Tennessee trails · Cove Mountain Trail

Cove Mountain Trail

A 8.5-mile out-and-back in Tennessee, with 2,636 ft of climbing. Reaches Cove Mountain and other summit destinations. Managed by the National Park Service.

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Length

8.5 mi

Elevation gain

2,636 ft

Difficulty

Expert

Max grade

18%

Steepest mile

+509 ft

Tread at ≥10% grade

2.5 mi

Shape

out-and-back

Managed by

National Park Service

Elevation profile

The climbing is spread fairly evenly along the route. It climbs almost continuously, with little descent to recover on.

3-D terrain

USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5

Reaches

Cove Mountain (summit)
Phils View (summit)
Holy Butt (summit)
Mount Harrison (summit)

Heads up

Stream ford: expect at least one unbridged crossing.

Getting there

Fighting Creek Nature Trail junction — parking nearby, water. About 32 min drive (18 mi) from Sevierville. 35.68678, -83.53790 · directions

Daylight at the trailhead

On October 14, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 7:13 a.m., the sun rises at 7:39 a.m. and sets at 7:00 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 7:25 p.m. (EDT) — 11 h 21 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 17.0-mile round trip takes roughly 8 h 56 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 4:35 p.m. — 2 h 25 min before sunset.