Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Hemphill Bald Loop
This 13.2-mile loop is classic Smokies: free-flowing creeks, wide valley views, and hardwood forests peppered with long-abandoned homesites.
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-Mapped by Tim Johnson
Trail Facts
- Distance: 21.3
Waypoints
HHB001
Location: 35.563309, -83.161667
Polls Gap trailhead: Take Hemphill Bald Trail down old, grassy, logging-railroad grade; views N to Caldwell Fork Valley
HHB002
Location: 35.55241, -83.15271
Follow 1930s-era CCC split-rail fence among dense yellow birches and mountain maples
HHB003
Location: 35.552502, -83.126381
Sheepback Knob helps define Cataloochee Divide, the southern border of once-thriving basin stretching 10 mi. N to Mt. Sterling (pop. 1,000 before the 1930s)
HHB004
Location: 35.564129, -83.103661
Hemphill Bald (5,540 ft.): S views into Maggie Valley. The angular peak of Cold Mtn. sits 17 mi. to the SE
HHB005
Location: 35.57198, -83.100647
L @ Y to descend into Caldwell Fork Valley. Among second growth, find umbrella-leaf plants with huge foliage, white blooms (early summer), and blue berries (late summer)
HHB006
Location: 35.585789, -83.120361
L @ T onto Caldwell Fork Trail. Flat, young forest hints at the valley’s lived-in past; old homesites and graves are common in this area
HHB007
Location: 35.584278, -83.122131
Cross rushing Caldwell Fork over typical Smokies log bridge to campsite 41
HHB008
Location: 35.584499, -83.126793
Straight @ T. Head R @ Big Poplars sign for short side trip to three massive yellow poplars
HHB009
Location: 35.587719, -83.14209
L @ T onto Rough Fork Trail; ascend steeply through stands of Eastern hemlock, northern red oak, and red maple
HHB010
Location: 35.576527, -83.161186
Trail follows contour of Big Spruce Ridge; continue to finish loop @ Polls Gap
CCC Fence
Location: 35.552227, -83.152695
©Tim Johnson
CCC Fence
Location: 35.550217, -83.15023
©Tim Johnson
Views from Hemphill Bald
Location: 35.564289, -83.103172
©Tim Johnson
Hemphill Bald Views
Location: 35.563648, -83.10363
©Tim Johnson
Hemphill Bald Trail
Location: 35.56237, -83.159187
©Tim Johnson
TC Lily
Location: 35.572056, -83.102989
©Tim Johnson