Appalachian Trail Overview: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Old trails, new names

Since I arrived in North Carolina, every day had been like a reunion. It was surreal hiking sections of the Appalachian Trail I had visited before knowing I was on a very different mission this time. Still, just as I had changed since I last set foot in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, so had the landscape.

The names had changed. Clingman’s Dome, the highest point on the Trail, had been restored under its rightful name, Kuwohi (from the Cherokee word meaning «place of mulberry trees»). There was something profound about seeing worn-out wooden park signs topped with a new sign with this nickname. Not only was it now named after a trail, but even my day-to-day name had been shortened from what it once was. I had been here many times before, but it was nice to meet again.

In the Smokies we met Sparrow, AT class of ’23 and a Ridgerunner. We spent the night in a shelter with them before our Kuwohi pre-dawn breakfast. A sunrise hike in the Smokies often means a cloud-covered morning, the clouds not parting but lightening in hue. Even so, the perfume of the pine trees invaded us as we crossed under the landslides, the arches that took us to our destination.

The first of many NC/TN crossovers

Still, we crossed the 200 mile mark and headed to the visitor center to earn our Junior Ranger badges. It was strange to see things like bottled water being sold at theme park prices, knowing that we had filtered ours from a fresh spring just a few miles before. I was grateful for nature’s provisions and all the ways I knew to look at the earth rather than a gift shop.

Tourist Traps and Cozy Waffles in Tennessee

After Kuwohi, we headed to Gatlinburg and narrowly escaped a stay at a motel that didn’t even meet hiker standards. Note to future adventurers, a 4.7 star rating on Tripadvisor is not out of 5. It’s out of 10.

Our detour from Gatlinburg also brought a significant accomplishment: our first visit to Waffle House during the hike. One of the things that made having a tram from up and down the East Coast so lovely is that as we traveled north, we were able to share our home traditions with each other. Bringing lifelong New Englanders to this holy land of hash browns for the first time was nothing short of an honor.

From left to right: Sparrow, Peebz, Cheese Curd, Pep, Switch, Jupiter. From left to right: Benny the Mushroom, Furdy the Fox, Brock the Squatch, Crumb the Pigeon

An icy return

Our experience in the Smokies seems to be divided into BG (before Gatlinburg) and AG (after Gatlinburg). BG, it had been sunny with temperatures in the low to mid 80s. As it was still very early in the season, the famous green tunnel had not yet taken hold and we were fighting constant exposure through the leafless trees. However, our first night back to AG brought freezing temperatures and my first night of snow on the trail. Classic smokedI thought as I shook the frost off my tent in the morning. Windswept icicles pointed the way forward and we opted to spend one last night in the park.

Revisiting the Smokies in terms of a hiker was the first time I felt like I had truly changed since the beginning of my hike. The Park seemed to be a distillation of the highs and lows of the Trail: climbing to the top only to be thrown into chaotic valleys and towns covered in black bear memories; The weather gives you environmental whiplash, so you constantly wonder what clothes you should pack; and feel like maybe, just maybe, you’re understanding this. Now, 200 miles later, it seemed like it was time to put everything to the test. After all, we were becoming star students.

Day Hiker 2021 vs. Passage Hiker 2025

I was also starting to feel like I was really walking home. The destruction of Hurricane Helene loomed before us just across the park. Even as my anxiety about the storm damage grew, I was lucky to now have a looming streetcar to take my mind off things. What would be left of my house to show them? I still wasn’t quite sure, but I knew that the resilience we had been learning here would have to endure a lot of heavy lifting.

Day 24: Fontana Dam Shelter, also known as “Fontana Hilton” (NOBO Mile 166.2)

Day 25: Russell Field Shelter (181.1)

Day 26: Calvo Siler Refuge (195.8)

Day 27-28: Gatlinburg

Day 29: Icewater Springs Shelter (211.1)

Day 20: Tri-Corner Knob Shelter (223.7)

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