Burnt Mountain Loop Trail, Dupont State Recreational Forest

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
3/24/2026	5.6 miles	2 hours 52 minutes	470'	2.1 mph	47.7

Parking: 

• Corn Mill Shoals Access

Map:

• Gaia GPS app
• Pisgah Map Co., Dupont 

Directions:

• Cross the street from the parking area and go through the gate. Follow Corn Mill Shoals Trail to the right. Turn right onto Burnt Mountain Trail. Turn right on Nooks Trail. Where the trail splits, stay to the right to do the lollypop. When it rejoins, stay straight. Turn right when you return to the Burnt Mountain Trail. Turn right onto Corn Mill Shoals Trail. Hike up to Little River. Turn around. Follow Corn Mill Shoals Trail until just before the parking lot. Turn right onto Longside Trail. Go straight onto Twixt Trail. When you reach the road, turn left onto Cascade Lake Road (a paved road with cars) and return to the parking area.

We're back to working on redlining Dupont. The parking lot was pretty busy, but luckily, we encountered only 1 hiker and half a dozen mountain bikers on the trails. We started out on gravel Corn Mill Shoals Trail. Then turned onto Burnt Mountain Trail, which feels very much like a mountain biker trail (hard packed dirt). We saw an unmarked side trail which we were guessing leads to the summit of Burnt Mountain, but we didn't explore it. Shortly after getting a glimpse of Little River, we found the Nooks Trail. It's an unmarked trail, but it looks maintained. We both enjoyed this trail as it had softer footing - pine needles & leaves. You can't see the river from the Nooks Trail. What we did find were tiny fairy doors. I'm not a proponent of leaving anything in nature, but they were fun to find. Upon further research, I found out that the Nooks Trail was decommissioned in 2024: Master Recreation Plan Update  - Friends of Dupont Forest. We took the Corn Mill Shoals Trail to Little River. The map lists the river crossing as "Caution: Major Stream Crossing". I agree. The crossing is right above a cascade and though the water isn't deep, it looks like it would be a slippery crossing on rocks. We'll hike the east portion of Corn Mill Shoals Trail approaching from a different way. It's a pretty spot that we had to ourselves. I wouldn't let Krumm swim there, much to his disappointment. We decided to head over to the Twixt Trail. It's a nice trail, but parallels Cascade Lake Road so has some car noise (as well as a few mountain bikers).

Corn Mill Shoals trailhead

Passing Big Rock Trail

A quick dip at Tom Creek which passes under the trail.

Turning onto Burnt Mountain Trail

Intersection with the Nooks Trail on the right

We started noticing fairy doors in crevices

Looking down at Little River

Bloodroot

Turning right onto Corn Mill Shoals Trail

Yeah, not crossing that

Trailing Arbutus

Turning onto Longside Trail, just before the gate

Leaving Longside Trail and heading up Twixt Trail.

We could have taken the trail back, but we walked next to the road.