trail and return via either Rainbow Falls Trail or Bullhead Trail. See Hike 35 for details about these two trails.