• Type:
  • Loops/Out and Back

  • Difficulty:
  • Medium

  • Scenery Ranking:
  • 4/5

  • Accessibility:
  • Easily Accessible

  • Trail Maintenance:
  • Well Maintained

  • Facilities:
  • Campground

TVA Honeycomb/Buck Island Trails

Intro:

The TVA Honeycomb and Buck Island trails are located along the banks of Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama. The Honeycomb trail is a 9.3 mile (one way) out and back trail alongside Lake Guntersville. The Buck Island trail, located about 10 miles from the Honeycomb trail, is about a 2 mile hike that provides hikers with a good view of the Tennessee River.

Trail Head:

The Honeycomb trail head is located on the north bank of Lake Guntersville on Campground road (there is another trail head on the opposite end). The Buck Island trail head is located on the south bank of Lake Guntersville on Buck Island Dr.

To access the trail head: both trails are easy to access from the parking areas.

Difficulty:

The buck Island trail is pretty easy. Only a few steep hills. The Honeycomb trail gets a medium rating due to its length.

Hiking the Trail:

Honeycomb: You can hike all 9 miles if you like, but if you are looking for a short scenic hike you can hike from the Honeycomb campground road trail head to the Thompson Reservation loop and back. That will give you a scenic 3.5 mile hike with great views of the lake. You will pass through part of the small wild area along the way. This is the hike I chose since I had already hiked the Buck Island trail and was limited on time.

Buck Island:The Buck Island trail is pretty straight forward. It's a "balloon on a string" type hike. You hike out about a mile or so before hitting a short loop. You can then hike the loop and make your way back to the parking lot. This will give you about a 2 mile round trip.

GPS Coordinates:

Honeycomb Campground trail head: N34DEG27.092' W086DEG20.119'
Honeycomb Thompson Reservation Loop: N34DEG26.585' W086DEG20.451'
Buck Island trail head: N 34DEG24.428' W086DEG14.925'

Scenery:

You will get great views of Lake Guntersville, woodlands, and both are great for bird watchers.

Trail Maintenance:

Both trails are maintained fairly well it seems.

Facilities:

Their are no facilities at the Buck Island trail head so you will want to stop before hand if you need to. The Honeycomb area has a campground for primitive and RV camping.