We met our guide, Mike, at the Smoky Mountains visitor center, which was crawling with people (even this early in the season). I dreaded hiking busy trails, bumping into people, and not really feeling like I was on a hike. Mike led us to a little pullout along the side of the road and onto an unmarked trail. For four hours we didn't see another soul, but we hiked along a gorgeous mountain stream, through a fantastic rhododendron forest, and up to an impressive rock formation. This was the highlight of our four day trip. My two teenaged sons loved it, too, and Mike gave us botany and biology lessons the whole way along (he made the educational part perfectly painless!). We will be back for a longer hike, and we will send all our friends who visit Gatlinburg to A Walk In The Woods!