Hiking Trails of the Great Smoky Mountains : A Comprehensive Guide

by Kenneth Wise

Featuring fifteen maps and forty-four illustrations, a guide to the official trails--as well as many off-trail trips--of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers vital information for each trail and points of interest. Original. UP.

446 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[David Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hiking Trails of the Great Smoky Mountains: A Comprehensive Guide by Kenneth W. Wise (University of Tennessee Press 1996) is by far and away the best hiking guide to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Long out of print, this volume contains all of the National Park authorized trails as well as some additional man-ways and off-route hikes which the National Park Service clearly wants to discourage (and for good reason, generally speaking). This is one of the three great books about the hiking trails in the Great Smokies. I have hiked over 400 of the 800 miles of trails in the park, and I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone. (The other two great volumes are Top Trails Great Smoky Mountains National Park Must Do Hikes For Everyone by Johnny Molloy (Wilderness Press 2012) and Hiking Trails of the Smokies by the Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association, Don Defoe, Beth Giddens (Great Smoky Mountains Association 2003)(917.68). My rating: 9.5/10, finished 2010.

[Oseana Bratton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve not actually read this book. I am looking for a copy to purchase. If you happen to have a copy that you are willing to let go I’d be very appreciative! Looking for the teal edition. :-)

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the premier guidebooks for hiking in the GSMNP. Includes a separate large format map, a $3 value. Trail descriptions are accurate and detailed. The author is a respected authority on the Park. However, there is no index, no indications of elevation gain, no individual trail maps, and no photographs. The table of contents is quite cumbersome: if you don’t know what section of the Park a trail is in, the trail is hard to find. And even when you know what section, trails are not listed alphabetically but in random order. It’s a wonderful resource, but it easily could have been much better.

[Timo Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far the most comprehensive collection of hiking trails, manways and routes in the Smokies. Historic trails, cemeteries, train cars and rail roads, many of the things the Park Service has taken great effort in erasing from other GSM trails books is in here. Your first choice for research on designated and backcountry hiking.

[Kelly Lynn Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was definitely helpful in choosing which trails to hike when we visited Smoky Mountain National Park. Good descriptions of the trails and what to expect, and it is very comprehensive.