Day And Overnight Hikes Great Smoky Mountains National Park

With 500,000 acres of land, it's hard to know where to start in this majestic national park. This fully updated edition of the popular guide eases the process for novice and veteran hikers alike. Comprehensive and compact, the book profiles 31 day-hikes, both one-way and loop, and 10 overnight hikes. Each profile includes a detailed description, maps and trailhead directions, and a trail summary that rates the difficulty, solitude, and scenery of each hike while outlining significant sites along the way. Destinations include the Little Greenbrier Trail to Walker Sisters Place, one of the last working pioneer homesteads in the Smokies, and the remote and stunning Hyatt Ridge Loop. Easily carried in a backpack, this book has hikes suitable for anyone who prefers vacationing on the trail rather than behind another car.

One of the richest expanses of undeveloped land in the Southeast, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park attracts more than 9 million visitors a year. Even so, most people experience only a few of the most popular trails in the area. Day and Overnight Hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park takes hikers off the beaten track to the more secluded rambles, from highland meadows and open vistas to pristine mountain streams and pioneer farms. Each trail description offers precise commentary on what to expect along the way and rates each hike for: scenery, trail condition, difficulty, accessibility for children, and solitude. Designed to fit easily into a back pocket, the revised and updated second edition of Day and Overnight Hikes includes 10 new hikes that lead to even more sites of exceptional beauty and solitude. The peace of mind found on these hikes just can't be experienced from a climate-controlled automobile, so let Day and Overnight Hikes help you discover the best the Smokies have to offer. (4 1/2 X 9, 128 pages, maps)

Located astride the Tennessee-North Carolina border, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park contains more than one hundred trails that trace eight hundred miles of rugged terrain. This fact is certain to bewilder any newcomer who might be eager to explore the Park's backcountry but is unsure where to start. This book, intended as a beginner's guide to hiking the Smokies, offers lively, informative descriptions of twenty-two trails that can be completed in a day or less. For anyone who has yet to discover the beauty of the Smokies, the highest North American mountains east of the Mississippi, the trails described here offer a splendid introduction. Scenic overlooks at Mount Le Conte, Clingmans Dome, Gregory Bald, and other peaks are included along these pathways, as are some of the well-known waterfalls of the Park, such as Laurel Falls, Rainbow Falls, and Ramsay Cascades. In addition to vital data about the length of the trail, its elevation gain, and "how to get there," each trail description is packed with interesting facts and Smoky Mountain lore. Detailed maps are also included. In their introduction, the authors provide a brief overview of the park's history as well as useful tips for novice hikers. The Authors: Kenneth Wise, an administrator at the University of Tennessee Library, Knoxville, has hiked in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for more than twenty years. He is the author of Hiking Trails of the Great Smoky Mountains: A Comprehensive Guide. James Andrews,a partner in the firm of Andrews, Hudson & Wall, P.C., has hiked the Park trails for more than a decade. He is the coauthor, with Wise, of The Best Overnight Hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains.

* If you're heading to the Smokies, you'll need this guidebook! * All the trails, camping information, and best attractions for visitors of Great Smoky Mountain National Park This guidebook offers a mix of day hikes and overnight backpacking trails, and expanded natural history and background information on the Smoky Mountains, making it the most complete guidebook to the region. Divided into sections covering Tennessee and North Carolina, the guide is arranged so that all of the Tennessee trails can be done with a link, via the Newfound Gap Road, to the North Carolina trails and vice versa. All trails are grouped by access point, and each hiking description includes mileage, elevation change, difficulty rating, camping information, cautions, links to other trails, and attractions. Special lists cover the best waterfalls, stands of old-growth forest, historic structures, wildflower spots, and mountain views. Additional chapters feature information on geology, flora and fauna, park history, and more.

Johnny Molloy, who has spent more than 800 nights backpacking in the Smokies, has updated his classic guide Top Trails: Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This revised edition has been completely updated, including the new backcountry reservation system implemented in the park. He has also added some excellent hikes, some of them well off the beaten path. For example, the hike to Baskins Creek Falls takes you past a pioneer homesite and to a scenic cascade overshadowed by more popular waterfalls nearby, making it an ideal destination for those who want to escape the crowds. A longer trek traverses the regal pine-oak forests of the western part of the park, making a stop at Abrams Falls, mixing solitude with a must-visit waterfall on every Smokies bucket list. Johnny also explores early park history on a hike up Kephart Prong. Here, you can see the remains of a fish hatchery constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps, as well as a trail shelter erected by the CCC when the park was just coming to be. Backpackers will enjoy the new loop incorporating Walnut Bottoms along cascading Big Creek, coupled with a stop by historic Mount Cammerer tower, replete with stellar views, before overnighting at Davenport Shelter on the Appalachian Trail. Additionally, Johnny--who considers the Smokies his home stomping ground--makes sure that all the necessary information to help you execute a hike from directions to maps are correct. New photos add flair to the book.

The Best Short Hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains Kenneth Wise and James Andrews Located astride the Tennessee-North Carolina border, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park contains more than one hundred trails that trace eight hundred miles of rugged terrain. This fact is certain to bewilder any newcomer who might be eager to explore the Park's backcountry but is unsure where to start. This book, intended as a beginner's guide to hiking the Smokies, offers lively, informative descriptions of twenty-two trails that can be completed in a day or less. For anyone who has yet to discover the beauty of the Smokies, the highest North American mountains east of the Mississippi, the trails described here offer a splendid introduction. Scenic overlooks at Mount Le Conte, Clingmans Dome, Gregory Bald, and other peaks are included along these pathways, as are some of the well-known waterfalls of the Park, such as Laurel Falls, Rainbow Falls, and Ramsay Cascades. In addition to vital data about the length of the trail, its elevation gain, and "how to get there," each trail description is packed with interesting facts and Smoky Mountain lore. Detailed maps are also included. In their introduction, the authors provide a brief overview of the park's history as well as useful tips for novice hikers. The Authors: Kenneth Wise, an administrator at the University of Tennessee Library, Knoxville, has hiked in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for more than twenty years. He is the author of Hiking Trails of the Great Smoky Mountains: A Comprehensive Guide. James Andrews,a partner in the firm of Andrews, Hudson & Wall, P.C., has hiked the Park trails for more than a decade. He is the coauthor, with Wise, of The Best Overnight Hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains.

This book presents more than 30 day hikes. Classic hikes, such as Rose River Loop and Whiteoak Canyon, are included. However, though the majority of these hikes are not as well known, they offer as much solitude and equally scenic sights––like Lost Cliffs and Furnace Mountain––as the more popular hikes. This will give you the opportunity to get back to nature on your own terms. Often, park sightseers randomly pick a hike without knowing where it will lead, or they follow the crowds wherever they go. Choosing a hike at random in Shenandoah, where many trails drop steeply off the Blue Ridge, may result in a rigorous return to the car with no rewards to show effort. Two types of day hikes are offered: one-way and loop hikes. One-way hikes lead to a particularly rewarding destination and return via the same trail. The return trip allows you to see everything from the opposite vantage point. You may notice more minute trailside features the second go-round, and returning at a different time of day may give the same trail a surprisingly different character. But to some, returning on the same trail just isn’t enjoyable. The loop hikes provide an alternative. Most of the hikes offer solitude to maximize your Shenandoah experience, although portions of some hikes traverse potentially popular areas. It should also be noted that loop hikes are generally longer and harder than one-way hikes, but a bigger challenge can reap bigger rewards. Day hiking is the best and most popular way to "break into" the Shenandoah wilderness. But for those with the inclination to see the mountain cycle from day to night and back again, this book offers ten overnight hikes with the best locales for camping. The length of these hikes–– three days and two nights––was chosen primarily for the weekend backpacker. Backpackers must follow park regulations and practice "leave no trace" wilderness-use etiquette. Each day and overnight hike contains four key elements to help readers plan and enjoy the perfect trip: • GPS-based trail maps • GPS-based elevation profiles • directions to the trailhead • trail descriptions Each trail description offers precise commentary on what to expect along the way and rates each hike for: • scenery • trail condition • difficulty • accessibility for children • solitude Designed to fit easily into a back pocket, this guide leads hikers and backpackers to sites of exceptional beauty and solitude.

Best Easy Day Hikes Great Smoky Mountains National Park includes concise descriptions of the best short hikes in the area, with detailed maps of the routes. The 22 hikes in this guide are generally short, easy to follow, and guaranteed to please.