Porters Creek Trail to Fern Branch Falls - Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Porters Creek Trail is a 3.7 mile trail to backcountry campsite 31. The trailhead is located at the end of Greenbrier Road on the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The entire length of the trail follows Porters Creek, a tributary of the Little Pigeon River. The first mile of the trail is an old road. A loop marks the end of the road and the beginning of the trail. Three trails branch off from the loop. The right trail is a short spur to an historic farm. The center trail is the Brushy Mountain Trail and the left trail is the continuation of the Porters Creek Trail. At 1.6 miles, the trail crosses Porters Creek on a split log footbridge. The bridge is one of the highest and longest footbridges in the park.

Instead of hiking all the way to the backcountry campsite, we chose to hike 2.0 miles to Fern Branch Falls. The entire cascade is about 65 feet high with each of the bottom two sections about 20 feet high. At 2640 feet, the trail elevation is about 700 feet higher at the falls than at the trailhead for an average grade of over 6.5%. On our return trip down the valley, we took the spur trail to the historic John Messer farm. The hike to the falls is 4.0 miles round trip. Including the short 200 yard spur to the farm, the hike is 4.2 miles round trip. We made the trek in early March 2016.

To reach the trailhead from the intersection of US 441 and US 321 at traffic light number 3 in Gatlinburg, head north on US 321 toward Cosby for 6.0 miles to the Greenbrier entrance to the park. Turn right onto Greenbrier Road and drive 3.1 miles to the intersection with Ramsey Prong Road. Continue straight at this intersection another 0.9 miles to the parking area at the gate marking the end of the road. Note that most of Greenbrier Road is gravel and a short portion is a single-lane that requires the road be clear of oncoming traffic before proceeding. 

Water carving ancient rocks

Half of Porters Creek as it forks around an island

A downed tree spans the creek

The creek flows over a line of boulders

A series of cascades on Porters Creek

A three foot plunge

Another view of the swiftly flowing creek

Rock walls of the Elbert Cantrell homestead

More rock walls

Still more walls

Tree growing around a boulder

My hiking companions on the bridge over Long Branch

Ownby Cemetery

Part of the loop at the end of the old road and the beginning of the trail

Typical trail condition

A couple of downed trees litter the trail

Three-span footbridge over Porters Creek

Porters Creek below the bridge

Looking upstream from the bridge

Looking back at the bridge

The trail is much rockier on this side of the creek

Boulders line the trail

Fern Branch Falls

The return trip begins by crossing Fern Branch

Typical condition of the spur trail to the historic farm

John Messer's cantilever barn (circa 1875)

The trail crosses a stream between the barn and the historic Smoky Mountain Hiking Club cabin

Spring house

Smoky Mountain Hiking Club cabin (1934-1936)

These old steps may have led to the Messer cabin

A small footbridge spans an unnamed branch on the gravel road portion of the trail

Another view of Porters Creek

Trees in winter sunshine cast long shadows across the creek

Back at the parking area looking at the trailhead gate

Entry to Great Smoky Mountains National Park is free.

The park website is http://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm.