Little Stoney Creek to Chestnut Flats

Google maps took me to the right at the fork when close, which is wrong. Take the left road. The trail was well maintained. I hiked about 3.5 miles up before turning back. All the swimming holes are within a mile of parking. The trail crossed the creek multiple times. It was a steady incline and fairly easy up to 3.5 miles. No one else was out there. One tree was down in the trail about 2.5 miles up, but still navigable. This one would make a great trail for running.

We just went to the swimming hole about a mile in, the water was very clear. The parking was right at the trail head and not very defined but noticeable. Fairly well kept trail.

Little Stoney Creek Trail is cleared to FS standards as of 7/7/20. 3.4 miles to the intersection of the Holston Mountain West Trail. Holston Mountain Trail was the Appalachian Trail until 1954. From our intersection point at 36.42 -82.14 you are 10 miles from Double Springs Shelter on the current AT. Little Stoney Creek has an absolutely beautiful "bath tub" and we hope you get an opportunity to enjoy it. Follow our trail maintenance by joining the open Facebook group Trail Maintainers. If you find blocked trails or maintenance issues on any of the trails in East Tennessee you can report them to us on the Maintainers page.

This trail has lots of potential it just needs some serious TLC. There is a great waterhole to cool off in less than a mile in and there are several other plunge pools, cascades as you travel further. The first problem is that there is minimal parking at the trail head. The trail comes off of a dead end road where you will need to park over to the right side as much as possible to keep from blocking access to a drive going to private property. There really isn’t room for more than 3 maybe 4 vehicles. Regarding the trail itself, the further up the trail you go the more overgrown and unimproved the trail gets, especially after the “swimming hole.” At one point we took what ended up being a wrong turn that led us about a quarter mile the wrong way before realizing our error and backtracking to get back on the trail. It was just my wife and I, both in pretty good health, but it took us much longer to navigate this trail than it should have for the relatively short distance it is due to downfalls and over growth. We were also slowed significantly after almost stepping on a good size rattlesnake and then deciding to drop the pace even more so we could thoroughly scan the less than obvious trail edges for others. At times we could see what appeared to be beautiful cascades and falls, but there was really no way to get to them without bushwhacking a trail of your own, which is practically what we had to do a good portion of the trail. There are also several large rock bluffs and boulders on each side of the valley you travel through most of the way as well. The trail for the most part appears to be an old logging road and could seemingly be cleaned up relatively easily. Maybe next time we’ll try it during the winter.

A peaceful hike. I was a bit anxious when parking as the trailhead is at the very end of a dead end road on what appears to be private property. A couple people were outside so i was able to ease my mind and ask if it was ok to park there. Beautiful secluded scenery and a picturesque swimming hole. Best part is i didn’t see anyone else the whole hike. There are many creek crossings so bring appropriate shoes.

We (2 adults, 5 kids from 18m to 11 years old) enjoyed this hike. We didn’t get wet at all because it’s been so dry. The trail is not really well maintained. We rarely see wildlife because our kids always scare everything into hiding. This time we were excited to see a painted turtle!

I did not go as far as I had planned because I got sidetracked by the swimming area which is absolutely gorgeous. Watch out for tics, I found a couple. The swimming hole is about a mile in and there was an awesome spot to hang my hammock and even take a quick swim.