The John Muir Trail in Tennessee's Cherokee National Forest goes along this part of the river.

After exiting the mountains through a gorge, the Hiwassee broadens, meandering through rural Polk and Bradley counties in Tennessee.

Many marshes and wetlands surround the main channel, providing rich habitats for wildlife and areas for hunting and fishing.

[8] [9] The Hiwassee River passes through Murphy, North Carolina, where it flows past a site famous in Cherokee Indian mythology.

The legend tells of a house-sized leech that could command the waters and use them to sweep hapless people to the bottom of the river and consume them.

This was the site of a fatal 99-vehicle accident in December 1990, during extremely foggy weather in the area of a paper mill in the valley.