| NATIONAL PARKS QUICKLINKS |
Smokies Adventure Guide (2012 National Parks Series: Part 5 of 6)
Leave it to our seasoned map contributors to find solitude in America's most-visited park. This exclusive trip planner serves up routes guaranteed to get you off the tourist trail and into deep wilderness.
BACKPACKER Trail Scouts' Top Eastern Local Hikes
Check out the River Trail in South Carolina, the Florida Trail, or a loop in Mississippi and Virginia.
Rip & Go: North-South Trail, Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, Kentucky/Tennessee
Snake along hidden inlets as you follow the shore of America's largest inland peninsula.
Killer Trips: Wildlife
Our favorite high-risk, high-reward adventures in North America.
From the Field: East
Our trail scouts' top local hikes
The Other Way In
Hike to life-list hot spots without waiting in life-list lines. These under-the-radar trails deliver everything but the crowds.
Local Hikes
Jump-start your hiking season on these spring-ready trips from around the country.
Readers' Choice 2012: Your Neck of the Woods - Southeast Hikes
See Shenandoah's tallest waterfall, traverse secluded ridgelines, score cliff-top panoramas, swim beneath falls, and walk through wildflowers and oak stands on the Florida Trail.
National Parks: Great Smoky Mountains
For guaranteed solitude in the park's southwest reaches, explore this quiet loop during the off-season.
Going to Extremes
Can you ever really have too much of a good thing? Once you've seen the biggest tree, largest glacier, and deepest canyon, nothing else compares.
Get Higher: Best Firetower Hikes
For sheltered scenery high above the trees, there's no better place than a fire tower. Try one of these editor-approved hikes to backcountry rooms with a view.
Rip & Go: Big Creek Loop
Hike from a wildlife-choked river valley to soaring mountain views.
Trip Finder: Appalachians
Your favorite Appalachians hikes—from dayhikes to weekenders to multiday trips.
Readers' Choice: Appalachians
Your favorite parks, weekend getaways, peak ascents, campsites, and more in the Appalachians.
Fall/Winter Gear Guide: Best Winter Trips
We traveled to Fjordland and discovered that nothing compares to skiing glacier-clad mountains above deep-water fjords. Plus: 20 winter adventures, from California to New York.
Top 25 Winter Trips: United States
Find the best skiing, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and winter camping trips in the U.S.
Local Hikes: Knoxville, TN
The best hikes near Knoxville, TN.
Local Hikes: Southeast
The best local hikes in the southeast, as chosen by the area's best hiking clubs.
Print & Go: Charlies Bunion Loop, Great Smoky Mountains NP
Pack a camera for this lollipop loop to one of the best mountain views in the park: a sit-awhile panorama, atop a 5,565-foot knob with thousand foot drop-offs on three sides, that stretches from Mt. LeConte to the jagged peaks of the Sawteeth Range.
Print & Go Weekend Trip Planners
Free Print & Go PDFs give you turn-by-turn trail instructions and photos embedded on a usable topo map. Also: Gear checklists, driving directions, and geo-references for finding the nearest campground, restaurant, gas station, and grocery store.
John Muir Trail, Cherokee National Forest, TN
Contemplate the south's wild side on the trail that launched America's greatest wilderness champion.
Local Hikes: New Hikes Near You
Our army of reader-reader scouts mapped 59 local hikes from South Carolina to Northern California. See their favorites, then learn how to download tracklogs and waypoints.
Local Hikes: Southeast
Climb to two killer views, see the South's best flowers, and hike to secluded falls. (Click linked trips for GPS waypoints, photos, and more.)
Southeast Readers' Choice Hikes
Colossal trees, sweet swimming holes, and the USA's best picnic spot.
Readers' Choice Southeast Hikes: Ramsey Cascades, Great Smokies, TN
See big water, massive trees, and tiny amphibians.
Readers' Choice Southeast Hikes: Mt. Rogers NRA, VA
Celebrate the arrival of summer with an unrivaled circus of color.
Readers' Choice Southeast Hikes: Max Patch Bald, NC
Have a picnic on one of the Southeast's biggest balds.
Readers' Choice Southeast Hikes: Clingmans Dome to Silers Bald, TN
Bag four scenic peaks in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Readers' Choice Southeast Hikes: Thru-hike the Florida Trail
See wild, historic surprises in the Sunshine State.
Readers' Choice Southeast Hikes: Raven Ridge - Blackbird Knob Loop
Dolly Sods Wilderness, WV
See a Great White North south of the Mason-Dixon.
Insider's Guide to Peaks
Think you know all there is to know about these famous peaks? Get an insider's guide right here.
The Peak: Mt. Le Conte, TN
It's not the smallest peak in the Smokies, but spend a night on its summit (no tent required), and you'll agree it's the finest.
Time Travel: Hiking Historical Homesteads in the Smokies
A unique route linking historic homesteads yields an exciting Smokies adventure for hikers and history buffs alike.
Insider's Guide: Great Smoky Mountains National Park
From secret spots to the perfect campsites, this insider's guide has the goods on the Smokies.
Top 3 Glow-in-the-Dark Trips
See glowing plankton, mushrooms, and bugs on these brilliant adventures.
Trip Finder: Waterfall Hikes
Nine ways to get your cascade fix from Tennessee to Montana.
National Parks Hall of Fame: Best Wildflowers
Smelling the flowers doesn't require slowing down your trek (though you might want to) through the explosion of wildflowers that cover the Great Smoky Mountains each year.
Bioluminescent Organisms: 3 Living Lights
According to folklore, the soft light emitted by bioluminescent organisms is magical. In reality, the eerie glow results from a chemical reaction–but it still looks enchanting on a moonless or cloudy night. Here's where to glimpse these living light bulbs.
Readers' Choice Awards 2009
Discover the best hike in every state, as voted by BACKPACKER readers. Plus: your essential gear, most desirable tentmate, worst-ever adventure movie, and our picks for the best reader-submitted photos.
America's 10 Most Dangerous Hikes - Abrams Falls, Great Smoky Mtns., TN
Drowning in beauty
Trip Finder: Wildflowers
Trek the best spring blooms from the Ozarks to the Olympics with these two, three, and four day treks.
Quick Fix: Great Smoky Mountains NP
Check out the steepest trail, the best swimming hole, and the wildest vista in America's most popular national park.
America's Best Campsites
Whether you are after fishing holes or skinny-dipping, Backpacker tracked down the best campsites in the country
Weekend Adventures: Big Tree Hikes
Get ready to feel puny--and profoundly grateful--on three hikes through ancient forests.
Paddling's Greatest Getaways
16 wild ways to find backcountry solitude and big-time scenery. All this, and you can bring the ice chest, too.
America's Hardest Dayhikes
Push yourself on any of these challenging hikes
Top 3 Waterfall Hikes
There's a science to why we love waterfalls: When water crashes earthward, it releases negatively charged ions that--you can't make this stuff up--some researchers think can reduce anxiety. Spring is when cascades' spigots open full bore, so head off on these three beguiling treks for a dose of nature's backcountry Rx.
High Points: Clingmans Dome, Tennessee
A downright goofy dome marks this highpoint.
Fall Hiking at Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Mellow temperatures, low water and autumn colors make for a perfect time in the Smokies
Cloudland Canyon State Park
A thousand-foot-deep gorge is the centerpiece of this tri-state park.
Secrets Hikes Of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Can a place that sees 9 million visitors a year really have any surprises? You bet. We found three hikes full of unexpected history, scenery, and solitude.
Best Backpacking In Tennessee
Our comprehensive guide to the best backpacking you can find in Tennessee.
Backpacking Tennessee's Cumberland Trail
If you're a backpacking purist, Tennessee's new Cumberland Trail was made for you.
Tennessee: Ice As Art
In winter, the glasslike menagerie of icicles in the Cumberland Plateau will send a chill down your spine.
Wolf River, Tennesee
Once an impassable, swampy "ghost river," now a paddler's dream.
Kentucky And Tennessee's Land Between the Lakes
Hike from Kentucky to Tennessee along an inland peninsula.
Tennessee: Savage Gulf State Natural Area
Waterfalls and swimming holes aplenty.
Tennessee/Georgia's Big Frog Wilderness
Why choose between breezy peaks and cool streams when you can have both at Big Frog Wilderness?
Tennessee's Arches
Big South Fork provides Utah-quality arches in Tennessee.
North Carolina's Gregory Bald
Great Smoky's Gregory Bald features an amazing crown of wild azaleas.
Great Smokies Showcase: Maddron Bald
In a park full of natural wonder, the route to Maddron Bald hits the high points.
The Bear Facts in Great Smoky
There are scads of bears in Great Smoky Mountains National Park -- so don't forget these tips.
Forest Facts: Champion Trees
Forthwith, interesting tidbits about Great Smoky's largest forest dwellers.
The Smokies: Backwoods-Style
Here's your insider's guide to The Great Smokies, probably the epitome of a true backpacker's national park.
