So, I didn’t get to the Smoky Mountains at all in 2014 and I vowed to not let that happen again!  I love it too much not to go there at least once a year.  So, I threw a new hike proposal at my friends that I hike with and hopefully I’ll get a hit from some of them.  I know that at least one of them is on board because they feel the same way about the Smoky’s that I do.

 

The Smoky Mountains are nothing short of awesome but there is one drawback to them which happens to be the fact that you have to camp in specific areas.  And in order to for the park to make sure there is room for you they require that you make reservations at the backcountry campsites and shelters.  Now, this is kind of a pain because it affects the planning a trip in a few different ways.  For one thing you have to get your exact dates down that you plan on hiking so that you can make reservations.  If rain happens to come into the forecast a few days prior to going on the trip and you want to change the date you have to go through the reservation process again and hope that someone else hasn’t beat you to it.  And, you have to plan your miles based off of these specific campsites and therefore, must do a certain amount of miles to get to the particular campsite that you have reserved.  This kind of takes away from some of the fun of not living by a schedule while out backpacking.

 

So, here is the itinerary for the trip I’m proposing for my group: