Appalachian Trail: Lovers Leap Loop
Sample a classic stretch of the Appalachian Trail on this 11.5-mile route around a 1,000-foot gorge, with overlooks and eye-candy vistas of the Smokies.
Get full access to Outside Learn, our online education hub featuring in-depth fitness, nutrition, and adventure courses and more than 2,000 instructional videos when you sign up for Outside+ Sign up for Outside+ today.
Trail Facts
- Distance: 17.5
Waypoints
LL001
Location: 35.8931541442871, -82.8220062255859
Head N; after .1 mi., join River Rd. and continue downriver on road
LL002
Location: 35.8960647583008, -82.8230972290039
R onto Reservoir Rd. (turns into dirt track). Follow to water tank; pick up Roundtop Ridge Trail (follow yellow blazes)
LL003
Location: 35.9000663757324, -82.8107223510742
Swing NE, ascending Roundtop Ridge (an original route for the Appalachian Trail, now rerouted)
LL004
Location: 35.9224052429199, -82.8025054931641
L @ T onto white-blazed AT for .4 mi. side hike to fire tower
LL005
Location: 35.9273529052734, -82.805046081543
Rich Mountain (3,670 ft.). Climb fire tower for SW views of Smokies from Mount Cammerer to Mount Guyot. Return to WPT 4 and continue S on AT
LL006
Location: 35.9101791381836, -82.7909317016602
Cross US 25 @ Tanyard Gap on AT overpass; walk briefly on FR 113 and turn L from gravel road onto trail (white blazes)
LL007
Location: 35.9050140380859, -82.7900619506836
AT joins dirt road; in 480 ft., stay R on road, following white blazes; in .3 mi. turn R back onto trail leading through open meadows then into woods past a pond
LL008
Location: 35.8880577087402, -82.7955932617188
Reach Pump Gap and go straight @ 4-way, following vertiginous crest of Lovers Leap Ridge
LL009
Location: 35.8908958435059, -82.8193817138672
Short side trail to Lovers Leap, an outcrop of hard quartzite (compressed beach sand from 500 million years ago). Continue .1 mi. on AT above swirling French Broad River and hamlet of Hot Springs, NC
LL010
Location: 35.8874778747559, -82.8203277587891
Pass several rapids foaming over quartzite grooves on the .4 mi. hike N back to car
Rich Mountain Fire Tower
Location: 35.9273529052734, -82.8049011230469
Climb fire tower for SW views of Smokies from Mount Cammerer to Mount Guyot. ©Bob Harvey
Lovers’ Leap view
Location: 35.8907508850098, -82.8193130493164
A view of Hot Springs as seen from Lovers’ Leap, high above the French Broad River. This vantage point is only 100 feet or so off the AT. ©Bob Harvey
French Broad rapids
Location: 35.888858795166, -82.8206939697266
Rapids foaming over quartzite grooves © Kathy Case
