About Smoky Mountain Guides
Smoky Mountain Guides is a premier hiking and backpacking outfitter based in Gatlinburg, offering guided treks into Great Smoky Mountains National Park — America's most visited national park with over 800 miles of maintained trails. Their team of AMGA-trained and Wilderness First Responder-certified guides leads visitors into some of the park's most spectacular backcountry terrain, from old-growth forests draped in Spanish moss to high-altitude balds with 360-degree mountain views that stretch into three states.
Day hike options range from moderate waterfall walks to challenging summit climbs of Mount LeConte, Charlies Bunion, and other iconic peaks. Multi-day backpacking trips follow the Appalachian Trail through the park's highest ridgeline or loop through remote backcountry campsites along streams where brook trout still thrive. Seasonal specialty trips include wildflower hikes in spring (the park is home to over 1,600 flowering plant species), fall foliage treks when the hardwood forests ignite in color, and winter snowshoe excursions on the higher-elevation trails when crowds thin to near-zero.
What distinguishes Smoky Mountain Guides is their deep interpretive approach — every hike doubles as a natural history lesson covering the park's Appalachian ecology, Cherokee heritage, and early settler history. Guides carry field guides and spotting scopes, pointing out salamander species (the Smokies are the "Salamander Capital of the World"), bear activity, and rare wildflowers. Group sizes are capped at eight to maintain a genuine wilderness feel, and all gear — trekking poles, packs, water filtration — is available for those who need it.
