Chestnut Branch Trail

15 Jun 2012, 4.2 miles

The topo map of the area doesn't really display the entire trail.  The trailhead at Point A is just past the entrance to the park and only about 50 feet or so from the parking lot at the ranger station.  The trail follows Chestnut Branch to Point B, at which point there is a sharp switchback.  But the trail disappears from the map after point B.  There is a second sharp switchback at Point C, from which the trail follows another small branch until nearly the top of the ridge.  It makes one last minor zag to the right near the top of the ridge, but the top of the trail is not on the map.  It intersects with the Appalachian trail at the top of the ridge (and the end of the Chestnut Branch Trail) at point D.

This is a second trail map.  I made it by taking a GPS track from my iPhone's GPS app and layering the track onto the terrain view in Google maps.  The upper part of the trail is very clear in this version of the map.  However, this Google map and other Google maps show a road called National Park Road which follows the same track as the bottom of the trail, but the road doesn't exist.  It perhaps existed when people still lived in this area before the park was created, and it perhaps continued to exist for a number of years after the park was created.  But even if so, the road no longer exists - just the trail.

I hiked 2.1 miles from the Chestnut Branch Trail trailhead to the intersection with the Appalachian Trail.  The round trip was 4.2 miles.

Here is my standard photograph of the trailhead sign.

Another standard photograph of the trailhead sign, not a close up this time.

A photograph of me at the trailhead sign.

Some rhododendron along the trail.

Some more rhododendron along the trail.

A close up of the trail marker at the end of the trail.  This is where the Chestnut Branch Trail intersects with the Appalachian Trail.  This view focuses on the sign for the Appalachian Trail, and the sign is in a bit of disrepair.

Another view of the trail marker at the end of the trail showing a bit more perspective.  This is where the Chestnut Branch Trail intersects with the Appalachian Trail.  The sign for the Appalachian Trail is in a bit of disrepair.  The second sign a little further away is not really a trail direction sign.  Rather, it's a warning that there's a horse barrier down at the trail head.

Another view of the trail sign at the terminus of Chestnut Branch Trail at the intersection with the Appalachian Trail.  This view focuses on the sign for the Chestnut Branch Trail.

A close up of the sign about the horse barrier.  The barrier is at the bottom of the ridge at the trailhead for the Chestnut Branch Trail.  I'm not sure why the sign is needed at the top of the ridge unless horses are allowed on the Appalachian Trail at this point, and I don't think they are.

Chestnut Branch Trail intersection with Appalachian Trail, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, 06/15/2012 from Jerry Bryan on Vimeo.