Little River Canyon National Preserve, the Trail of Tears
in Alabama · centroid 48 mi from Chattanooga
Little River Canyon National Preserve is a place of beauty that is also host to stories of adversity and survival. Over 1,100 men, women, and children moved through the Little River area during the removal of the Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) Indians. Cherokee John Benge led the Fort Payne group of American Indians over 798 miles on the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma, crossing the Little River above the falls near the present-day Highway 35 bridge.
Site Information Location (4322 Little River Trail NE (472 AL Hwy 35 for GPS)) Access Contact visitor center hours and directions to the river crossing site Safety Considerations More Site Information Trail of Tears National Historic Trail
- States
- Alabama
- Trail type
- National Preserve trail
- Centroid nearest city
- Chattanooga, TN · 48 mi · ~1.4 hr drive
- Centroid coords
- 34.3989°, -85.6339°
About Little River Canyon National Preserve
This trail is inside Little River Canyon National Preserve, a national preserve managed by the U.S. National Park Service. Conditions, road status, trail closures, and reservation requirements are published on the park's NPS page — check it before driving in, especially in winter or during major weather events.
Entrance fee: $15 per vehicle (verify current rate on the park page). An America the Beautiful annual pass ($80) covers entrance to all NPS units.
Official NPS trail page: https://www.nps.gov/places/little-river-canyon-national-preserve-trail-of-tears.htm
Park homepage: https://www.nps.gov/liri/index.htm
Plan your hike
Maps + permits: long-distance trails like this often require permits for through-hiking, backcountry camping, or specific sections (especially in National Parks). Check with the maintaining organisation listed above and the relevant land manager before booking travel.
Water + supplies: water sources vary seasonally on most U.S. trails. Carry a filter and consult current trail-condition reports — through-hiker journals (PCT-L, AT Reddit, etc.) and the maintaining organisation publish regular updates.
When to go: hiking seasons vary widely with elevation, latitude, and snowpack. Through-hikers traditionally start the AT in March-April (Springer northbound) and the PCT in late April (Campo northbound). High-elevation western trails (CDT, JMT, Wonderland) generally aren't passable until July.
If you've hiked Little River Canyon National Preserve, the Trail of Tears and have current notes (water sources, trail closures, permit changes), tell us at /contact — we update pages as we learn.
Stay nearby
Other trails within 50 miles
Sources
Trail data on this page is compiled from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), the maintaining organisation's public-facing materials, and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA where excerpts are quoted). Distance, terminus, and descriptive text for nationally-designated trails are hand-curated from federal land-manager websites and trail-association sources. We do not modify the underlying data; this page presents what is already publicly recorded. To suggest corrections, see our methodology page.