Jeep Off Roading At Balsam Mountain (Tennessee / North Carolina)

Balsam Mountain Road Off Road Trail is near the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s a fun offroad trail not far from Gatlinburg TN and the North Carolina border.

You don’t really need a 4WD vehicle, but we drove our Jeep Wrangler. This is one of the water crossings on Balsam Mountain Road.

LOCATION: Balsam Mountain & Heintooga Ridge Road is accessed from the Blue Ridge Parkway near milemarker 458.

DIRECTIONS: First, follow Heintooga Ridge Road for 9 miles (paved) to a picnic area that’s 1 mile past the campground. Then, continue on the one-way gravel road for 1 hour before arriving in Cherokee, North Carolina.

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TRANSCRIPT:

The road is good and hard.

Four-wheel drive is not required. In fact, at the beginning of the trailhead, the only thing it does say is “no motorhomes, no trucks with trailers” so…

Any family car works. We passed an older guy mountain biking. We passed a family in their van so…

A Jeep is not required. Four-wheel drive is not required.

But, it’s a 14-mile hike between Black Mountain Gap and it takes you back to Cherokee.

Earlier in the day it was a little sunnier. We’re about halfway through. A lot of ground cover. A lot of little creeks.

For the most part, this is a… Lynnette’s giving this trail a “half bear” rating because there’s a lot of canopy.

While there was the allure of a lot of scenic overlooks, there really wasn’t. But it was a nice little trail. Was a fun ride. A 14-mile ride. We’re probably close to the end. And maybe now the most eventful thing that we will see is a small water ford crossing. We’ll give you a look at it.

Again, four-wheel drive not required. And family cars can pass. So here we go…

You can see the road narrows down into this small creek. And you do want to be careful. Maybe during some rain storms or higher water situations, it could prove to be an event.

But for the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited on a non-4WD trail, this will be a non-4WD experience!

It’s a great view! Something a little fun for your novice four wheel drive.

You can say you had your Jeep or off-road vehicle on a crossing!