Upper Gorge Watauga Park in Sugar Grove is a well-maintained public access point located at the intersection of U. S.

321 and Watauga River Road, offering parking, a covered picnic shelter, and a put-in for kayaking and canoeing on Section 4 of the Watauga River.

The site serves as a take-out for tubing runs and features a "flybrary" for anglers, with delayed-harvest trout waters upstream to Hubert Thomas Bridge.

Built in 2011 and managed by Watauga County, it provides safe, legal river access just upstream of Snake Pit rapids, which should only be attempted by experienced paddlers with proper safety equipment.