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

Sat 28 Dec

Other dates

You can choose the date already on the booking website

Starting at $499.00

Make a reservation

Sat 28 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)

bothhudsons

Jun 2019

We had a wonderful walk through the woods learning about the plants and park around us. We certainly wouldn't have been able to find those waterfalls ourselves. Our guide did a great job and even brought some sassafras tea for us to try. We weren't prepared for the amount of gnats, but they didn't ruin our trip either.

Cheryl A

Jun 2019

I didn't write the guide's name down (Abby), but she was a recent graduate of a college in NC. She was very nice and knowledgeable about our hike and the flowers. She thought I would need to slowly cross a stream on the rocks, but it was shallow so I just walked through - and found out my boots are waterproof. A very nice day, up and down the little hills and around several corners the rapids and falls of the river. It was a nicer, slower introduction to GSMNP.

Matt B

Jun 2019

Abby lead our group on our walk in the woods recently. We learned about local history, plants, wildlife, and critters while discovering waterfalls that we would have never likely found on our own.