Overnight Backpacking in the Smokies

Overview

Leave the road far behind for stress free, guided backpacking in the Smoky Mountains.
New to Backpacking?
Avoid the growing pains of learning backpacking skills through the school of hard knocks. Our groups are small enough to allow us to get to know each other and to travel as a team while gaining confidence and trust in the process. Wilderness backpacking is the most rewarding way to experience a bit of real America. Because you do it on your own two feet, you’ll take home a dramatic sense of accomplishment that flows into your daily life.
Been backpacking for years?
Try traveling with your own naturalist, learning more about the forest you love. You’ll learn how to identify plants useful for food and medicine and what to do if lost in the woods. Additionally, learn how to avoid getting struck by lightening during a thunderstorm, how to cure headaches naturally and everything you need to make your trips through the wilderness safer and more enjoyable.

City: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Thu 26 Dec

Other dates

You can choose the date already on the booking website

Starting at $499.00

Make a reservation

Thu 26 Dec

Starting at $499.00

Make a reservation

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What's Included

You will be provided with a dinner and a breakfast in the form of specialized, freeze dried backpacking meals. Lunches are snacks on the trail.

Bars, trail mix, fruit leather. Snacks vary. Please let us know if you have dietary restrictions.

Professional guide

All Fees and Taxes

All necessary gear included. This includes a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad and backpack. Guides carry 1st aid kit, stove and filter for the group.

You will be provided with a dinner and a breakfast in the form of specialized, freeze dried backpacking meals. Lunches are snacks on the trail.

Additional Info

Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
Not recommended for pregnant travelers
Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
Travelers should have a high level of physical fitness
This trip requires a 2 person minimum to operate. If you are traveling solo, you may join into an existing tour or pay the 2 person rate.
You will be asked to sign a waiver.
Face masks required for travellers in public areas
Face masks required for guides in public areas
Hand sanitiser available to travellers and staff
Social distancing enforced throughout experience
Regularly sanitised high-traffic areas
Gear/equipment sanitised between use
Guides required to regularly wash hands
Regular temperature checks for staff
Contactless payments for gratuities and add-ons
COVID-19 vaccination required for guides
You will be required to bring a mask for the duration of the trip. You are only required to wear it during times social distancing cannot be maintained.

What To Expect

A Walk In The Woods

A Walk in the Woods Smoky Mountain guides have been helping guests make lasting memories on backpacking and camping trips, driving tours and guided hikes in the Smoky Mountains since 1998. Our local, naturalist guides are experts in all things Smokies! Once you book your trip, you will be sent paperwork that we need filled out by you and everyone in your party within 48 hours. We will need that paperwork filled out and returned as soon as possible. You will receive a conditioning guide, a packlist upon booking and meeting location and route information closer to the time of your trip.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Everything you wanted to know but were too afraid to ask! Turn that curiosity into knowledge with a one night guided backpacking trip in the Smoky Mountains. Learn everything about the exciting and challenging sport of backpacking while meeting other people. On this trip, you will learn all the steps needed to become a proficient backpacker. Find out what to pack, how to pack and how to wear your pack for the most comfort. Learn how to use the best gear and what to do in the event that things don’t go as planned. If the weather changes or your gear doesn’t work well, you’ll be prepared. Identifying wild plants, which ones are edible, how to cure headaches and getting relief from poison ivy are all things you will learn along the way. We’ll start with a brief class on backpacking and apply it in real life.

Cancellation Policy

All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.

Traveler Photos

Reviews (89)

IDtheTarget

Sep 2019

Bottom line: Unbelievable customer service, an incredible trail guide and some of the most beautiful scenery I've experienced made this my wife's and my favorite part of our stay in Gatlinburg. My wife and I don't get to vacation very often. When we got the chance for a 4-day getaway, we decided that we wanted to go to the Smoky Mountains. We looked online and found the Waterfall Adventure with A Walk in the Woods. I booked the hike and put it in my Google Calendar. What I forgot is that I live in Central time and Gatlinburg is on Eastern. So when we got to Gatlinburg Google changed the time from 2pm to 3pm. My fault entirely for forgetting to compensate for time zones. At 2pm on the day of the hike my wife and I are getting ready in the hotel room, thinking we have plenty of time (again, because *I* had messed up on my time zones). Instead of writing us off, I got a call from the tour guide asking if we were still going. Our hotel room was 15 minutes from the start of the hike, and we panicked. The guide (I can't remember her name!) didn't want to delay the other hikers (which I completely understand), so she called the office. They contacted another guide who had completed a tour. He agreed to turn around and guide us on the tour. Eric ended up being our guide, and he was terrific! He knew a lot about the various plants that the Cherokee had used for different things, knew the history and lore of the area, etc. Our tour was around 2.5 hours, and we were learning and enjoying every single minute of it. The hike was gorgeous, we passed several 6-foot or so waterfalls. A lot of it was uphill, but the pace was good. So, again, an amazing experience, unparalleled customer service, and Eric was a wonderful guide. This experience could have been a disaster (which would have been completely my fault), but A Walk in the Woods turned it into a lifetime memory for my wife and me.

attrooper

Sep 2019

The hubs found this hike via TripAdvisor and a great find it was! Caroline was our guide and was an absolute delight. Actually, it was just myself and my husband on this particular hike. The pace was light(great since my husband is a beginner) and the trail was very simple. We learned a lot of history along the way and of course learned of native plants and wildlife. A bonus treat, we were met by a doe and it fawn rounding a bend in the path. Caroline was extremly accomodating by offering to take pics of us and also had some snacks along if needed. I'd highly recommend this as a wonderful afternoon activity. The only down part was that it ended.

justjuli

Sep 2019

I absolutely loved our nature hike. Erik Soltan was full of the history of the land,wildlife and plant life it takes stress away to just be in the middle of the forest. Thank you