Gatlinburg Trail Trailhead

The Gatlinburg Trail is perfect if you want to bring your dog hiking — it's one of only two trails in the entire park where pets are allowed. We've done this one with our kids and the dog more times than I can count because it's basically foolproof. It's 1.9 miles one-way along the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River, and you can start from either the Sugarlands Visitor Center or near Light 10 in Gatlinburg depending on where you find parking.

Fair warning though — you're going to hear traffic noise from 441 for a good chunk of this walk. It's not exactly the peaceful mountain experience you might be expecting. The trail runs pretty close to the road, so don't come here thinking you're escaping into wilderness. That said, the kids love playing by the river, and it's wide enough that we never feel crowded even when there are other families around.

One thing that's annoying right now — there's construction on the Gatlinburg Spur through April 14th with single-lane closures on weekdays from 7 AM to 7 PM. We learned this the hard way last month when what should've been a 10-minute drive turned into 30 minutes of sitting in traffic. Go on weekends or after 7 PM if you can swing it.

The trail itself is almost completely flat with maybe 164 feet of elevation gain, which means our 8-year-old can handle it without complaining. You can also bring bikes, which makes it one of the few places in the park where that's allowed. We usually park at Sugarlands and walk toward Gatlinburg, then turn around when we hit the maintenance facility area where the trail gets less interesting anyway.

Pro tip: if you're feeling lazy, there's a summer trolley that runs to the visitor center so you could theoretically walk one direction and ride back. Just don't expect this to be some epic mountain adventure — it's more like a nice walk in the woods with your dog.