Trail Overview
The south end of SW22 starts at the Smokey Creek Road Trailhead and starts out as a single-lane-width trail on gravel, with a shallow creek crossing right away. There’s a long flat slab of rock in the creek that can be slippery when wet. It goes through a scenic and lush forest with mossy dirt banks, and passes the entrance to the Cumberland hiking trail at a footbridge. The path crosses several more small streams with flat slabs of rock, and starts to narrow up a bit more in the forest, with shallow ruts and low-hanging branches. It gradually keeps climbing as it goes north, maintaining a steady grade. There are a few wet and muddy spots in the trail because the forest stays dark and shaded, holding onto the moisture, but this trail in particular looks more maintained and is not rutted out. Watch out for a few small logs down the trail. It dead-ends at a big scenic and mossy boulder after 2 miles, so this will have to be ridden as an out-and-back.
Difficulty
This is a moderate route due to several mild stream crossings with slick rocks, narrow sections, and muddy spots. Overall, it is relatively easy and should be approachable for less experienced riders. It gets steep on the north end. It also dead-ends with limited turnaround space. Although it doesn’t specify a designation for UTVs only, this trail is more ideal for SxSs and ATVs due to the narrowness of the trail.
