Tennesse Rock Loop Trailhead

The Tennessee Rock Trail at Black Rock Mountain State Park is a beautiful and rewarding hike that combines dense forest scenery, moderate elevation, and great viewpoints into a compact 2.2-mile loop. The trail winds through lush woods with a good variety of trees, offering peaceful shade and a refreshing natural feel. It’s especially pleasant for walking, hiking with family or friends, or even bringing your dog along. The path is well-marked and easy to follow, with some moderate climbs that add a bit of challenge without being too strenuous. The highlight of the hike is reaching the highest elevation point in Black Rock Mountain State Park: an excellent spot to pause and enjoy the panoramic views. There’s also a scenic overlook where you can see stretches of forested hills, which display decent fall colors, perhaps not the most vibrant in the region, but still quite pretty. Overall, it’s a great trail for anyone looking for a short, satisfying hike with a nice mix of forest density, gentle elevation, and views. Whether you’re an experienced hiker or just out for a peaceful nature walk, Tennessee Rock Trail is definitely worth visiting.

Great trail for moderate to easy hiking. Takes about an hour and 45 minutes to complete the entire loop. Probably not a dog friendly trail. There are no benches to sit on past the trailhead. If you take a left on the trail at the trailhead you will get to the summit much faster but it is the more immediate uphill way. There are a couple of nice lookouts on this side near the summit. Easy to follow trail with a few slightly slick areas if it has rained recently. Park ($5) in the lot on the switchback curve. Plenty of picnic tables to eat at. Trailhead is clearly marked. You can jump on 3 different trails at this one parking lot.

The Tennessee Rock Loop Trailhead is also shared with the James E. Edmonds Trailhead, which is the trail we opted for. The James E. Edmonds trails is not for the faint of heart. It’s rated hard and says it’s a 7.2 mile loop, but we clocked it closer to 9.2 miles. It’s a lot of steep inclines and declines. Plenty of creek crossings, you can veer off to see the lake and there is a beautiful overlook! Plan to do this one again in the spring!

You will reach the trailhead parking area before you reach main gate and visitor center of Black Rock Mountain park, there is a clear sign for the Tennessee Rock Trail. The trail is a loop, you can go either clockwise or counter-clockwise, the trail mark starts on right, if you want to go straight up to the rock, head left. The summit is marked by a large rock with the elevation engraved on it, then it comes to the rock, It is said you can see 3 states from the rock: Tennessee，South Carolina, North Carolina, mainly Tennessee, that's reason the rock was named. The trail is not difficult, 2.82 miles and elevation 653 ft, 1-1.5 hour should be enough to complete it. Spring or Fall should be the best time for the trail.

This trail is about 2.2 miles and it took us maybe 1hr 40min to complete with a couple stops. Most of the trail is relatively easy/moderate but there is a point about halfway through where there’s a steep uphill climb for maybe 10-20min which was difficult. No benches anywhere to sit and be wary of the roots sticking out from the ground (very easy to trip). You get to the stone sign first and then a couple min walk from there is the lookout. Follow the yellow diamonds on the trees to stay on track.

Went with a group put together by Tee her instagram is @_asipoftee_ which was great. There's a bit of elevation to get to the view but worth it seeing the fall colors along the way. $5 parking fee which is done by way of the honor system. No Bathroom at the start of the trail unless you want to go uphead to parking location a little further up ahead.

We recently hiked the trail at sunrise and it was a wonderful morning! The park gates open automatically at 7am, so we arrived at 6:45am and waited a little while for the gates to open. There is a parking lot at the trailhead, and the payment box is located where the trail begins. We paid $5 to park for the day. Two trails use the same trailhead, but there is signage where they split their separate ways. Eventually the Tennessee Rock Loop trail splits, and we read that hiking the trail counterclockwise is longer to get to the top. Since we arrived at 7am for the 7:40am sunrise, we chose to start the loop to the left and hike the trail clockwise so we could make it to the overlook faster. It took approximately 30 minutes for us to reach the overlook, so we got to the top a couple minutes before sunrise! It was very peaceful to hike back down as the soft golden light from the sunrise was shining through the fall leaves! I don't hike on a regular basis, and I found this hike challenging but definitely doable and fun!

Going to the left about 40 yards in (at the Y), and it becomes a steep shortcut to the overlooks. There's 2 great overlooks about 40 feet apart, looking North at the Nantahala national Forest. Absolutely breathtaking view