Sycamore Shoals Trail

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · River/Creek

The nearest restroom facilities and water is at the visitor center in the park.

The Sycamore Shoals Trail can be accessed by parking in one of the lots in the park and hiking down the Patriot Path Trail to its junction with the Sycamore Shoals Trail. If you go to the left, the Patriot Path continues on a bed of crushed gravel, but the Sycamore Shoals Trail breaks to the right and transforms into a singletrack dirt trail that weaves through the woods. At the start of the trail, there is a stretching station where you can warm up before your hike. The trail weaves through woods along the banks of the Watauga River.

Shortly after starting the hike, the trail splits. If you go to the left, there is a wonderful overlook of the river with a bench where you can sit and look the river and surrounding countryside. Continuing to the right, there is a fork in the trail, so stay to the right as the left path leads to a gate that keeps vehicles out. Continuing to the right, the trail weaves back to the Patriot Path trail.

While a lot of people can be encountered on the Patriot Path trail, there are fewer people on this trail as it weaves through the woods.