Road Prong Trail from Kuwohi Road
For roughly a century, beginning in the 1830s, the only established route across the great crest of the Great Smoky Mountains was the Oconaluftee Turnpike. But as you might imagine, it differed greatly from today’s turnpikes. Rather, it was a rocky wagon road that followed an old Cherokee trace up and over mile-high Indian Gap, a road built primarily for the purpose of driving livestock to market.
With the coming of the national park in 1934, a new route was proposed and built through a lower, newly found gap: the aptly named Newfound Gap Road, still the only highway (aka U.S. 441) that crosses the Smokies divide. Unlike the retired turnpike, the two-lane paved road slicing through the park was designed primarily for recreational driving—in horseless carriages, of course.
Today, what’s left of the old turnpike—about 2.4 miles—is known as Road Prong Trail. From its upper trailhead along Kuwohi Road, the path follows a rough and wet course before terminating at Chimney Tops Trail. Although it’s a difficult trail at best, you may wish to get at least a taste of the former turnpike before it begins dipping in and out of Road Prong itself. By hiking even a short distance, you can relive a rugged piece of long-lost Smokies history, if water levels are fairly low and you have sturdy footwear.
Road Prong Trail from Kuwohi Road
The spacious trailhead parking area at Indian Gap allows access not only to Road Prong, but also to the Appalachian Trail. At this point Newfound Gap is just under two miles heading northbound on the AT; Mount Katahdin, the AT’s northern terminus, just under 2,000 miles. You’ll find Road Prong trailhead situated to the left of the AT heading north from here.
The path initially follows a course wedged between Sugarland Mountain and Mingus Lead. Except for the clatter of loose rocks, it’s quiet walking through a boreal forest until rushing Road Prong pops up to the left of the trail. After about one-half mile of hiking, the trail begins a wet crisscrossing of Road Prong.
Soon the trail crosses a tributary tumbling toward the prong. You then hike past Indian Grave Flats, where a Cherokee Indian was buried by Confederate troops after Union soldiers mortally wounded him.
As you continue down the trail you may encounter a few blowdowns before reaching a wide, hazardous stream crossing. Alas, there’s no foot log at the fording of the prong, contrary to one being noted in at least one published trail guide. Rather than attempting a wet rock hop, you may wish to return to Kuwohi Road at this point, especially if there’s been heavy rainfall recently.
If you decide you can safely continue downstream, you’ll soon arrive at Beech Flats and the path’s junction with the crazily busy Chimney Tops Trail. But in any case, you can still enjoy a lovely stream scene that recalls just how ruggedly remote the old turnpike was before yielding to a vastly different thoroughfare in the 20th century.
About the author: Ben Anderson is author of Smokies Chronicle: A Year of Hiking in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (blairpub.com).