The View From The Top
Hiking Up House Mountain To The Highest Point In Knoxville
If you live in the Knoxville area and are one of those people who likes to visit the places with the most “est”, i.e. the tallest, the busiest, the biggest, etc, then you need to pencil in a trip to House Mountain.
It is the tallest point in Knox County, so you certainly have to check it off the bucket list. Even if you don’t care about knocking off superlatives in Knoxville, it is a worthy destination just for the astounding views of the area.
Why We Like It
Besides the feeling of accomplishment (“Hey, we hiked to the top of House Mountain this morning. What did you do?”), this is a great alternative to the Smokies, especially for those looking for a hike to some great views without a huge investment of time. The trailhead is just 20 minutes from downtown and 38 minutes from Farragut.
Combo it with a trip to Central Filling Station or elsewhere downtown for some good food. Or rent some kayaks/SUPs on the river to cool off afterwards and you have a pretty great day out.
A Short History
Formed by the collision of tectonic plates around 250 million years ago in an event called the Allegheny Orogeny, House Mountain used to be part of Clinch Mountain 2 miles to the northeast. The two mountains became separated over the eons by erosion, but if you look at a map, it is pretty easy to see how House Mountain is a natural continuation of Clinch Mountain.
Short geology refresher (I had to look it up): In a nutshell, the Allegheny Orogeny is where Laurasia (containing North America and Europe) and Gondwana (all the other major continental plates) crashed into each other, forming the super continent Pangaea during the late Carboniferous period. This massive event pushed the crust into folds and thrust them upwards, forming the southern part of the Appalachian Mountains. It also pushed some sheets of rocks up over others and far inland, forming the Cumberland Plateau.
So you can tell the kiddos that you are hiking on a 250 million year old mountain to the highest point in the county-- that should get some cache.
Topographic map of House Mountain and Knoxville area.
How To Get To House Mountain
It is fairly easy to get to the trailhead from anywhere in Knoxville as it is located not far off of Rutledge Pike. It takes about 30 minutes to get there from West Town Mall and just 20 minutes from downtown. We used Google Maps and it got us there fine.
Take Interstate 40 to exit 392/ Rutledge Pike/ Highway 11 (same exit as the Knoxville Zoo). Turn onto Rutledge Pike/ Hwy 11 w, heading north, and stay on this road for the next 10 miles. The trickiest part is locating the left turn onto Idumea Road from Rutledge Pike.
Look for the small brown sign for House Mountain just before the left turn. (If you miss it, then no worries, it was really easy to hang a U-turn right away and come back to it. (We tested that out for you guys.)
Once you are on Idumea Road, go about 0.5 miles and then turn left onto Hogskin Road. The parking area for House Mountain is about another 0.5 miles on your right.
The pictures below will give you a good idea what to expect, just click on them to enlarge.
The Trails
There are 4 trails on House Mountain.
Sawmill Loop - These are two loops that form a flat easy trail at the bottom. The trail apparently suffers from poison ivy and I have never hiked it.
West Overlook Trail - A steep 0.8 trail up to the western edge of the mountain.
Mountain Trail - A steep 1.0 mile trail up to Crest Junction, the middle of the Crest Trail that runs along the top of the mountain.
Crest Trail - A 1.5 mile long, fairly easy trail between the eastern and western overlooks. This trail is why you go.
Map courtesy of Knox County
ABBREVIATED LOOP HIKE (about 3 miles/ under 2 hours)
Many people hike up the West Overlook Trail, then take the Crest Trail over to the Mountain Trail and come back down, skipping the somewhat overgrown East Overlook. That makes about a 3 mile loop (including the connecting trail from the parking area) which is easily done in about 2 hours or less.
But if you do the abbreviated loop, you are missing out on the best views in my opinion, which are from a rock outcropping off of the Crest Trail halfway between Crest Junction and East Overlook. You should definitely do the entire Crest Trail-- I mean you are already up there, so why not?
HIKING THE FULL LOOP (about 4.5 miles/ 2.5- 3.5 hours)
We hiked up the Mountain Trail, took a right on the Crest Trail to hike out to the East Overlook and then backtracked over to the West Overlook, therefore doing the complete Crest Trail. Then we hiked down the West Overlook Trail back to the parking lot. That was about 4.5 miles total (4 miles on the trails plus about 0.5 miles on the short connecting trail from the parking lot).
We hiked up Mountain Trail first so we could catch the sunrise over the Smokies from several view points on that trail which has better south facing overlooks than the West Overlook Trail. If it wasn’t for the sunrise, I probably would choose to hike up West Overlook Trail and then come down Mountain Trail so you could see the views of the Smokies as you were coming down. But really, any way you choose to do it is fine.
Pictures From The Trails
THE SHORT CONNECTING TRAIL FROM THE PARKING LOT TO TRAILHEAD JUNCTION
MOUNTAIN TRAIL
THE CREST TRAIL, THE WEST AND EAST OVERLOOKS
WEST OVERLOOK TRAIL
Several Notes About Hiking House Mountain
These trails are steep and suffer from poor maintenance and erosion. They are incredibly rocky as well and you will have to scramble over sizeable boulders in sections. Kids will have a blast but adults with bad knees will be less enthused.
You will see a considerable amount of orange plastic fencing in places to prevent social trails and keep people on the blazed path. Like I said, these trails suffer from erosion and volunteers plus the city’s parks department have spent considerable resources trying to stop people from compounding the problem. So please do your part and stay on the trail!
The best picnic spot on the mountain is the large rock outcropping on the northeast side of the mountain, halfway between Crest Junction and the East Overlook.
Because it is the highest spot in the county, House Mountain gets a lot of lightening strikes. If the forecast calls for thunderstorms or the clouds turn ominous while you are up on the mountain, I would postpone the trip or start heading back to the car at a fast pace. No one wants to be WBIR’s leading news item.
Early is always better, especially in summer. Although the overlooks can get a nice breeze, the steep hike up is no fun in 90 degree weather. Winter is my favorite time to hike these trails because you get the best views once the leaves are gone. Fall is my next favorite season because of the colours.
There are no water fountains on the mountain and no bathrooms once you leave the parking area so plan appropriately. Take plenty of water with you in the summer. Bathrooms are locked in the winter.
The trails aren’t always that obvious in some sections because they are so rocky and there are so many social trails. The Mountain Trail and West Overlook Trail are worse for this than the Crest Trail. Look for the blazes on the tree trunks (blue for Mountain, white for West Overlook) if you aren’t sure where to go next.
House Mountain is a favorite of birdwatchers. Hawks, pileated woodpeckers, and wild turkeys were the only ones I recognized from the list but more ornithological people will be able to identify others from the more than 100 species of birds that have been spotted on the mountain.
Lots of handy rocks to have a picnic on at the overlook on the Crest Trail looking north
Trail Descriptions from Knox County Parks
Trail descriptions from a pdf on Knox County Park’s website.
Places To Eat Nearby
TAMMY’S FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
If you decided against a picnic, then there isn’t a whole lot in the immediate vicinity of House Mountain. But if you head back to the interstate, you can grab some delicious fried okra, fried chicken, fried fish, or the house specialty, fried green tomatoes, from Tammy’s Fried Green Tomatoes, a food truck near the intersection of Rutledge Pike and Magnolia Avenue.
This is definitely a bit off the beaten track and definitely worth it if you even kinda like fried okra or fried green tomatoes. My only suggestion is to get the small order unless you are a feeding an army or a teenage boy. The small order of fried green tomatoes had at least 1o slices. And you must get the mango iced tea, another specialty. It was delicious!
To get there, take Rutledge Pike back to I40, cross under the interstate, and keep going until Rutledge Pike turns into Magnolia Avenue. You will see Hardee’s on your left so make a left turn and then another left to come back around to the parking lot behind Hardee’s where you will find the food truck. She doesn’t have a website, but you can check the Facebook page. Tammy’s Fried Green Tomatoes is open Wed- Sat, 11 am- 9 pm.
PLACES TO EAT IN DOWNTOWN KNOXVILLE
Central Filling Station- Family- friendly food truck park on Central Avenue that is open March-November. Open for lunch/dinner on weekends plus dinner only on Wed/ Thur. Really cool venue with usually an assortment of food trucks so everyone can get what they want. Great place for kids to run around.
Barley’s- Awesome pizza joint in the Old City with free parking next door under the James White Parkway. Good kids menu plus pizza by the slice at lunch.
For even more options, read our blog about our favorite places to eat in downtown Knoxville - “Where To Eat In Downtown Knoxville.”
You Might Also Like
Ijams Nature Center is an excellent destination for a little nature time in this busy world, remarkable not only because of its beautiful scenery but also because it is located just 10 minutes from downtown Knoxville. Now part of the Urban Wilderness, Ijams has been offering all kinds of outdoor activities for all kinds of ages of Knoxvillians for years. Spend an hour, spend a day with kids young, old, or both-- you won’t be disappointed at Ijams.