Little Devils Stairs has been on my list for a while, and apparently I wasn’t the only one with that idea. When I arrived, the parking lot was completely full, and I had to park along the road section. Parking there can get a little tricky, because people might not be smart.

More on that in a minute.

I started the trail to the right. Little Devils Stairs is a loop, so I’d eventually come back out in the same place, but from everything I had read, going this direction meant doing the hard part first and getting the easier section on the way back. That sounded like the better deal to me.

There were a couple of quick creek crossings almost immediately. We’ve been in a drought, though, so there wasn’t anything particularly dramatic to conquer. Under different conditions, I imagine those crossings could be a very different experience.

About That Parking Lot

Before getting too far into the hike, I overheard a conversation about a group of trail runners waiting for their run, which is wonderful and amazing and I love that people are out there doing their thing.

What I don’t love is squatting on parking spaces.

You can carpool together. Cars can hold at minimum four people unless you have some tiny-ass car. Taking up an already limited parking area while everyone waits around isn’t particularly considerate of the other hikers trying to access the trail. There were cars parked along the road because the entire lot was full, and I don’t respect parking-lot squatting.

This is also another reason I don’t usually hike popular trails.

I was actually taking advantage of the heat wave to hike this one because my dogs aren’t going to walk in those temperatures. It was only about 73 degrees when I started, but by the time I finished, it would be well into the 80s. They can stay home while I go climb a mountain, and then I’ll go to work.

I definitely hike for the solitude and the lack of humans.

Nature inherently isn’t quiet. There are birds, insects, water, wind through the trees and all kinds of noise happening around you. But humans? We have a special talent for taking up space.

And Then the Trail Gets Serious

Little Devils Stairs definitely has some rock scrambling.

Trekking poles aren’t just helpful for crossing the streams here. They were incredibly useful for navigating the rocks and giving me some extra stability because sections of this trail get quite steep.

At about 1.6 miles in, I was definitely feeling it. Add temperatures creeping toward the upper 70s, and hydration becomes pretty damn important.

This isn’t one of those trails where you’re casually wandering through the woods thinking about what you’re having for lunch. You’re working.

And sometimes you’re also trying to figure out where the hell the trail went.

Download the Map

I definitely recommend downloading a map before doing this trail.

The trail blazes are blue, so pay attention to those, but there are a few places where the route isn’t immediately obvious.

I ran into two women on the trail. Hey, ladies.

They were really cool, but at one point they appeared to go off trail. I took a break, watched where they were going, and thought, all right, cool, that looks like the trail.

So naturally, I followed.

I scrambled my way up before realizing that was absolutely the wrong way.

Then I had to make my way back down the mountain, which at one point meant sitting and basically sliding. I now had a dirty butt, but I eventually found the actual trail again.

Adventure.

There are definitely a couple of sections where it’s confusing whether you’re looking at the trail or something that merely resembles a trail. I’m currently using AllTrails to navigate, and having that map was incredibly helpful.

Although, looking at the terrain afterward, it’s possible the ladies were following some alternate or overgrown section of the trail. I don’t know.

What I do know is that my butt was dirty.

Reaching the Fire Road

Eventually you’ll come to an intersection where several trails meet. If you’re doing this particular loop in this direction, you’ll leave the blue-blazed section and follow the yellow blazes down the fire road.

There’s also a nice viewpoint around here that’s worth stopping for.

Because everything is so green and full right now, you can’t see as much of the mountains as you probably could during another season, but you still get a beautiful little mountain view through the trees.

From there, the hike changes considerably.

The fire road is a gradual incline and decline depending on where you are, but it’s nowhere near as technically challenging as the first part of Little Devils Stairs with all of the rock scrambling.

I suspect doing the loop in the opposite direction would be challenging in its own way. Personally, I think taking the right-hand route and tackling Little Devils Stairs first is probably the better option. Once you get into those scrambling sections, there aren’t always many places to step aside and let people pass.

The Long Fire Road Home

The fire road makes up roughly half of this hike, and I can absolutely see how it could start feeling endless and boring to some people.

There’s not a lot to do.

You’re basically walking down a fire road through the woods.

Of course, I happen to love walking through the woods, so I’m not complaining. But if you need constant viewpoints, waterfalls, rock scrambles and exciting things happening every fifteen minutes, this section might feel very long.

For me, it was actually quite nice.

And surprisingly, even though the parking lot was completely full and cars were parked beyond it, I didn’t encounter that many people on the trail. I saw the two ladies, a gentleman heading in the opposite direction, and I knew there were a couple more people somewhere behind me with a dog.

For such a popular trail on such a busy day?

Not too bad.

Not too bad at all.

The Bolen Cemetery

At around 5.52 miles, you’ll come across the Bolen Cemetery tucked into the woods.

It’s a very interesting thing to suddenly find along the trail, and it’s one of those places that makes you stop for a minute because you’re reminded that these mountains have stories beyond hiking trails and National Park boundaries.

Then it was back onto the fire road for the final stretch.

Don’t Underestimate the Last Mile

The fire road is a gradual downhill, but once you get into that final 1.1 miles, don’t mistake “downhill” for “easy.”

That section is no joke.

It definitely works your legs, especially after everything you’ve already done during the first half of the hike.

Little Devils Stairs is a solid workout from beginning to end. I’d put it somewhere between moderate and hard depending on your fitness level, your comfort with rock scrambling, trail conditions, and the weather.

For me, this one was particularly meaningful because I’m still rebuilding my strength after surgery. It challenged me. There were sections that were hard. There were rocks to scramble, streams to cross, wrong turns, a dirty butt, heat, tired legs, and one parking-lot rant before I’d even properly gotten started.

And I am absolutely thrilled that I was able to do it.

That’s probably my biggest takeaway from Little Devils Stairs.

Sometimes the hike isn’t about reaching some spectacular overlook at the end. Sometimes it’s realizing that your body just carried you through something you weren’t entirely sure it could do yet.

And that’s a pretty damn good view too.