NEW MEMBER OFFER!

Get 35% off GOES, your essential outdoor guide

LEARN MORE

GET MORE WITH OUTSIDE+

Enjoy 35% off GOES, your essential outdoor guide

UPGRADE TODAY

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Snake Den Ridge Trail

Rising 2,500-plus feet over 4.6 miles, this strenuous trail zigzags through hemlock and rhododendron to a pair of exposed ridges with long Appalachian views.

Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.

Trail Facts

  • Distance: 7.5

Waypoints

SDR001

Location: 35.753345, -83.208519

Start near campsite B51; trail gradually climbs on wide, well-marked Snake Den Ridge Trail in mixed hardwood forest

SDR002

Location: 35.751022, -83.209251

Turn R; still ascending on Snake Den

SDR003

Location: 35.749149, -83.214218

In the grassy clearing on R sits several weathered, blackened tombstones dating back to the late 1800s

SDR004

Location: 35.747684, -83.215302

Outcrop: Below, Rock Creek rushes swiftly through a corridor of rhododendron thickets

SDR005

Location: 35.745998, -83.216278

Cross Rock Creek; take short break on wooden bench before stiff climb up forested fl anks of Snake Den Mountain

SDR006

Location: 35.742676, -83.227081

Slimy green moss covers boulders in spring-fed creek; cross, head N

SDR007

Location: 35.744518, -83.230782

Trial winds up a series of rocky switchbacks

SDR008

Location: 35.743248, -83.232765

Cross exposed knifelike ridgeline through a hallway of sharp-leafed rhododendron; views fi lled with treeless bald mountains and rolling green ridges

SDR009

Location: 35.732765, -83.245491

Turn R @ T

SDR010

Location: 35.732796, -83.252159

Climb to second ridge and enjoy distant views of more balds and a huge forested peak shrouded in long, misty clouds; backtrack to trailhead

Popular on Backpacker