Hidden Passage and John Muir Trail

This was a really nice hike. Cold in AM (22 degrees), perfectly clear, and only saw a few people all day. The East part of the Hidden Passage Loop is much better than the West. You have several really nice view spots and you can take the spur down to double falls. Just make sure you go to the end as the all trail recording on file only goes to the campsite. When you connect to John Muir it gets interesting. The connector is fine. Others say it's not but it is. Possibly the park service has cleaned it up. You follow the connector and then at the very end do a circle to the right and come out on the rock creek trail. You can go right or left. Go right to go through the old railroad tunnel (this is the tunnel trail) and then navigate the stream crossing. There are 3 if you want to go to the end of the John Muir and if water is high you will get wet. When you return, you will be tempted to do the super part of that little loop shown on all trails. Don't bother. You may find the trail but you will struggle with it and frankly it's not been maintained and is now dangerous in spots. I took this loop and found myself coming out on rock creek trail somehow without going back through the tunnel. That's the trail you want. It's really nice, nobody there, but has some wash out spots. When you get to where all trails says to turn right to connect back to the lower loop, you have a choice to make. If you are really comfortable navigating steep ledges and almost no perceptible trail then have fun. You have been warned. This is actually the Cheltowee trace trail and in the winter i could follow it. In the summer no way. the first half mile was rough. After that felt more like an old jeep trail with a bunch of thorns. If this isn't you're thing, you backtrack. No other way keeping it under 20 miles. Once you get back tot he lower loop it's a simple walk back. I really enjoyed the trail. It was private and had some great views and rock formations. But if you choose to add the upper loop I'd make sure you have plenty of time.

Did this hike in June. Startled a bear down in the Rock Creek area. Please note the trail does not loop around like it shows on here. I went down in there and then had to turn around and come back up out of the canyon. Was a great hike and a good work out. I will hike it again.

Great trail- was not overgrown on the trail. Had wonderful views! Some challenge and a beautiful sight around each corner. Make sure you have shoes for water crossing there a couples parts along with if you do a side trail. My girlfriend and I loved it!

This is just to Crystal Falls

There is no longer a Hidden Passage/John Muir connection at 8 miles. The trail is overgrown and no longer maintained by the park service. I would not attempt this portion of the trail and it should probably be removed from the map.

This was great trail run. tt had beautiful views and the edge runs were well maintained. starting about mile one until mile 3ish, the vegetation was trying to take back over the trail. the morning do in all the tall grass and sprouting little trees made it look like we took a shower. There was evidence of trail maintenance and cutting back the overgrowth after this and it was great after mile three and on. there are amazing rocks, outcroppings, cliffs, and water everywhere especially after the rain.

great loved the hike

Nice hike. Needs a few more trail tags

Beautiful hike, but the trail needs some serious maintaince. The views from Thompson Overlook are staggering. I am looking forward to doing it again next year.

Hiked this trail this past weekend. Beautiful views, overlooks, out cropping and plants. The trail was a. It confusing at some points. When you start at the trail head you will come to a sign about a quarter a mile laters. There are 2 paths, hidden passages is the one on the left. About a quarter mile later you will come to the Hidden passages spilt and you will want to go right. There were a number of down trees and in some places the path is non-existent, but hey that's all a part of hiking:) this was a beautiful trail and I would def hike it again

Hiked this weekend and camped at double falls Trail maintenance is non existent this is not what I expected from a wealthy state park system Trees down across trail looked as they have been there 10 yrs Saw briers all around.

One of my all time favorites.

Hidden Passage was one of the very best hikes in TN. It isn't any more due to poor trail maintenance. Three of us from TTA backpacked the trail this weekend. Going counter clockwise we experienced over an grown trail with enough thorn bushes to cut up the most experienced backpackers. For the novice hiker the trail could easily be lost due to the over grown brush. Double Falls is still a wonderful camping area. The trail to Double Falls is in excellent shape, we guessed because it is maintained by Big South Fork, not Picket State Park folks. After Thompson's Overlook the Picket folks got loose with a bulldozer and destroyed a significant part of the beautiful old trail. I have hiked Hidden Passage a half dozen times in the last 20 year and am very sad to see how it has declined. If Picket staff, for some reason, can't maintain the trail maybe TTA or another organization could help. Bull dozer work needs to be halted and damage needs to be corrected.

The trail was very isolated, we never came across another person. The trail was so overgrown in parts that you cannot pass without a machete. As a result we ended up on an unmarked trail that was not on the provided map. Speaking of the map, my boyfriend is an experienced hiker and he had difficulty reading it. We brought a backpack with food, water, a first aid kit, and a knife. next time we will certainly bring bug spray and a bear horn because we each pulled off about 8 ticks from us afterwards and came face to face with a bear (about 10-15 ft from us). The trail was not well maintained, many down trees. All in all, my boyfriend enjoyed it but I am a novice hiker and it was a little too much for me.

Hidden Passage Loop trail is great! It's located close to Jamestown and is a 10 mile loop. I'm not too sure how they come up with it being 8 miles. Lots of places to get water on the trail as well as awesome overlooks (on the middle to back half of the trail), water features like Double Falls and Angel Falls and mild to steep terrain at times. It's a great overall trail to hike half of it, camp out and finish the next day. Very peaceful and quiet. There's other trails that are on the loop but I've never explored them. Also this loop is part of the John Muir trail.

Great trail for a day hike. An abundance of features to marvel at; rock shelters, overhangs, great views and a side trail for a double waterfall. A few nice camping spots. A short section of the trail was quite overgrown but the majority of it was well worn and very easy to follow.

moderate, views, waterfalls, campgrounds, campsites on trails, kid friendly but spray for ticks.rockhouses, bluffs, falls, great for fall colors.