Hiking all the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains national park

I have been systematically hiking the trails, manways and roadways in the Great Smoky Mountains National park for the past 12 years but last October I started to hike all of the trails again as day hikes in both directions in all 4 seasons and have completed them all this way within a year.

While first I thought this was going to be an easy task, as time went on I began to realize how difficult it would be to hike all the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains national park (GSMNP) this way without car shuttles or overnight stays.

First of all the GSMNP is huge - 800 square miles and since there are about 1,000 miles of maintained hiking trails, paved roads, gravel roads and major manways and that's just in 1 direction!

Because of the sheer size of the park, some hiking trails took me 5 hours to get to and from the trailhead parking areas even though my home in the Smoky Mountains is less than 5 miles from the Greenbrier National Park entrance.

Hiking all the trails in the Smokies during different seasons presents hikers with different challenges and rewards. For me, hiking the entire Great Smoky Mountains national park in the summer and winter presented me with the most hiking challenges.

Summers heat meant the constant risk of dehydration or overheating on the more extreme hikes, the extra effort required to carry much larger quantities of water along with more insects, stinging nettles, poisonous snakes and very frequent bear encounters.

While hiking in the summer in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park there are also more frequent thunderstorms which increase the risk of a hiker being struck by lightning and river, streams and creeks that previously had little or no water can become filled with swift running water and too dangerous to cross in minutes.

The summer heat can also create and issue where the air quality in the Smokies becomes poor or hazardous due to ozone created by coal burning power plants far away. Hiking when there is excessive ozone levels can be harmful or at least uncomfortable to hike in.

Hiking in winter also presented special challenges such as far shorter days making it impossible to complete some of the longer hikes without the aid of flashlights and headlamps, ice and snow on the trails and stream crossings increasing the chances of an injury from falling, and the risk of hypothermia from allowing my body core to get too cold.

To counter the risk of hypothermia my day pack had to include far more clothing that I could take on and off in layers as well as replacements in case I got wet. I also packed far more extensive overnight gear in case I was stranded for the night so I could survive safely in the GSMNP. All of this extra hiking gear added close to another 20 pounds to my backpack.

Hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains national park in the winter I could trekking for a week or more in deep backcountry and never see another hiker. No chance for a swift rescue - especially since cell phones don't work through much of the park!

In the winter fresh snow can completely obliterate any sign of where a trail is making navigating the trails in the national park difficult. The same can happen with fresh fallen leaves in the fall. Some trails which are used rarely can also be difficult to navigate in the winter when leaf litter on the trail floor is not broken down so it may be hard to find your way.

In the Smokies especially in higher elevations in the winter and spring it can be overcast for days on end making the best GPS unit worthless. Being overcast means you may not get a fix on any stars, the moon or the sun for days. A compass when hiking on the Smokies is a must!

The 2 most common questions I get from people about hiking all the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains is asking me what my favorite hiking trail in the park is and how they can get my job.

Since I have hiked all the trails in the GSMNP so many times you would think the first question about my favorite trail in the Great Smoky Mountains national park is easy. Well it isn't. Based upon the season, weather, time allotted to hike that day and even the day of the week the answer will change.

As for having my job, between running my business, gathering local information, studying and hiking I work harder than anyone can imagine 7 days a week but the rewards of this journey have been beyond my wildest dreams.

The past 3 years of intent concentration in the Great Smoky Mountains national park have taught me much. My next goal is to take the years of research and thousands upon thousands of photographs and make this available to everyone.

I see and read the hiking "experts" of the Great Smoky Mountains national park everyday. Few of the experts are in fact as really knowledgeable as they present themselves to be and often are just amateurs with an agenda to sell you what ever they can make the most money from.

If someone is trying to push you on a GPS unit to hike in the Smokies or other expensive electronic gadgets beware. The same for some hiking equipment as well. For example my $89 top end hiking boot inserts lasts only a month longer than the $8 inserts I got in Wal-Mart - though I am testing others.

For a casual hiker going up the Alum Cave Trail to Le Conte it might only be that you have wasted money on the wrong, inferior or overpriced equipment. For a camper or an extreme hiker in the real backcountry the wrong equipment or wrong advice can be disastrous - and deadly.

Rest assured that my information is thoroughly researched and accurate. Any personal recommendation of a product or service is because I am willing to trust my life with it. Hiking solo as I do for as much as 30 miles or more a day you better believe I have to trust my equipment - my life depends on it!

As the owner of the Your Smokies Information web site about the Great Smoky Mountains I will start adding more and more hiking and trails information as well as historical, biological and environmental information to this web site that already has 400 pages of Smokies Information.

My primary concerns are the protection of the Smoky Mountains and the education of those looking to experience the Smokies. Read my blogs and web sites and you will see what I mean. Join my adventure and please feel free to comment and contribute.

Nothing has ever been as difficult, gratifying, strengthening, exciting and informative to my mind, body and soul as hiking all of the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

Smoky Mountains Tourism for summer of 2007

Soaring gas prices across the nation and now more terrorism concerns for Americans traveling oversea spell good news for business that depend on tourism in the NC and TN Smoky Mountains.

Even though local Smokies businesses were worried lasts year that their summer season could be a bust because of the huge post Katrina gas price increases, they found their fears were unfounded.

Higher occupancies in and hotels and motels and vacation rental properties in the Smokies showed that tourists still wanted to get away and the higher gas prices were a small price to pay to enjoy the Smokies.

Many who we asked who normally would have gone cross country or taken longer trips were very satisfied to stay closer to home and explore the Smoky Mountains.

Since the devastation of 9-11 many travelers have also decide to stay at home in the continental US where they feel safer and especially with the recent arrest of an Ohio terrorist who was working to plot attacks against American tourists in Europe this thinking is here to stay.

To combat the higher prices of gas when driving in the Smokies remember these tips:

1. Don't use premium gas unless your car or truck requires it. Yep this was a shocker to me that you don't get better mileage but using premium gas!
2. Keep your tires inflated and check them before and during your trip at least once. You can lose a significant amount of gas mileage (about 5%) for every pound of under inflation. Steel belted radial tires increase mileage by around 10%.
3. Change your oil and air filter if needed before a long trip. High quality synthetic oil can also make a difference.
4. Tune up your car when needed. Although cars require less maintenance than when they did in the past, you can still waste 25% of your gas with a car that needs a significant tune up.
5. Avoiding jack rabbit acceleration and driving at a reasonable speed will also make a huge difference to your gas mileage and pocketbook.
6. Don't let your car sit and idle for long periods if you can avoid it. Expect to waste at least a quart of gas every 15 minutes - more with air-conditioning on!
7. If you have cruise control on a highway and conditions permit use it. Maintaining an even speed a not having to slow down and speed up to pass slower cars will save plenty of gas.
8. Coast when you can to save gas if you see a red light or traffic up ahead. Resuming a normal driving speed from 5 MPH rather than a dead stop reduces gas consumption by 20%.

Lastly this won't save you much gas if any but will save your brakes when driving in the mountains. Check your owners manual for details but when driving downhill in the Smoky Mountains use a lower gear rather than just riding your brakes.