If you’ve been hoping to hike the Bullhead Trail to Mount Le Conte this fall, the end of its weekday closures is in sight. Great Smoky Mountains National Park has kept the trail closed Monday through Thursday since May 4 for a major rehabilitation project, and that schedule runs through Thursday, November 19.
When you can hike Bullhead between now and November 19
According to the park’s news release and its current closures page, the trail is closed Mondays through Thursdays, except on federal holidays, and open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Here is how that works out for the rest of the project:
- Tuesday, November 10: Closed
- Wednesday, November 11 (Veterans Day): Open, because it is a federal holiday
- Thursday, November 12: Closed
- Friday through Sunday, November 13 to 15: Open
- Monday through Thursday, November 16 to 19: Closed
- Friday, November 20 and after: The weekday closure schedule ends. The park has said it plans to fully reopen the trail in November.
Projects like this can shift with the weather, so give the park closures page or the park’s @GreatSmokyNPS account a quick look before you go, especially right around November 20.
What the trail crews have been working on
The work is part of Trails Forever, a partnership between the park and Friends of the Smokies that pays for a permanent, highly skilled trail crew to rebuild the park’s busiest trails. Bullhead is the next trail on that list after Ramsey Cascades was finished in 2024.
The park’s release lists the improvements:
- Regrading about 3 miles of trail for safer footing and better drainage
- Repairing old drystone retaining walls and adding new stone steps
- Building turnpikes and other structures to control erosion
- Removing tripping hazards like roots and rocks
- Widening eroding stretches where the trail was sloughing off the hillside
- Pruning overgrown brush to open up the views
Crews have also been improving the upper sections of several trails near the top of Mount Le Conte to deal with erosion. Friends of the Smokies has put more than $4 million into rehabilitation projects so far, including Abrams Falls, Trillium Gap, Rainbow Falls, Alum Cave, Chimney Tops, Forney Ridge and Ramsey Cascades.
Know before you go
Bullhead is one of five routes to Mount Le Conte. The park describes it as a strenuous 13.6-mile round trip with steady views, rocky cliffs near the start, and a climb over the Bullhead, a heath-covered bald that can look like a bull’s head from a distance. It is usually quieter than the Alum Cave and Rainbow Falls routes.
- Trailhead: Park at the Rainbow Falls and Bullhead trailhead on Cherokee Orchard Road, about 2.5 miles from downtown Gatlinburg by way of traffic light #8 and Historic Nature Trail. Follow the gravel Old Sugarlands Trail about four-tenths of a mile to the Bullhead junction on your left.
- Parking: The lots fill early. You need a park parking tag for any stop longer than 15 minutes.
- Late fall conditions: The park warns that cold weather can bring ice and falling icicles on this trail and recommends microspikes in winter. Start early, since the days are short now.
- Le Conte Lodge: The lodge at the summit closes for the season on November 24. Our LeConte Lodge post covers what that means for day hikers.
Heading up that way soon? Cherokee Orchard Road is also the way into the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, which closes for the season at sunset on November 29. Our Roaring Fork post has more on that drive.
Another trail repair: part of Caldwell Fork reopens
There’s good news on the North Carolina side of the park, too. The park’s closures page says the 0.8-mile section of Caldwell Fork Trail leading to the Boogerman Trail junction, south of Cataloochee Valley, has reopened after Hurricane Helene repairs. Crews replaced two footbridges and rebuilt washed-out trail there.
The rest of Caldwell Fork beyond that junction is still closed to all users, and the park does not advise hiking the Boogerman Trail because its first 55-foot foot log washed away and the crossing is usually more than two feet deep. For now, treat the open stretch as an out-and-back walk.
Trail crews have had a busy year in the Smokies, and it’s nice to see the work paying off. Enjoy the cool, clear November views, and pack a layer or two.