Holston Mountain Trail is a 6.1 mile out and back trail located near Elizabethton, Tennessee that features a great forest setting. The trail is rated as moderate and primarily used for hiking. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
dogs on leash
hiking
forest
views
Highly overgrown! It was a guess as to which way the trial went a head of you. I DO NOT recommend doing right now. I turned back after a short bit to be safe.
The first mile and the last half mile is nice. In summer it is easy to miss the HMT near the tower. It is not really near the tower, but it starts on the road curve behind you when you look at the tower. Then, it is the 2 miles of hike in stinging nettle (summer the trail is overgrown with them). The map do not show the 0.5 extra walk to the flint rock, which should be the main destination. The view from the flint rock is pretty nice, but the hike there is not really.
Great place to visit, beautiful site from flint rock
the Cherokee national forest website has the wrong map for the Holston mountain zone, have contacted several times in 3 months and still not corrected. For a great map of Holston Mountain trails:
http://bchet.org/trailspublic-lands/sullivan-carter-county-trail
The trail that goes off the left side of the page past Flint rock overlook connects to the AT between 91 and 421 just yards north of the AT shelter.
Started at the gate to the fire tower, then continued out to flint rock overlook. beautiful views of South Holston lake and the speedway! took old service road 4202 back. Nice easy hike, 7.35 miles.
From panhandle road the trail starts out on gated road to firetower.the next 3 miles was grown up
with stinging nettles.then flintrock trail junction .the next 6 miles to hwy 421 is ridge walking.
This is a great trail for beginners. I took my son on this trail when he was 8. It was his first hike. You can follow this trail out to the AT and continue on to 19E or hike in and out. There are some nice areas for camping along the trail. I have hiked this trail for many years. It's a great place to see wild life. Near the beginning of the trail there is an old fire tower which makes a great picnic area for short family hikes.