Tom Branch Falls and Indian Creek Falls - Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Deep Creek Trail was one of the first trails constructed in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Located entirely in North Carolina, the 14 mile trail begins on  Newfound Gap Road less than two miles from the gap at an elevation of nearly 4800' and ends at the Deep Creek picnic area near Bryson City at an elevation of 1800'. The lower two miles of Deep Creek Trail follows the route of an old road. This wide gravel trail is open to hikers and bicyclists. Above the Indian Creek Trail junction, a horse trail joins the route as well.

Our hike began at the trailhead at the north end of the Deep Creek hikers parking area. Because of the ease of access to the waterfalls and the beautiful Deep Creek, finding a place to park can become an issue during busy times. Although the trail elevation profile below looks ominous, the entire climb was only about 150 feet in 0.8 miles for a grade of less than 3%. The wide gravel trail on such a gentle grade made for easy walking. At 0.3 miles, we stopped at a series of benches to view Tom Branch Falls across Deep Creek from the trail. Just short of one-half mile, the trail crosses Deep Creek on a sturdy one-lane carriage bridge. After crossing the bridge, another couple of benches overlook a pretty scene of whitewater on the creek. The gravel trail climbs a bit more steeply after crossing the bridge, but quickly descends to the Indian Creek Trail junction at 0.7 miles. We continued on the Deep Creek Trail for another few feet to the bridge over Indian Creek before retracing our steps to the junction. The lower part of Indian Creek Trail is also an old roadbed. The park service has been utilizing heavy construction equipment to improve drainage on both trails and the benefits are obvious. Only 200 feet up Indian Creek Trail, a short spur heads steeply down to the pool at the base of Indian Creek Falls. Instead of plunging over a precipice, the stream cascades over the rocks at a 45 degree angle. This creates a beautiful scene as the creek drops 25 feet into a pool at the base of the falls. After viewing the falls from the bottom, we continued up Indian Creek Trail for another perspective of the falls from above. We turned around about a tenth of a mile up Indian Creek Trail at another carriage bridge over Indian Creek for a total hike of 1.6 miles. We hiked in late March 2016.

Topographic map of route

Elevation profile

Trail begins at the gate beyond this dropoff area

Deep Creek

Heavy equipment has created a rut in the trail

 Tom Branch Falls (60' high) flows into Deep Creek

A closer look at the falls

Several benches allow visitors to relax and watch the falls

Whitewater on a shallow part of Deep Creek

The gravel trail was formerly a road

The trail crosses Deep Creek on this carriage bridge

Deep Creek flows over a rock ledge just upstream of the bridge

Deep still waters of Deep Creek

The trail climbs a ridge, but remains beside the creek

Heavy equipment has been used on a drainage improvement project

Carriage bridge carries Deep Creek Trail over Indian Creek

Indian Creek from the bridge

Indian Creek Trail is another former road

Spur trail leading to Indian Creek Falls

Indian Creek Falls (25' high) is a slide instead of a plunge waterfall

A better perspective of Indian Creek Falls from Indian Creek Trail

Top of the falls

Another view of the sliding nature of the falls

The carriage bridge over Indian Creek above the falls was our turnaround point

Indian Creek from the upper bridge

Entry to Great Smoky Mountains National Park is free.

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