The trailhead is not far from the Cosby entrance to the park. The trailhead is usually described as being in the Cosby Campground, but in all truth the trailhead is at the entrance to the campground rather than actually being in the campground.
An older name for the trail is the Messer Trail. On a topographic map, the route shown for the Messer Trail is the same as the route shown on other maps for the Gabes Mountain Trail except that the trail head for the Messer Trail was about a half mile further from the campground. Point A is the modern trailhead, and Point E was the old trailhead. It's possible to use either trailhead, and routes from the two trailheads join together not too far from the road. Point B is a cut-off from the main trail to get to Henwallow Falls, and Point C is Hen Wall Falls itself. The Gabes Mountain Trail continues for more than 4 miles west of the falls, so that only about the eastern third of the trail is shown on the map at this scale.
There are two basic ways to get to the Cosby entrance to the park.
- 18 miles from Gatlinburg to Cosby via Route 321 to Route 32. Turn right towards the park when you reach Route 32. If you know the area well, you there are several good back road ways to get to Route 321 between Cosby and Gatlinburg without having to fight with Gatlinburg traffic.
- From Newport to Cosby via one of three different exits from I-40. Using exit 435, it's about 15 miles from Newport to Cosby via Route 32. Continue on Route 32 all the way into the park Using exit 440, it's about 16.5 miles from Newport to Cosby via Route 321 to Route 32. Turn left towards the park when you reach Route 32. This route is slightly faster and less scenic than going from exit 435. Using exit 443, it's about 16.9 miles from Newport to Cosby using Foothills Parkway. Turn left towards the park when you reach Route 32. This route is slightly slower and is definitely much more scenic than the other two routes.
