Lover's Leap Hiking Trail

"Beautiful trail overlooking the French broad river in hot springs. Pretty steep incline but it is definitely worth it with very rewarding views. The pups loved it. About a 2.2 mile loop trail. Two different parking lots. Plenty of pulloff spots to check out the river and have a snack. No bathrooms"

"Awesome views of Hot Springs. Be sure to keep hiking to find additional out crops with other vantage points. Some are scarier than others. We actually hiked up silvermine creek to pump gap and then came back down the AT to lovers leap and made a 4.5 mile loop and we were thankful we didn’t have to climb up the river side of this trail. Only down it. You could also loop it the same direction by just starting from silvermine creek and taking the lovers leap trail from there."

"Not a long hike but a little steep for those that may not be as able so plan accordingly. Beautiful colors and and sights. It starts off easy and gets to steeper switchbacks single track wide."

"The sign for parking and the trail is not easily seen unless you are walking. We ended up parking somewhere else and took the loop trail backwards. This caused us to think we were on the wrong trail. The Appalachian trail is part of this trail. It was nice. View was good. No people. We passed no one the entire loop. We didn't see the orange trail markers until we reached the top! Worth the trip and the confusion!"

"This was our first experience hiking the Appalachian Trail. We only did 2 miles which means we only have a bit over 2,000 more to go and we’re done. Within the first few minutes of our hike we bumped into a guy that said there were a few bear cubs up the trail which means mom isn’t far behind. Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. I don’t have to outrun the bear. I just have to be able to outrun my wife. However, my wife is a marathon runner. So, this isn’t going to end well for me. The first half of our hike was spent with my wife looking around for the bear cubs so she could give them a big hug and then watch as their mom eats her husband. That left me with no other choice but to yell “there she is” every few minutes so I could keep her on her toes. She didn’t appreciate that as much as you might think as you can tell by the video. Anyway, we made it back alive (hence the 5 star review…had I gotten eaten by a bear I would likely have to deduct a star) and had a great hike!"