Whippoorwill Trail

Whippoorwill Trail is 5+ miles and will acquaint you with more of the park's unique topography. Trail blaze yellow, Whippoorwill Trail starts at the top of a switchback located above the Splice bridge. It can be accessed in two ways. Take the Cowasee Trail to where it intersects the Whippoorwill, or take the Splice to where it intersects the Whippoorwill. Once on the Whippoorwill Trail starting near the Splice bridge, you'll start out in an area of pines before transitioning to a mix of pine and hardwoods. The trail generally follows the contours above a small spring fed creek that runs underneath the Splice bridge. When the trail opens up under power lines on this section, you can see the valley of this creek bottom. The trail will come to a narrow dirt road near the campgrounds where you'll be directed left by a signpost. You'll immediately see a small restroom ahead, turn right onto the dirt road. This is the group campgrounds area. Shortly thereafter, you'll be directed left back into the woods by a signpost. After this segment, Whippoorwill will cross the orange blazed Scout Loop back into the woods where you'll be met with plenty of climbs, short downhills and a few hand-benched sections of trail on the steeper hillsides. The trail generally follows the contours above Campbell's Creek. Whippoorwill trail ends when you intersect with the Scout Loop/Cowasee junction. At this signpost, continue on the Cowasee Trail to the parking lot.