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Home » "Hike the Smokies Challenge" Begins on April 25 at Great Smoky Mountains National Park

"Hike the Smokies Challenge" Begins on April 25 at Great Smoky Mountains National Park

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By Jim Burnett - April 21st, 2010
Trail in Smokies.

Trails in the Smokies are waiting to be hiked. Photo by pfly via Creative Commons and flickr.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers hundreds of miles of trails, and the park is launching a new program to encourage visitors to enjoy them. The “Reward Yourself - Hike the Smokies Challenge" begins with free distribution of hiking mileage record books at park visitor centers on April 25.

The "challenge" part of the program is for hikers to keep track of the number of miles they hike on each excursion on park trails, and record the distances in pocket-size record books available from the park. Repeat trips on the same trail are fair game, and each hike can be as long or as short as you choose.

The park is distributing the hiking record books free of charge on Sunday, April 25, at Sugarlands and Oconaluftee Visitor Centers between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. and at the Cades Cove Visitor Center from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. After April 25, the booklets will be available at the three visitor centers for $1.00.

Once a person has hiked a total of 100 miles, 250 miles, and 500 miles, he or she can bring their mileage record to one of the three park visitor visitor centers to receive a mileage pin and have their accomplishment recorded in the “Hike the Smokies” 2010 web records.

A video podcast, "Day Hiking in the Smokies: Expect the Unexpected," will also be launched on April 25th at this link. According to the park staff, this 3-minute video podcast will help visitors prepare for the weather extremes that can be found in the Smokies during a day hike. Two additional video podcasts are being developed in this series for release this summer and fall that will provide additional tips on hiking safety in the Smokies.

“Day hiking in the Smokies is a good way to get exercise while also discovering the beauty of this area,” said Park Superintendent Dale Ditmanson. “With over 800 miles of scenic trails to choose from, the possibilities for day hikes are endless.”

Funding for the project includes support from the National Park Foundation, The Coca-Cola Foundation and the Great Smoky Mountains Association.

You'll find plenty of information about hiking in the park, including trail maps and safety information, on the park website.

Comments

Submitted by [email protected] on April 21, 2010 - 7:41am.

Great idea.

Unfortunately, the Park completely ignored the Smokies 900 club,
www.900miler.com, a club that recognizes hikers who have walked all
the trails in the park. There are about 300 of us.

When the club was created in the mid-1990s, the Park was saying that
it had about 900 miles of trails. Now it's 800 miles - and that's accurate.
I did reply to that press release and pointed them to the Smokies 900 club.

Danny
www.hikertohiker.com


Submitted by Jim Burnett on April 21, 2010 - 8:46am.

Danny -

Thanks for bringing the 900 club to our attention. That's a noble and ambitious goal. Kudos to those of you who have completed it.


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