Introduction - February 18, 2007
Sunday, 18. February 2007, 14:18:00
Planning to visit or hike in the Smoky Mountains National Park? The Park contains 522,000 acres of forested land that traverses the southern Appalachian mountains between North Carolina and Tennessee and may be accessed from either state. There are 151 hiking trails in the Smokies, covering over 800 miles. I have hiked all the trails in the Smokies, and have written a Day Hiker's Guide to all the Trails in the Smoky Mountains. This book provides a method for hiking all the trails in the Smokies in 75 day hikes, ranging from a few miles in length to over 20 miles. Although the book is intended for the serious, and experienced hiker, the color-coded maps and hike descriptions for the shorter hikes also make it useful for the casual hiker. The Park is divided into 9 sections, with hikes for each section detailed with information regarding parking, particular cautions for the trail, nearby accomodations, and potential for scenic views or seasonal wildflowers. If you are planning to spend your time in a particular area, such as Townsend, Cataloochee, or Deep Creek, you can simply turn to that section and pick a hike from the color-coded map for that area.
Once you have hiked all of the trails, you may become a member of the somewhat elite "900 miler" club. This is somewhat of a misnomer, because there are no only 800 miles of maintained trails in the Park. However, at the time the club was formed there were approximatley 900 miles of trails in the Smokies.
My real love is spring wildflowers, and in the next few weeks, I will begin hiking several times a week to see them, and will be posting "wildflower sightings" and hike descriptions as well as photographs of the flowers I encounter.
WIDGETIZE