Great Smoky Mountains Natl Park
Near: Knoxville, TN
Trails:
Camp:
Miles of Trails: 550
Rigorous
Read Reviews
Trail Description: Over 500 miles of very scenic trails through out the Smoky Mountains. Suprisingly the riding, while strenuous for the horses, is not especially technical. That is, there are not steep ascents or descents. At least for the parts of the park in which we rode (western). That said, your horse must be well conditioned as you may climb two or three thousand feet in a six to eight mile ride. Also, there are numerous creek crossings and some foot bridges that must be crossed, some with water rushing under them.
There are numerous campgrounds in the park as well as several private grounds adjacent or nearby. Our group stayed at a private camp (Gilbertson's Lazy Horse Retreat). There are both drive-in and back-country campgrounds in the Park. The drive-in camps are small and don't appear to be easy to access with large rigs. Most important, while camping at the drive-in areas, horses must be secured in small tie stalls on concrete pads. Our group was not comfortable tieing our horses where they couldn't move around. We didn't go to the back-country camps.
Contact: Great Smoky Mts Natl Park --
email: grsm_smokies_information@nps.gov
Website: http://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm
Copyright 2002 - 2024