Hike features the park's treasures

Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park will offer a guided hike near the park’s eastern boundary in Cataloochee on Tuesday, May 14. This high mountain valley was home to a community of more than 1,000 people prior to the establishment of the national park, and was the site of the 2001 reintroduction of elk.

Rough, Big, and Caldwell Fork trails will make a challenging 9.4 loop, featuring some of the best of the park's historical and ecological treasures, including the Woody homestead and massive old-growth poplar trees.   

Group leader Mike Knies is an avid off-trail hiker with extensive knowledge of the history and lifestyle of former settlers in the Smokies. He has marked over 1,200 home sites in the park, maintains a section of the Appalachian Trail near Davenport Gap, and has written numerous stories about adventures in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

In addition to the monthly day hiking series, Friends of the Smokies will offer an all-inclusive overnight in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, that will provide the chance to experience iconic trails in the park on June 25-26. Find more details and registration information here.

Guided hikes are held on the second Tuesday of each month, March-December. To learn more and register for an upcoming Classic Hike. Individual hikes are $20 for current Friends of the Smokies members and $35 for new and renewing members. The Classic Hikes of the Smokies series is sponsored in part by Smoky Mountain Living magazine.

Friends of the Smokies is an official nonprofit partner of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and has raised more than $65 million to support critical park programs and maintain the Smokies as a crown jewel of the National Park Service.