Little River Trail

Little River Trail follows the canyon rim and drops to the valley floor along Little River, one of the most unique rivers in the United States as a river that flows entirely atop a mountain for most of its length. The trail traverses the DeSoto State Park portion of the Little River Canyon system, combining rim-top views with intimate river-level travel through the canyon bottom. Little River is exceptional for a plateau river, maintaining its mountain-top course through a combination of resistant sandstone cap rock and active canyon cutting. The river corridor is designated a National Wild and Scenic River, protecting the free-flowing water and adjacent canyon ecosystem. The trail passes through a variety of habitats including open sandstone bluffs with exposed heath communities, moist cove forest in sheltered hollows, and river bottom forest with large sycamore and river birch. Native trout streams feed Little River from springs along the canyon walls, and fishing for native stream fish species is popular in accessible pools. The canyon walls display dramatic cross-bedded sandstone formations deposited in ancient river deltas 300 million years ago. No entrance fee is charged for DeSoto State Park. The trail connects to the broader Little River Canyon National Preserve trail network in some sections.