At the point where the trail nears the creek and turns off a small trail enters the mostly open woods and arrives at the base of the upper section of Rock Slab Falls. The trail will parallel this unnamed tributary for 0.4 of a ,mile until the trail breaks right, crosses Forney Creek above Rock Slab Falls and descends toward the base. This segment of the Forney Creek Trail is 1.9 miles and it includes one hard right switchback when you come to an unnamed creek. Make a right onto the Forney Creek Trail and begin into a pair of long switchbacks. The Forney Creek Trail comes in on the right at a signed junction. The upper section of this trail is rocky and steep in places as it descends for 0.9 of a mile to another junction. Make a right to stay on the Forney Ridge Trail. The Forney Ridge Trail goes to the left and the Klingman’s Bypass Trail left. The trail will descend for just over 0.2 of a mile to a T intersection. It does but compared to the flow of people going to Kilngman’s, it is lesser used. This isn’t to say this trail doesn’t get used. On the left hand side of the path there is an information Kiosk and a lesser used trail heading down behind the kiosk. Begin by walking toward the paved path leading to the top of Kilngman’s Dome. The hike: Gear up and verify one more time that someone has the keys for the second car or this is not going to have a happy ending. Even so in October we finished by headlight. I did this hike twice in 2019/ It took 11:15 minutes on my first try and 11:23 on the second.
ROAD TO NOWHERE RD FULL
In the summer it will be full but doing Road to Nowhere you need to be here early if you intend to finish before dark. Make a left and follow this for seven miles to the parking area. To get to the starting point, drive to the GSMNP and take US441 past the visitor’s center to Klinmna’s Dome Road. Make sure you have the keys for the second car. Leave one car at the tunnel and hop into the second car for the drive to the start. A car at the tunnel and another to drive you more than an hour to the start of the hike at Klingman’s Dome. In order to complete this hike you need two things. It uses four different trails and includes three waterfalls.
There is a mile of creek-walking (half a mile each way) to get to Steeltrap Creek Falls. The total Road to Nowhere hike is 18.53 miles, most of which is downhill with only the last 2.5 miles uphill. As a result this hike ends with a walk through a long highway tunnel that has never been opened to vehicle traffic. The state built the tunnel and the feds did nothing. The state was to build a quarter mile long tunnel though a mountain on Lakeshore Drive in Bryson City and the feds would build the highway on the other end. In the early 1940’s the State of North Carolina entered into an agreement with the federal government on a join effort road project. The name comes from the end point of the hike, a World War II construction project. When you line them all up, all the hikes to all the waterfalls and you ask which one is my favorite hike, it is Road to Nowhere.
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