First Time Hike (Smoky Mountain National Park)

A freind and I would like to take a 4+ day backcountry camping trip to GSMNP. However, we have little camping or backcountry trail experience. I am an avid outdoorsmen who hunts and fishes frequently in northern Wisconsin. Therefore, I have a great deal of knowledge about the outdoors and common sense outdoor issues. Also, we both are in excellent shape as we are both NCAA baseball athletes.
I am looking for any advice or tips on trails, loops, or gear. I have read through most of the other forum topics on gear and trails but would like some specific infor on GSMNP. We are just looking to enjoy the views and be at one with mother nature.

Thanks you in advance. Any information is greatly appreciated.

thanks,
-outdoorfisherman-

My favorite short loop hike in the Smokies is the Gabe's Mountain/Maddron bald/Snake den ridge loop. It's a 2-nighter with tons of beautiful creeks, some old-growth forest, nice waterfalls, and some scenic mountaintop views. If you wanted to push that to a 4-nighter, you could integrate a short AT section to take you over the TN/NC border to the Big Creek area on the NC side. From what I've heard, there is some decent fly fishing to be found along Big Creek. Spend one night at campsite 36 or 37 then take another day to the top of Mt. Sterling and camp at 38 (see map below). Get some amazing panorama pics from the fire tower on Sterling, and backtrack down Shallow Fork/Low gap back to the cosby access area. It would be a long final day, but definitely doable.

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/upload/GSMNP%20Backcountry%20Map.pdf

Pretty decent trail map, and combine it with terrain/topos from google maps, and you can get a decent idea of what you'd be in for. Most of my hiking in the smokies is concentrated in that general area, so hence my recommendations.

The good thing about GSMNP is that there's tons of information on various hikes floating around online. That also comes at the expense of some of the trails being more populated, and less conducive to getting away from people

edit: forgot to mention, if you play baseball for Wisconsin...BOOOOO!

Welcome to the site! If you haven't already found them, there are lots of excellent articles for beginners and on gear selection listed in the left-hand column of http://www.backpacking.net/, the home page of this site.

Another good site for gear selection is Mark Verber's website. Lots of ideas for gear, from the latest technical stuff to low-budget alternatives.

Ditto taM's suggestion...I hiked that loop last summer and it was fantastic.

As far as gear goes, plan for heat and relatively high humidity with regards to clothing, etc. It's so warm, even at night, that during the peak summer months I haven't been taking a sleeping bag, just a liner. Be sure you have some quality raingear...there was at least a mild shower every day I was out. Probably not the place to take your poncho/tarp shelter as your primary shelter, as I did

What do you consider "warm?" I was in the Smokys last August and there were some nights where the temperature got down to the mid-30's. Even if you're not spending the night at higher elevations, I would definitely bring more than just a liner.

I went in August and I'd estimate the nighttime temps in the 60's, maybe upper 50's. Granted, in spring or early summer the temps will be cooler (lows in the mid 40's at night right now).

I'd never plan for more than 40 deg night time lows in the smokies in the summer. There are plenty of nights where it might be 50+ but as with any hiking locale, with elevation comes uncertainty.

At lower elevations, temps might be warm, and a liner bag might be enough, but on that same night at 5,000 feet, you'd probably be shivering.

Last time I was up there I had a crappy 40 degree synthetic bag and never got a hint of chill, but there are plenty of times you could be pushing it pretty close with a 30 degree bag.

Now I have a decent 20 deg down bag (really more like 25-30) that I feel I can trust for most 3-season, with the real deciding factor being what I sleep on underneath the bag (z-rest during decently warm weather, BA ins. aircore in cold).

I'm sure I'd be more inclined to push it if I had a wider selection of bags, but as of right now I'm down to the one bag that serves most of my needs...until I pony up the coin for a summer bag (eyes on a summerlite from WM).