Great Smokey Mountains National Park, United States Travel Blogs

Apalachia
May 25, 2006

We spent two nights in the park, the first on the North Carolina side and the second in Tennessee. The camping was fun, the thunderstorms were scary. Nothing like waking up at 5am to the nearby explosion of lightning.

Day 5 - Double Spring Gap to Russell Field
Oct 27, 2007 (6 photos)

... with people who wanted to drink and smoke cigars in the shelter for a little while before going to bed.  Oh well - we'd had great company for the entire trip so far, so we bit our tongues and tried to ride out the last evening as best we could.  ...

The trip out
Oct 22, 2007

Technically our first day consisted of driving the 6 hours from Raleigh to Fontana Dam with a dinner stop at a Chinese noodle house in Asheville. We had hoped that we could find a motel near Fontana that night, however we arrived well after dark and ...

Day 6 - Russell Field to Fontana Dam
Oct 28, 2007 (6 photos)

Our last day on the trail was about 13.8 miles, a good deal of which was downhill. We went from 4,360 feet down to 1,775 feet - all 2,500 of which hammered my knees and drove my toes into the front of my boots (I do not like hiking downhill). The ...

Day 2 - Cosby Knob to Tricorner Shelter
Oct 24, 2007 (2 photos)

... been "Lady and the Tramp", but she had to board her dog for the Smokies because dogs aren't allowed on the trail in the park).  Sweet Tea was determined to get a fire going.  We gathered as much wood as we could and used our knives to whittle ...

Day 1 - To Cosby Knob Shelter
Oct 23, 2007 (12 photos)

On day 1 Mark arrived early - around 7:20 am - and it was still dark out.  I had only spoken with Mark on the phone before, and it was good to put a face with the name.  He was tall with long white hair in a pony tail.  We all piled in to ...

Day 4 - Icewater to Double Spring Gap
Oct 26, 2007 (7 photos)

... We started off the day hiking 3 miles down to Newfound Gap where the only road through the Smokies passes through.  The park was getting busier as the weekend approached and as we got closer to the Gap.  We passed plenty of people on the way down ...

Day 3 - Tricorner Knob to Icewater Spring
Oct 25, 2007 (22 photos)

12.6 miles on day 3.  Although there were plenty of ups and downs (this is the mountains,  people) we ended the day at the exact same elevation as we started it: 5,920 feet.  The weather  was beautiful and the views were becoming ...