We found the hike to Sutton Ridge Overlook in the "Day and Overnight Hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park" book a friend of mine lent me before our trip. It was described as an off-the-beaten-path hike that leads to a great view. This hike is 3.0 miles round trip and we went with two children, ages 8 and 10.
Just coming for our hike at Cataract Falls, we anticipated another beautiful hike. We drove to Cosby Campgrounds and hit the trails. Unfortunately, the first thirty minutes of the hike we had to deal with an excessive amount of bugs. They were all small like gnats, but they were swarming around us. We could deal with it okay, but the kids really hated it. We learned that if we fanned ourselves with the guide books that would keep the bugs away. Of course we got them in our eyes and up our noses all the same.
As the hike starts you are high above a stream. Walk along this path and you will come to a narrow foot bridge. Walk across the bridge one person at a time. The bridge is over a rushing stream and the kids wandered down into it and splashed about a bit. There were a few more streams we crossed, some with foot bridges and some without. Eventually we followed the trail up into the mountain and walked into the forest, away from the streams. On this hike we actually did hike up an entire mountain. On the way we were looking all over for black bears. The only people we passed said they saw a mother and two cubs high up in the trees. We had just past the area where they saw them earlier and we missed them. While we never saw any black bears on this hike, we did see plenty of snails. They were big huge snails and very interesting to us because we are not accustomed to seeing them.
At the end of the long hike we got to the top and were a bit disappointed. We expected a spectacular view. We did see Gabes Mountain, but we honestly had a better view of the mountain range from our cabin. One other couple joined us at the top and they were the only other people we saw the entire hike. After a few pictures we began our descent down the mountain, stopping to look at snails and splash around in the streams.
Our hike down the mountain was at about 6:00 p.m. and the sunlight streamed through the high forest trees creating a wonderful scene. At the bottom we saw several people fishing in the stream and found out later that it is a brook trout stream. There were many people around back down at the bottom of the mountain by this time.
I recommend this hike to anyone who wants a good hike but doesn’t want to go on all the over-crowded trails throughout the park.