Panthertown Valley Trails
This is your guide to the individual trails in the Panthertown Valley area. Using this information, you can combine these trails into several day hikes or overnight trips on loops or out-and-back routes to your favorite landmarks. If you would like more guidance, we also provide complete information - including maps, directions, descriptions, and photos - to guide you along what we consider to be the best hikes using these trails.
Big Green
USGS/USFS Number: 447
This trail leads to the top of Big Green Mountain, with excellent views.
Blackridge
Blackrock
USGS/USFS Number: 491
Deep Gap
USGS/USFS Number: 449
Starting at the Panthertown Valley trail downhill from Salt Rock, this trail descends to cross Frolictown Creek just above its small, scenic waterfall. The trail is an old road and the surface reflects that.
Devil's Elbow
USGS/USFS Number: 448
Granny Burrell Falls
USGS/USFS Number: 486
In addition to providing access to the long, sliding Granny Burrell Falls, and the huge pool downstream of them, this trail travels near some neat portions of Panthertown Creek. A Carlton McNeil classic, it twists and turns through some of the densest mountain laurel tunnels to be found anywhere.
Great Wall
USGS/USFS Number: 489
This trail was previously considered two trails by most, but the Forest Service has officially combined them into one. For this reason, it has two distinct characters on the two different sections that now share the same name. Starting on the Deep Gap Trail, the trail descends as an old road to cross Panthertown Creek upstream of Granny Burrell Falls. Shortly thereafter, it enters the level valley at the upper end of Panthertown Creek and passes an old hunting shelter. The trail is open to bikes and horses up to the shelter. Beyond, it is open only to hiking, and it travels generally south below the sheer cliffs on the west side of Big Green Mountain, before veering northeast away from the creek. Up to this point the trail is mostly level and there are very few obstacles, but here it ascends steeply on a narrower, rougher path until the end at the intersection with the Big Green trail southeast of the summit. Makes a part of a great loop which includes many of the waterfalls in the valley.
Greenland Creek
USGS/USFS Number: 488
Formerly called Carlton's Way, named after Carlton McNeil. Carlton was a nearby resident who loved the Panthertown valley and was known locally as its "keeper". He blazed many of the trails in the area, including this one, and his trails characteristically twist and turn through the undergrowth. This trail goes to one of the nicer destinations in the valley - Greenland Creek Falls - from the Cold Mountain parking area. The upland portion courses through a mixed forest while the creekside portions are sometimes wet and muddy.
Little Green
USGS/USFS Number: 485
The Little Green trail starts at the Panthertown Valley trail where it crosses Greenland Creek, near the Cold Mountain entrance to the valley. It starts on a level course along the creek, where there are some bridge structures to carry you over some muddy seeps. It is a short distance the right side of Schoolhouse Falls, one of the most popular places in Panthertown. This is where most people stop, but the trail veers right and twists up the slopes of Little Green Mountain. After a 600' climb through a mixed hardwood forest, you'll arrive at the top of Little Green Mountain, where there are some spectacular views and great early season blueberry picking. The trail then swings south, and joins with the Mac's Gap trail, making some good loop options available.
Mac's Gap
USGS/USFS Number: 482
North Road
USGS/USFS Number: 452
Panthertown Valley
USGS/USFS Number: 474
This is the main trail through the valley which stretches from the Cold Mountain entrance to the Salt Rock entrance. Portions of this trail are open to horses and/or bikes. It passes near many of the main attractions within the valley, so many loop hikes will utilize it. The surface is generally gravel or dirt/doubletrack, with some lengths near Panthertown Creek that are sandy. Being an old road, grades are generally gentle to moderate.
Powerline Road
USGS/USFS Number: 451
Rattlesnake Knob
USGS/USFS Number: 452
Riding Ford
USGS/USFS Number: 450
Formerly called the Green Creek trail.
Turkey Knob
USGS/USFS Number: 469
Wilderness Falls
USGS/USFS Number: 490
Formerly called the Frolictown trail. Starting at Salt Rock along the Panthertown Valley trail, this trail descends on a narrow, twisty, somewhat steep path to the base of Wilderness Falls. I'm not sure who named this falls, but the name sort of fits, although most people just call it the falls on Double Knob Branch. At any rate, the naming of the trail should help seal the name of the falls it leads to, which is a very worthwhile destination. Beyond the bottom of the falls, the trail twists and turns some more through the bottoms along Frolictown Creek before coming to an end at the Deep Gap trail right across from another waterfall on that creek.
