Smoky Mountains Winter Hiking: Meigs Creek Trail
One of the things you should look for in a day hike in the Smokies is water. It might be your destination (a waterfall), or it could define your path, but when water is near, you will see some interesting things no matter what the season. With that in mind, we perused our options in the Little Brown Book, and we decided on the Meigs Creek trail for our Saturday hike, a 3.5 mile one way trail to the junction of the Meigs Mountain and Lumber Ridge trails.
The trail head for Meigs Creek is at The Sinks on Little River Road. Park your car in The Sinks parking area and look for the rock outcropping directly across from the large waterfall on the Little River. Climb the root stairway here and on the other side, continue downhill for the start of the Meigs Creek trail. At the bottom of the hill, you’ll cross a swampy area and begin your first climb.
The Sinks
Root stair
For the next mile or so, you’ll be heading up in typical Smoky Mountains fashion, following the hillside. You’ll climb about 500 ft in elevation and you’ll hear the roar of The Sinks and the sounds of Little River Road for most of your ascent. When the sounds of The Sinks disappear, you’ll be almost at the top of the first climb. When you start downhill, you’ll hike about a half mile to the first crossing of Meigs Creek.
Meigs Creek Crossing #1
During the Meigs Creek section of the trail, you’ll have 18 total crossings on the way to the trail junction at the end. You should be prepared to get your feet wet, as the crossings can be slippery, but not treacherous. If you hike after a period of dry weather, the crossings should be very easy. If you try this trail after a stretch of wet weather, or if it rains, the crossings will be more difficult. I highly recommend trekking poles or at least a good walking stick for balance and increasing the possibility that you’ll be dry at the trail’s end.
On the day of our hike (January 3rd), the weather called for afternoon showers and it had been raining the day before, so everything was fairly sodden. Meigs Creek wasn’t running particularly high, but I still managed to slip a couple of times and get both of my boots good and wet before we were finished. My trekking poles prevented me from any face plants or sit drops into the chilly water.
“Alfalfa Rock”
The Meigs Creek section of the trail follows the creek up an increasingly steep canyon. You’ll see lots of rhododendron creekside and the mosses and ferns are particularly bright green along the way. You’ll also see several good sized waterfalls of 10 or more feet in height along the way. At about the halfway point up the creek valley, you’ll see several very large rock formations on the left hand side of the trail. Near the end of the creek section, you’ll walk through a long rhododendron tunnel before you reach the last few wet crossings of the creek and the original spring at the end of the valley. When you start to climb up again following the hillside and no longer following the creek, you’ll have about another half mile to the end of the trail.
Meigs Creek Crossing
Large cascade on Meigs Creek
“Giants Feet”
Fern
Fungi
Rhododendron Tunnel
The trail junction of Meigs Creek, Meigs Mountain and Lumber Ridge is well marked and has a nice wide area for a rest break and a snack. To complete the trail, just go back the way you came. During our hike, the rain held off until noon and then pretty much poured down on us for the last descent down to The Sinks and our parked car. In these conditions, stay off of roots or rocks when possible heading downhill.
Trail Junction (Half Way)
View the entire photo album of pictures here.
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