Hiking Info
- The visitor centers of the Great Smoky National Park provide booklets ($0.50 - 1.00) to guide you along most of the trails in the area. Each trail has numbered stakes, keyed to the booklet.
- Backcountry camping requires a permit:
- Permits are available for free at most ranger stations and visitor centers
- Fourteen of the tent areas require reservations
- register online
- or call 865-436-1231
- For backcountry questions (not reservations) call 865-436-1297
- There's also local:
- Guided walks
- a Field School
- Albert and Leslie describe some nice hikes
- Mountain Bike Trails
- Descriptions, pictures, and maps of popular mountain bike trails in Eastern Tennessee.
Hiking Trails
- Alum Cave Bluffs
- A 5 mile trail, starting at Alum Cave Bluffs trailhead on the Newfound Gap Road, taking you along passages of spectacular mountain laurel and rhododendrons.
- Alum Cave Bluffs - Balsam Mountain
- A ¾ mile trail, beginning at the Balsam Mountain Campground. Once a major logging area, see how nature has reclaimed the hardwood forest.
- Cades Cove
- a ½ mile trail, showing how native plants were used by the settlers in developing a simple life in the area. The trail starts at the Cable Mill junction on the Cades Cove Loop Road.
- Cove Hardwood
- A ¾ mile trail, beginning at Chimney Tops picnic area, on the Newfound Gap Road, featuring a magnificent area of age-old deciduous hardwoods.
- Elkmont
- A ¾ mile trail, beginning at the parking area opposite of the Elkmont Campground. Many aspects of Nature, abound for your enjoyment on this trail.
- Noah "Bud" Ogle
- A ¾ mile trail, starts on Cherokee Orchard Road, just 3 miles south of Gatlinburg. Experience life as it was on an early farm, and make sure you visit the mill while at the old homestead.
- Smokemont
- a ¾ mile trail, starts at the Smokemont Campground, and has excellent examples of how early settlers and logging, had its effects on the land.
- Spruce-Fir
- a ½ mile trail, begins at the ever-impressive Clingman's Dome. Marvel at the conifer forests that grow only on the high peaks this far south in the eastern United States.
- Sugarlands
- A 1 mile trail, begins at the Sugarlands Visitor Center, and shows you the rich diversity of not only the natural, but human history of this great area.