42 Albright Grove

Although the superlative scenic and ecological attributes of the Albright Grove hike are dulled by the devastating death of the eastern hemlock trees (see the sidebar for Hike 36), this hike remains a crown jewel in the Smokies. If you like big trees and lush forests, you’ll love this hike. And if you don’t like crowded trails, you’ll like it even better. Relatively few people visit this remote section of the park.

Start: Maddron Bald trailhead in the Cosby section of the park

Distance: 6.8-mile lollipop (with a really long stick)

Hiking time: About 4 hours

Difficulty: Moderate

Trail surface: Old gravel road and rocky forest trails

Best season: Spring for the wildflowers

Other trail users: Hikers only

Maps: Jones Cove and Mount Guyot USGS quads; Trails Illustrated #229 Great Smoky Mountains; Trails Illustrated #317 Clingmans Dome Cataloochee

Special considerations: The trailhead may not be a safe place to leave your car. In the past, several vehicles have been stolen or vandalized. While such activity has subsided, you are still taking a chance parking here especially if leaving your vehicle overnight.

Other: There is room for only a few vehicles, but that’s usually only a problem on summer weekends. Service stations and convenience stores are scattered along US 321.

Finding the trailhead: From US 441 in Gatlinburg, turn at traffic light #3 and head east on US 321. Drive 15.5 miles and turn right onto Baxter Road. (Baxter Road is about 0.1 mile beyond Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Campground.) Stay on the paved Baxter Road for 0.3 mile and turn sharply right onto a gravel road. Go a few hundred feet to a gated dirt road on the left. Park here, but don’t block the gate. GPS: N35 46.167' / W83 16.012'

The Hike

Begin at the gate on Maddron Bald Trail, an old wagon road, and climb moderately about 0.7 mile to the one-room Willis Baxter Cabin on the right. Continue climbing beyond the cabin, and at 1.2 miles you reach the junction with Old Settlers Trail on the right (Hike 43) and Gabes Mountain Trail on the left (Hike 46). Continue straight ahead on the old roadbed. About a mile farther the wagon road ends at an old traffic circle and the path becomes a real hiking trail.

For the remainder of the hike, you pass through an exceptional old-growth forest, with big yellow poplars (tulip trees), buckeyes, maples, silverbells, and other trees. Some of the largest and most common trees here are the eastern hemlocks. As of early 2012 many of the hemlocks are still alive, but the adelgid has killed most of them (see the sidebar for Hike 36).

About 0.5 mile from the old road turnaround, you cross the cascading Indian Camp Creek on a sturdy foot log, and in another 0.1 mile you come to the lower end

of Albright Grove Loop Trail. You can go either way at the junction, since it’s a loop hike. If going left and hiking the loop clockwise, remain on Maddron Bald Trail and ascend another 0.3 mile to the upper junction with Albright Grove Loop Trail. Turn right and follow the trail back to the lower junction.

Albright Grove is considered by many to be the finest old-growth forest in the park. However, the forest has changed dramatically in the past decade. Most of the huge hemlocks have died and the resultant sunlight reaching the forest floor has enabled weedy vegetation to gain a foothold. Also, two of the big yellow poplars are now dead, although an enormous one still remains. The 0.9-mile stretch between the end of the old road and the upper junction with the loop trail is in many ways just as impressive as the 0.7-mile loop trail. However, despite the change, this hike remains one of the finest forest hikes in the southern Appalachians.

Miles and Directions

0.0Start at the gate and walk south along the gravel road.

0.7Pass by Willis Baxter Cabin.

1.2Junction with Old Settlers Trail (right) and Gabes Mountain Trail (left). Continue straight ahead.

2.3Old road ends and real trail begins.

2.8Cross Indian Camp Creek on foot log.

2.9Lower junction with Albright Grove Loop Trail. Turn left to remain on Maddron Bald Trail.

3.2Turn right onto Albright Grove Loop Trail at the upper junction.

3.9Return to Maddron Bald Trail. Return to the trailhead the way you came.

6.8Arrive back at trailhead.

Options: Hike 46, a one- to two-night backpacking trip, passes Albright Grove Loop Trail and other old-growth stands.

Old-Growth Grandeur

Before the park was established, loggers had entered every major watershed of the Smokies. Some of the operations were enormous, even by today’s standards. It’s safe to say that without the park, the only old-growth forest remaining in the Smokies today would be in very small, isolated pockets. When the last logger pulled out in 1938, some 20 percent—100,000 acres—of old-growth forest remained. It is by far the largest tract of relatively undisturbed forest in the East. Albright Grove is one of the best locations in the park to see big trees, but a forest doesn’t have to have big trees to qualify as old growth. For instance, in areas with harsh growing conditions, such as on exposed ridges and mountaintops, trees can be stunted and appear young, even though the forest ecosystem there may be very old and undisturbed. Of course, most visitors to the park would rather see big trees than stunted ones. See the Trail Finder in the introduction for a list of hikes other than Albright Grove where you can see some giants.