A Hiker's Path: Great Smoky Mountains visit includes winter family hike

I was fortunate enough to join my family this year for the holidays in Tennessee. Destination: the Great Smoky Mountains!

We stayed in a beautiful cabin near the national park entrance. Of course, that meant some hiking would be involved.

The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range bordering the Tennessee-North Carolina border. They are part of the Blue Ridge mountains which is a subrange of the Appalachian mountains.

The mountains are sometimes called the “Smokies” and are best known as the home of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park was first established in 1934. The park covers 522,427 acres, which is divided between Tennessee and North Carolina. The park has over 800 miles of hiking trails.

I got to hike three of them while I was visiting this beautiful place.

Some of the trails were closed, but there were still plenty to choose from. With a quick stop at the visitors center, we collected maps and drove to the trailhead for a first hike. The “Little River” trail follows an old logging road that was used by the Little River Logging company back in the early 1900s. The trail follows along Little River.

It was a cold winter day when we hiked this trail. The sun was shining and we were in elevation. A gentle snow had fallen and the landscape looked like a winter wonderland.

We took off on our hike down an easy trail. It was exciting to be hiking in the Smoky Mountains over the holidays.

We walked along, exploring the river, looking at the river rocks, and taking photos — memories in the making.

We passed a lot of old, stone chimneys where homesteads once were. I felt a sense of history and kinship with the land. It was humbling.

We soon crossed a small, but beautiful waterfall, the “Husky Branch Falls."  This waterfall is 20 feet high.

We continued to follow the trail to the 2.5-mile mark where we came to the junction of another trail, the “Cucumber Gap” trail. We decided to follow that trail, which was 2.6 miles in length. We really got our miles in this day. We passed a lot of mountain laurel and enjoyed a quiet walk in the mountains. Soon, we turned on a trail that took us back to the trailhead. We had hiked 6 miles and it was so much fun!

To find this trail in the park: Starting at the Sugarlands Visitor Center near Gatlinburg, drive 4.9 miles west along Little River Road to reach the Elkmont Campground turnoff. Turn left at the campground sign and drive 1.4 miles to reach the campground. Do not turn into the campground. Turn left and drive an additional 0.6 miles to reach the Little River trail.

A quote for your New Year: “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, philosopher, poet, 1803-1882

Until the next trail, Happy New Year! Susan

This article originally appeared on Evening World: Hiker spends holidays on trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park