Backpacker Magazine: Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Backpacking and Camping Trips, Hikes, Adventures, Topo Maps, Aerial Photos.

Appalachian Trail: Newfound Gap to Davenport Gap

Submitted by: Backpacker Magazine
This 30.3-miler in the Great Smokies leads to picturesque panoramas including Charles Bunion, a popular 5,736-foot bald.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Albright Grove Loop

Submitted by: Backpacker Magazine
This 7-mile loop is a trailside study of the past: old cabins, ancient forests, and the legacy of a pioneering conservationist.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Charlies Bunion Loop

Submitted by: Backpacker Magazine
Get away for a night or three on this 12.8-mile lasso loop that delivers you to the high reaches of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Chimney Tops

BACKPACKER Review

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Alum Cave to Greenbrier Cove

BACKPACKER Review
Trek into the past on this 6-day route linking a rock arch, 5,000-foot balds, old settler homesites, and 100-year-old cemeteries.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Rainbow Falls

BACKPACKER Review
Waterfall aficionados: This challenging 5.2-mile route traces a tumbling creek, then passes under an old-growth forest to one of the park's highest cascades.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Charlies Bunion Loop

Get away for a night or three on this 12.8-mile lasso loop that delivers you to the high reaches of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Noland Divide to Newton Bald

This 16-miler packs big vertical change and diverse landscapes (from grassy campsites to mountain summits) into a two-night trip.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Tricorner Loop

A peak bagger's dream, this 31-mile Smokies backpack loops across forested ridgelines, offering the opportunity to tag eight 6,000-foot summits along the way.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Little River Road

Wind through the cliffs of Little River Gorge on this 40-mile out-and-back in the Smoky Mountains that rewards with a riveting riverside descent.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Noland Divide to Newton Bald

This 16-miler packs big vertical change and diverse landscapes (from grassy campsites to mountain summits) into a two-night trip.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Tricorner Loop

A peak bagger's dream, this 31-mile Smokies backpack loops across forested ridgelines, offering the opportunity to tag eight 6,000-foot summits along the way.

Gear Checklist: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

BACKPACKER Review
From the deep wooded hollows to the lofty Appalachian summits prepare for rain (Clingmans Dome, the park's high point, averages 85 inches each year), humidity, rapidly varying weather conditions, and lots of creek crossings. Here's what you'll need.

Perfect Substitutes: Crowd-Free Destinations

BACKPACKER Review
You know that the big-name parks draw big-time crowds. But each of those outdoor icons has a lesser-known replacement that offers some of the same classic features and epic scenery–and you get it all to yourself.

National Parks Hall of Fame: Best Wildflowers

BACKPACKER Review
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.

National Parks Lifelist

BACKPACKER Review
The ultimate vacation in one of America's iconic parks requires the ultimate hiking plan: classic scenery, no crowds, and secret campsites. Here's how to spend a perfect week in Glacier, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Olympic, Denali, and the Great Smoky Mountains.

Denali National Park

BACKPACKER Review
Hike with grizzlies in this remote northern corner of Alaska's greatest park.

Yellowstone National Park

BACKPACKER Review
America's first national park is a playground for grizzlies, wolves, moose, and hikers (not in that order).

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Photos + Videos

Gear Lab: Boots Torture Test Can any hiking boot survive 15 minutes in a cement mixer filled with rocks, sticks, dirt, and bricks? Gear Lab aims to find out.	Gear Lab: Tents Torture Test Who wants a mountain tent that buckles under pressure? Not us--so we blasted four top tents with a carwash pressure washer to see which one comes out on top.