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Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Fork Ridge Trail to Road Prong Trail at Indian Gap - Appalachian Trail - Great Smoky Mountains National Park


The third leg of our late October 2016 hike from Clingmans Dome to Newfound Gap on the Appalachian National Scenic Trail or AT was from Fork Ridge Trail to Road Prong Trail at Indian Gap. This 2.3 mile section of the trail continues the generally downhill nature of the trail from Clingmans Dome to Newfound Gap with the loss of another 800 feet of elevation. At about 0.6 miles, the trail passes by a very small spring at the headwaters of Tomahawk Prong. As mentioned previously, parking at Fork Ridge Trail is very limited. However, thirteen parking spaces are available at the Road Prong Trail trailhead at Indian Gap.

Topographic map with GPS route

Elevation profile

Just a walk in the woods

American Mountain-Ash (Sorbus americana)

Portions of a downed tree have been removed from the trail

White blaze

Boardwalk along the crest of the Smokies

Passing the shallow root ball of a blown down tree

Small spring at headwaters of Tomahawk Prong

Roots and rocks

A boulder is suspended in a root ball

Daylight dapples the ground near a small clearing

Another root ball

Bridge over a currently dry channel

Trail maintainers have sawn and rolled the remnants of this tree off of the trail

Another bridge

Maintainers have cut out enough limbs for the trail to be open

Moss covered log

Steep descent requires a switchback

More downed timber

Timber stairs

An easy step over

Oddly shaped tree

More steps on a switchback

A small meadow at the Indian Gap parking area

Entry to Great Smoky Mountains National Park is free.

The park website is https://www.nps.gov/grsm.

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