Watauga Lake Trail

The walk most people skip

Everyone drives to Watauga Lake to hike the Appalachian Trail. We get it. The AT is the famous one. But the AT around here climbs to a dam crossing or up Pond Mountain, and a lot of our guests, especially the ones traveling with grandparents or small kids, want a flatter day.

The lakeside trail from Shook Branch is that day.

It runs along the south shore of Watauga Lake for about six miles before the terrain starts to roll. The footpath is technically part of the Appalachian Trail’s lakeshore section, but it doesn’t feel like the AT. It feels like a long, quiet walk in the woods next to a very blue lake.

We send people here all the time. Nobody comes back disappointed.

Getting there from the door

Ten minutes. Out the driveway, left on Highway 67, follow the lake about seven miles east, and Shook Branch is on your left right before you’d start climbing the ridge toward Hampton. There’s a brown Forest Service sign. If you hit the AT crossing at the highway, you’ve gone a quarter mile too far.

Parking is paved. There’s a restroom that’s open when the recreation area is open (mid-May through mid-September). Outside that window the gate is sometimes closed and you’ll park at the small pull-off across the road. Either way, the trail is easy to find from the lot, head toward the water, look for a small wooden post with white blazes painted on it.

What the trail is actually like

For the first two miles it’s wide, smooth, and shaded. Hardwood canopy overhead, lake to your right, a couple of small wooden footbridges over feeder streams. Footing is dirt and pine duff with a few exposed roots. Trail runners and even tennis shoes are fine.

You’re never far from the water. Every quarter mile or so the trail bends out onto a little point where the lake opens up in front of you. Bring something to sit on. The flat rocks above the waterline are warm in the afternoon and we’ve eaten more sandwiches there than anywhere else on the lake.

Around mile two and a half the trail starts to climb a little, nothing serious, but you’ll feel it. Around mile four it bends inland and away from the water. Most people turn around before then. We do.

The view that surprises people

Watauga Lake is in a steep-sided basin. From the trail you can see straight across the water to the north shore, which is undeveloped Cherokee National Forest. No houses. No docks. Just trees and water and, on a quiet weekday, almost nothing else.

In the morning the lake is glass and you’ll hear loons. By noon the boats are out and the wake reaches the shoreline a long time after the boat is gone. If you’re hiking with kids, time it so you’re at a rocky cove around 11 a.m. and let them watch the wake roll in. They will be entertained for a long time.

A few things to know

There’s no drinking water on the trail. There’s no drinking water at Shook Branch either, the spigot is non-potable. Bring a water bottle.

There’s no shade in the parking lot, so on a hot August day your car will be a sauna when you get back. Park under one of the trees if you can.

Black bears live in this forest. We’ve had guests see them on this trail maybe twice in five years, both times the bear ran the other way. Don’t leave food in your car at the trailhead, don’t leave a backpack on a rock if you walk down to the water, and you’ll be fine.

Cell service is spotty. Download an offline map before you go, or just don’t worry about it, the trail is impossible to lose.

When to go

April and May are wet and green, with wildflowers along the path, trillium first, then mountain laurel in late May. June through August the lake is the warmest and the trail is the busiest, though “busy” here means you might see ten people in two hours.

September is our favorite. The water is still warm enough to swim, the air gets crisp at night, and the early fall color starts to show up on the ridges across the lake. October 10 to 25 is peak foliage. November the lake gets quiet again and the leaves are down, so the views open up.

Winter the trail is hikeable but icy in spots. We don’t usually send people out there in January unless they have microspikes.

What to pair it with

The easy day looks like this: walk for an hour or two, swim at Shook Branch, drive ten minutes back toward the property, stop at Watauga Lake Mercantile for an ice cream cone, home by 3 p.m.

If you want to make a longer day of it, drive five more minutes after the hike to the Watauga Dam AT crossing — different trailhead, same general area, completely different feel. The dam walk is short, dramatic, and worth the side trip.

You could also pair this with a stop in Hampton for lunch and groceries before you head back.

Related

• Shook Branch Recreation Area — the trailhead, with swimming and picnicking
• The Appalachian Trail at Watauga Lake — the broader AT section this trail is part of
• Cherokee National Forest — what surrounds you out here
• Watauga Lake — the lake itself, and what makes it different
• The property — where you start and end the day

Related on the lake

• Shook Branch — the trailhead
• The walkable option if you arrive without a car