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Gatlinburg Trail

The Gatlinburg Trail is one of only two pet-friendly trails in the Great Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg, TN. The trail extends 1.9 miles one-way from the Sugarlands Visitor Center to the outskirts of the city. Hikers will see beautiful views of the Little Pigeon River and come across foundations and chimneys of several old homesites along the way. Visit Website

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Reviews

BringFido Guest Rating
TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Gatlinburg Trail has received a rating of 4.5 out of 5 bones by 34 canine critics on BringFido and 4.5 out of 5 by 552 guests on TripAdvisor.


Visitors generally enjoyed the Gatlinburg Trail, with many praising it as an easy, scenic hike with plenty of opportunities for dogs to cool off in the river. Some travelers noted that the trail is close to the road in parts, and wished for more dog-friendly trails in the area.

AI-generated from the text of reviews

  • Sarah
    Oct 12, 2024
    Better than nothing!

    Listen, this kind of trail would be considered absolute paradise if we had one in our Kansas home town. For a National Park? It was slightly dull and disappointing. However, our dog loved it! Especially the portions of shallow. clear, crisp river water he got to romp in. All in all we were happy there was a place he could enjoy inside the park!

  • Laney
    Jul 26, 2024
    Fun trail!

    This was a nice trail for dogs and had lots of places to go into the river. It was also shady almost the whole trail. My dog had fun and we saw lots of other dogs!

  • Shannen
    Jul 2, 2024
    Happy wet pup

    Brought my pup on the trail. He loved swimming in the river and sniffing all the smells. There were quite a few other pups on this path—I used it to help get him used to encountering other pups while on trails. It was wide enough to pull off to the side and plenty of areas to move off the trail completely and hang by the creek if you needed to wait for other pups to pass. 🐶 he says he would do it again

  • Cindy
    Jun 15, 2024
    Nice River Trail

    We enjoyed this trail along the Little Pigeon River in the Great Smoky Mountain NP. It is mostly level with one spot of incline and almost all the way we were in shade. So great to have the river for our pup to cool off. Even though it was clearly marked for dogs to be on leash, we encountered 3 off leash and a very aggressive pair of Pit Bulls that Owners could barely hold back. Wish there were Rangers patrolling and ticketing; these are people who ruin it for the rest of us responsible dog owners.

  • Stephanie
    Mar 13, 2024
    LOVED

    This was a great option for a trail, your dog can choose how difficult or easy it is for them. There is a pretty flat path the entire way, but mini drop offs that they can run up and down to get to the river bank. Plenty of roots to jump over on the drop offs. Even a shore line for your pup to take a quick dip! One of my favorites! With only a few dog trails on town the National Park did pretty great with this one.

  • Tamara
    Oct 23, 2023
    Great, easy trail

    This trail is very easy to walk. It has some pretty sights. There is a short trail to the road and Great Smoky Mountains National Park sign. Quick and easy photo op! My dog had knee surgery 2 years ago and it sometimes will still bother her after a long outing. She did not have any issues on this trail because it was flat and easy.

  • Doug
    Oct 19, 2023
    We and the boys loved it!

    2 miles each way for a total distance of 4 round trip. Weather was perfect, I highly recommend this trail. Flat and easy walking mostly under the canopy of the trees!

  • Vanesa
    Sep 22, 2023
    Not exactly a trail but my dog enjoyed it

    I was a little sad that dogs are completely forbidden from almost every trail in the Smokey. While this trail is basically just a walk in a flat forest, my dog really enjoyed the water and was happy to dip in it a couple of times.

  • Kyra
    Aug 31, 2023
    Great, but needs trash cans

    for a dog friendly trail, they have 0 trash cans for you to throw poop bags in. we had to bring the poop bags home in the car (gross!) so that we could throw them away & not liter.

  • Dawn
    May 1, 2023
    Great hike

    loves the views and great hike for the dogs.

  • Amy
    Apr 1, 2023
    Easy walk for all ages

    The trail was quite busy but we were there over spring break so that was to be expected. Even so, it was a beautiful walk with a few areas to let your dog cool off in the water. Everyone on the trail was friendly and other dog owners did a great job keeping the dogs in check too.

  • Ashley
    Feb 24, 2023
    Fun walk

    We enjoyed hiking the Gatlinburg Trail with our 1.5 year old Golden Retriever. Pretty flat hike but great for our pup’s first big one. It’s right along the water which sounded lovely. We parked alongside the road, but would recommend parking at the visitor’s center.

  • Whiskey
    Jan 6, 2023
    A little weird, but overall nice stroll

    As other reviewers mentioned, the trail is sort of weird if you start at the Sugarlands Visitor Center because you have to walk along the road for a bit until you reach the trail. However, once on the trail it was very nice with a river and trees that made you forget that you were walking on a road just minutes ago. We met a friendly local that came stocked with dog treats and offered one to my dog (after getting my permission) and of course my dog thought that was the best thing ever.

  • Hannah
    Jun 11, 2022
    Not great

    This isn’t so much a trail as it is a flat dirt path that follows the road and the river. Some of the views from the trail include graffiti on a bridge underpass and a kind of storage facility for the park rangers. It’s ok considering it’s one of only two trails in the whole national park that allows dogs and the river is nice. There are much more interesting trails that are dog friendly in surrounding state parks.

  • Mary Grace
    May 28, 2022
    Great mini hike!!

    I loved this trail! It’s pretty flat and not super long, about 4 miles round trip. It was great for my 5 year old pup and she loved it. Park at the Sugarlands visitors center!!

  • KIMBERLY A
    Feb 5, 2022
    Great Trail

    Very easy great views. Some parts of the trail you have to walk on the road.

  • Jessica
    Jul 25, 2021
    Beautiful trail

    great trail. lots of dogs and people. mostly shaded the whole way and along the water

  • Jesse
    May 5, 2021
    Pretty good

    One of the very few trails you can bring your dogs on. The woods part of the hike was nice, river runs through, some spots people would let their dogs in the water. We enjoyed our time on the trail, my only small complaint is the first quarter of the “hike” is walking along side the road and at the time we went there were cars having to try to go around us and felt congested and keeping ourselves and the dogs off the road as much as possible but narrow.

  • Lindsay
    Apr 28, 2021
    Wonderful dog friendly trail!

    The Gatlinburg Trail is very dog friendly. My dog enjoyed laying in the water too cool off once we were done with our hike, which was quite entertaining.

  • Jacob
    Feb 12, 2021
    The Gatlinburg Trail

    The trail was very easy to hike and close to town. It offers some beautiful views, and it has several easy accessible places to stop on the rivers edge. Our girls loved stopping to play in the water and drink before continuing on the hike. The only downfall is that it’s close to the road in places, but it’s definitely worth a visit!

  • Nichole
    Oct 11, 2020
    Perfect Walk!

    Noel and Tucker enjoyed this beautiful walk along and in the river. It’s an easy walk and you will see lots of other furry friends.

  • Mavie
    Sep 22, 2020
    Paws Up!

    Fun, easy walk, enjoyed seeing lots of other doggos. Mom found lots of places to snap my picture and I really enjoyed all the fun places to explore, so many smells 🐾

  • Sandi
    Feb 9, 2020
    River!

    What a great place! I didn’t have time to fully explore this nugget of beauty but I will be back. I asked someone how far it went back

  • Rachel
    Feb 4, 2020
    Beautiful Trail

    The Gatlinburg trail may have been shorter than we were use to. But it still is a nice trail, and very beautiful. Overall a safe and enjoy walk, only down part is how close it is to the road for a little bit. It would also be nice if there were more dog friendly trails nearby.

  • Morgan
    Dec 27, 2019
    Great Trail

    Great, easy trail in the heart of gatlinburg. We just wish there were more pet friendly trails in the area!

  • Laura
    Nov 12, 2019
    Wonderful Time!

    Great trail with all kinds of things for a dog to explore. Lots of other visitors with their pets on leashes.

  • Rachael
    Oct 18, 2019
    So Dog Friendly!

    Super super dog friendly! Couldn’t even count how many dogs we saw while walking to trail. Very close to the main strip of Gatlinburg and very close to a road, so I did not worry at all about bears. It is just far enough away from the road but also runs along a river. Super beautiful and overall a great trail!

  • Amanda
    Oct 10, 2019
    Great Easy Walk

    The trail was very nice and my dog love playing in the edge of the water. Lots of dogs on the trail.

  • Jenn
    Aug 12, 2019
    Great hiking trail

    This trail was great for my 9.5month pup who loves long walks. My mom has a very small dog that needed to be carried some of the way (the gravel was a little rough on his paw pads). The trail was great! It even had some water access areas for the pups to play and cool off. This was a big hit!

  • Marhia
    Jul 21, 2019
    Great trail!

    Bane & Sidney loved this trail! It was very easy for Bane (he's a bit older), wasn't too busy, and was a nice break away from the city. Our babes loved getting in the water... It was refreshing & fun! Sidney has never been hiking before, much less away from GA, so it was her 1st hike ever - I can honestly say it was a good 1st hike for her & she's pumped for more!

  • Dustinnicole
    Jul 10, 2019
    great Location

    This trail was perfect for our family. The scenery was beautiful and it had access to the creek for our husky to play in the water to cool off which was a God send because it was hot and didn't want her getting over heated

  • Melissa
    Jul 7, 2019
    Tyson loved the hike

    Very nice easy trail. Tyson loves the creek. There were other dogs along the trail. The only drawback was we couldn’t take him to the falls that were close.

  • Brandy
    May 9, 2019
    Gatlinburg Trail Was Great

    Linking up with Gatlinburg trail is also cataract falls trail. Guide told us no one cares if you take your dogs there, which we did. Gatlinburg trail has spots for great views and where the dogs can get into the water to cool off and have a little fun

  • Shelly
    Mar 20, 2019
    Easy hike

    One of the only trails in the national park that allows dogs. It's a very easy hike, but is pretty and runs along the river for most of the way. We ran into a lot of other pups

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Area Info

Gatlinburg Trail