Indian Rock Loop Trail

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Geological Significance · Historical Significance · Lake · River/Creek · Swimming · Views · Wildlife

Steep climbs with a few drop offs where the loop splits (cw loop), take extra care if going when wet or muddy.

Some steep trails up, down, and along the edges of Big Ridge. You can access this trail the quickest/shortest through the Big Valley Trail (1.5 miles from TH), or take Lake Trail (loop) and connect to Dark Hollow Trail West. At the northeast edge you can take the remains of the Sharp's Station trail north for about a half mile to the marker of the 18th century Sharp's Station fort site at the edge of the "Loyston Sea" (Norris Lake). When water and grass levels are higher in the summer it may be more difficult to locate and access. Marker is located on the west side of the peninsula towards the water line.

Trail is very steep in sections, and if doing a clockwise loop, the split to the left has very little trail to it. It is somewhat difficult to follow the trail due to minimal usage, so hopefully this map will help! The right split, immediately passing "Indian Rock", has a very steep decline, that in autumn, can be very slippery with fallen leaves. Due to the difficulty and remoteness of this trail, there are few hikers seen on a regular basis. There are some beautiful vistas--especially in the fall/winter--from the top of the ridge (right split).

Handful of cool points of interest that you can see along the way. During the winter when water levels are lower, you can see some of the stone walls, some still standing from the 19th century that used to separate pastures, and follow along the edges of roads. The main road for this area used to go through some of the valleys now covered with water, before Norris Dam was built.

"Indian Rock" was so named because of Peter Graves, a pioneer settler who was ambushed, killed, and scalped by Indians on November 13, 1794, and there is a placard at the top on the rocks that he had hid between to try and hide.