Alex Hauck

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

In Search of the Needles Eye

Big South Fork River & Recreation Area
April 17 – 19, 2025

This was a fun one! I think I first saw the Needles Eye feature on an Instagram post but have since seen it in a couple of YouTube videos and knew I needed to see it for myself. I have yet to go backcountry camping up in Big South Fork and thought it would be a good time to get out there.

After doing a little bit of research I came to realize that there are not any “official trails” to find this feature. The map I have of Big South Fork is the National Geographic topographic map, and even a few of the major trails are not listed, so I turned to my arch enemy AllTrails.

- Leatherwood Trailhead -

After looking around on AllTrails for a bit I found a horse / hiking loop trail that was labeled as Hurricane Ridge, and it shows the side trail to Needles Eye. I could get to this trail by taking The John Muir Trail towards Honey Creek Loop.

I decided for this one instead of setting up and tearing down camp each night, I would have a base camp for both nights. This would turn out to be a smart move, as I could just carry my day hiking kit instead of lugging everything with me. I decided to start up at the Leatherwood Trailhead and figured I could find a decent spot along the Cumberland River to set up and have a good water source. I left work on Friday and headed up where I hiked the John Muir trail for about a mile and found a nice sandy beach location to set up camp.

- View of the Cumberland River from my camp -

There was quite a bit of poison ivy or oak around this spot, so I did have to be a bit careful what I rubbed up against, it was right along the river with a terrific view. I was not going to do anything fancy for dinner / breakfast and just brought freeze dried meals as I decided to keep this one very basic. I am trying to put into practice what I learned on my Slickrock hike by figuring out my goals of the trip and plan accordingly.

The following morning after a quick breakfast and coffee, I was out on the trail the. taking the John Muir trail south along the Cumberland River is a very nice, easy hike. I love river views and mix in some of Big South Forks rocky features you have a lot to look at. When you get down to the old O&W train bridge you cross it and turn right to keep following the John Muir Trail. The Bridge will give you a great opportunity to view the Cumberland River.

- The old O&W Railroad Bridge -

This part of the hike turns very forestry and is the only part that has some major elevation. It does take you past a fantastic little waterfall. Up to this point in the year we have had a lot of rain so the waterfall was full, not sure how it would look during the dryer part of the year.

- Waterfall along the John Muir Trail -

The trail then swings west and north for a bit, and you get to see another beautiful feature called Devil’s Den. It is a rock outcropping that formed a very shallow cave. I could see how this may have been used in the past for some moonshining, but that is just my guess.

- Devil's Den -

As the trail swings back into a southernly direction you will come up on a junction. You will want to go right / west here as this is part of the Hurricane Loop trail that I found on AllTrails. This area seems to be a bunch of horse trails stitched together over time and have been given names by locals written on signs. I have not found any good maps of this area but there are several painted and handwritten signs that point you towards Needles Arch.

Just before you get to the arch there is a little spot with a picnic table and a cable to tie up any horses. To get down to the arch is a very short but narrow hike. Needles Eye is a wonder to see and with my limited writing ability I will never do it justice. When you get to the entrance there is a smaller arch within the larger one. There is a steep ledge once you get inside but they have a ladder so you can climb down and explore. The exit is rather large and leads to the side of the mountain, so you will have to leave the way you came in back up the ladder.

- Looking up the ladder to the Devil's Den entrance -

After a quick snack packed up and started my hike back to camp. I thought about trying to do the whole Hurricane Loop but figure I would be pushing daylight. I did take a wrong turn at one of the trail junctions that added a half a mile to my total hiked. It was the warmest day of the year so far and while a drank a lot of water when I got back to camp, I was a little dehydrated. Took a dip in the river, had some Gatorade, and started to feel a little better. I then ate dinner, had a small fire and called it a night.

This was an absolutely amazing trip, and I want to get back up to this area soon as there is more stuff to see. I may see if there are any good places to camp closer so I can cover more ground, but the little bit of the area I did see I don’t think there would be much water in the dry season.

As always my friends...hike on, and stay safe!

My map recording from AllTrails you can find it by clicking here. The southern most part of the track is where I realized that I made a wrong turn and had to double back.

Story Pictures:

Story Links:

YouTube Video:

~ Coming Soon ~

Monday, May 12, 2025

Overnight on the Little River

Great Smoky Mountains National Park
March 22-23, 2025

The backcountry of the Smoky Mountains was calling to me and I had to go. This was my first night out in the backcountry since my Slickrock /Citico trip, so I decided to hike down the Little River to the farthest backcountry camp on the trail #30 Three Forks.

- Area Trail Map -

The Little River trail is a popular trail that starts in the Elkmont Campground area of the Smoky Mountains National Park and to no surprise follows the Little River. The first 2.4 miles is the most popular as you can put it together with the Cucumber Gap trail to make a nice little 5-mile loop. The Little River portion is very similar to the Middle Prong trail, a nice light-grade hike along a beautiful river. In fact, this trail only becomes slightly difficult once you pass backcountry campsite #24. The only two things that make it a bit harder are a washed-out section of trail right after the campsite and then a couple of river crosses when you get closer to #30.

It was a pleasant day with the sun shining and a slight breeze but it was going to get cooler during the night. As soon as you start hiking there will be a side trail to the right which will take you to what has come to be known as the troll bridge. It is a rock bridge covered with moss and adds a bit of fantasy, hobbit vibe to the landscape. The hike continues up the Little River as you pass little waterfalls and cascades making the sound of rushing water and relieving a person of everyday stress.

- The Troll Bridge -

Around the 2.1-mile mark you will come to a little footbridge with a slender waterfall running down a rocky wall on your right. Then at the 2.4-mile mark is the intersection with Cucumber Trail and if you turn right this is that little 5-mile loop hike I talked about earlier. Continuing straight in about a quarter to half mile you will run into the intersection of Huskey Gap on the left and Backcountry site #21 a little further down that trail.

Once past Huskey Gap the trail narrows and becomes just a little more rugged, but still a nice walk. When you reach the 4-mile mark the linkup with the Goshen Prong Trail will be to your right. Then at the 4.5-mile mark you reach backcountry site #24 Rough Creek and then just beyond is the Rough Creek Trail junction to the left. At this point the trail becomes rockier and depending on the condition of the trail that is washed out you might have to use the river to cross.

The trail stays narrow here at the end but the space between the river and mountains opens to create a little valley where there is grass. As I hiked this section flower stems were just starting to come up, but most were still closed. I imagine a couple weeks later these opened to some amazing spring flowers. There are two substantial river crossings before you finally reach the Three Forks campsite.

- Taking a rest along a grassy portion of the Little River -

The campsite is almost like a little island, and it has plenty of space. What it does not have is a lot of flat ground nor trees to hang up a tarp or hammock easily. I brought my tarp on this trip, but a tent would be the ideal shelter at this campsite. With the sun out the site was buggy, so I started a small fire to try and smoke them out. At this point my wife texted me through my Garmin InReach to say the park had put a fire ban in place. So, I cooked my dinner early and put out the fire. Since I was not yet super hungry, I just ate the lamb chops, which were outstanding, but didn’t make the potatoes. I have had those instant potatoes since the Slickrock Creek hike, and I still have them. Hopefully here soon I will be able to use them.

- Cooking some Lamb Chops -

I really wanted to film a “camping” video, but I quickly ran out of time while trying to fit my tarp in a couple of different locations. Other than the trees being used for the bear hangers there were not any good close trees to tie the tarp off too that was on flat ground.

Then with how fast I had to cook my food and no fire it basically took a lot of the camp aspects out of the video. It would turn out to be a chilly night, but it was beautiful with all the stars that could be seen.

- Camp light in fire ambient mode -

The next day I packed up and headed out. It was a nice trip, just what I needed. I know I end most of my posts with I cannot wait to do it again, and this is one is not any different. Being in East Tennessee there are just so many great places to hike and camp it is hard not to go to a new place to experience though. There are so many of these trails I would love to do again, that getting back around to them is hard. As always, my friends hike on and stay safe out there.