House Mountain State Natural Area




Trail Name	House Mountain State Natural Area
Nearest City	Knoxville
State	Tennessee
Trail Marking	Various
Trail Use/Features
Difficulty Rating	Medium
Hiking Time	4.54.5 Hours <br />0.281 Days <br />270 Min <br />
Distance, round-trip	4.54.5 mi <br />7.242 km <br />
Climb/Descent Elevation	~900"~" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property. / {{{Elevation Loss}}}"{{{Elevation Loss}}}" is not a number.
High Point	2,0912,091 Feet <br />697 Yards <br />637.337 Meters <br />
Nearest Medical	Knoxville, TN
Trip Reports	Click Here

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Trail Overview

House Mountain is a two mile long sandstone spine north of Knoxville. Trail heads up to the 2,100' highpoint of Knox County for overlooks to the Cumberland Mountains and Smokies.

How to get there

From Kingsport, TN

South on I-26.
West on I-40 to Exit 392 for US 11W (Rutledge Pike).
North along Rutledge Pike for about 10 miles.
Just after the brown House Mountain information sign, turn left onto Idumea Road for 0.6 mile.
Take another left onto Hogskin Road.
Parking is on the right at new lot with covered picnic area and pit toilets.

Alternatively, take US 11W past Rogersville, Bean Station, and Rutledge to turn onto Idumea Road.

Route Description

Multiple trails. Typical loop hike would be to take Mountain Trail up to Crest Trail out to the NE overlook to see the Cumberland Mountains, back along Crest Trail to the SW overlook for the Smokies and parts of Knoxville, and finally down West Overlook (former Turkey) Trail to the parking lot. The reverse direction can also be taken. Some of the trails are very close to the nature preserve boundary, thus a private ATV path might be seen lower on the mountain.

Trail	Miles	Blaze	Difficulty
Left Sawmill Loop	0.3	White	Easy
Right Sawmill Loop	0.4	White	Easy
West Overlook Trail	0.8	White	Medium
Mountain Trail	1.0	Blue	Medium
Crest Trail	1.5	Red	Easy

Typical Conditions

Work has now started to upgrade the trails; however, the West Overlook and Mountain trails are steep and badly eroded in places. The lower third of the Mountain trail has been renovated, thus a decent path passing some large boulders. The Crest trail follows mostly a jeep road, but also has spur routes onto private property. The overlooks have no railing, thus steep dropoffs. Can be crowded on peak fall weekends.

Fees, Permits, etc.

No permit or fee. The nature area closes at dusk.

After the Hike

Misc. Information

A nice gallery of photographs from a hike has been posted by Kris Light.
The official TN.gov House Mountain webpage including map.

Maps

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Photos