Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / North Carolina / Blue Ridge High Country

Doughton Park: Basin Cove Loop

Doughton Park, Blue Ridge Parkway (Longbottom Road access, near Laurel Springs)

Doughton Park, on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina’s northern mountains, has more than 30 miles of trails and about 25 stream crossings, according to the NPS. Below the Parkway’s meadows and balds, the Basin Cove valley drops more than 1,500 feet to a backcountry campground beside Basin Creek, the only backcountry camping in Doughton Park according to MyHikes.

GetGoingNC, a guide service, suggests walking in to camp on a Friday, doing a long loop on Saturday, and visiting the old Caudill Cabin before hiking out on Sunday.

The hike

From the Longbottom Road access, the Grassy Gap Fire Road runs up the valley, closed to vehicles. MyHikes reaches the first bridge over Basin Creek at 1.7 miles, with the primitive campsite across the creek. Recreation.gov says the campground has eight sites, each with a fire ring, lantern post, and food storage box, but no privy.

GetGoingNC’s day loop climbs the 4.4-mile Cedar Ridge Trail, which gains nearly 2,000 feet. Jason Bryant of Endurance Magazine describes Cedar Ridge as a sharp ridgeline often only 20 to 30 feet wide, with steep drops on both sides. At the top, the Bluff Mountain Trail, which the NPS says is mostly level and runs near the Parkway with many views, leads south, and the Grassy Gap Fire Road, which Bryant calls the gentlest of the four routes between the foothills and the crest, drops back to camp. GetGoingNC totals the loop at 17.6 miles. If the crossing near camp looks too high, it suggests coming down the Bluff Ridge Primitive Trail (2.8 miles, the shortest and steepest route, per the NPS) or the Flat Rock Ridge Trail.

The second day’s walk follows the 3.3-mile Basin Creek Trail up a narrow canyon, crossing the creek repeatedly. MyHikes counts about 16 crossings, chimney remnants from old homesites, a millstone in the creek, and two waterfalls before the trail ends at Caudill Cabin. Bryant writes that Martin Caudill and his 14 children lived there until a severe flood in 1916 forced them to move.

Bryant also notes temperature differences of up to 20 degrees between the ridgeline and the valley in winter. The Mountains-to-Sea Trail follows the crest above, part of the long route that also passes Grandfather Mountain.

Tips

Camping

Backcountry camping in Doughton Park is only at the Basin Cove campground, with an NPS permit. The NPS rules: site and group sizes are limited, no horse camping, campfires only in designated rings, dead and down wood only, pack out trash, no soap in streams, and toilets at least 200 feet from water. There’s no privy, so bring a trowel. Treat all creek water. Black bears live here, so use the food storage boxes.

Inside Intel: GetGoingNC describes a “spacious primitive camping area along Basin Creek,” with the creek running beside the sites, and recommends arriving Friday afternoon or evening. MyHikes calls Basin Cove an excellent primitive campsite.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

About 16 crossings of Basin Creek:

The Basin Creek Trail up to Caudill Cabin crosses the creek about 16 times, and this page suggests water shoes, plus a ridge route if the crossing near camp runs high. Five tips for days like that.

Read the crossing tips →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.