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WHAT: A 2 night advanced backpacking trip in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in eastern TN.RSVP: closedOpen to Scouts who have been on at least 2 backpacking trips with Troop 13 and are prepared for the physical challenge of a multi-day hike.DEPART: 6:30AM on May 27 from Publix on S Royal OaksRETURN: Afternoon of May 29 to Publix on S Royal OaksDISTANCE/ELEVATION: 22.4 miles, 6800 ft elevationMEALS:Sat May 27: money for breakfast on the road, lunch, dinnerSun May 28: breakfast, lunch, dinnerMon May 29: lunch, money for lunch on the roadCOST: $68 for Scouts, $35 for adults ($33 discount for Scouts using OWNFOOD-GSMNP if bring your own food)
Tentative Notes (for future reference)
SaturdayLunchDinnerSundayBreakfastLunchDinnerMondayBreakfast$32 per person
Sat: Twenty Mile Trailhead → Site 13Sun: Site 13 → Site 113Mon: Site 113 → Twenty Mile Trailhead6.7 miles3589’ ↑, 319’ ↓ 8.4 miles2230’ ↑, 3106’ ↓
7.3 miles992’ ↑, 3385’ ↓Other Possible Treks (for future reference only)Sat AM: Elkmont CampgroundSat PM: ~6.7 miles to site 23Sun PM: ~12.3 miles to site 26Mon AM: ~5.8 miles to Elkmont CampgroundSat AM: Cosby CampgroundSat PM: ~5 miles to site 36 or 37Sun PM: ~10 miles to site 29Mon AM: ~10.9 miles to Cosby CampgroundSat AM: Abrams CreekSat PM: ~2.3 miles to site 13Sun PM: ~10 miles to site 15 (possible visit into Cade Cove on the way)Mon AM: ~3.1 miles to Abrams CreekSat AM: Twenty Mile TrailheadSat PM: ~8 miles to site 90Sun PM: ~6 miles to site 92Mon AM: ~5.5 miles to Twenty Mile Trailhead
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Eastern TN // May 2023
SUMMARY 🔴
ITINERARY
This is an advanced backpacking trip to some of Tennessee’s best and most beautiful hiking trails over Memorial Day weekend. Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) is the most visited national park in the entire country. Among other things this means that registration is a bit more restricted than many other places we go.
Our confirmed trek will start at the , and hike about 22.5 miles over the next 2 days, including a mile or two along the famed Appalachian Trail. We’ll spend our first night at site 13, and our second night at site 113, returning back to the Twenty Mile Trailhead on Monday.
Registration for any backcountry site with GSMNP opens 30 days out, and with Memorial day being a popular weekend for people to be out we want to be ready to make a reservation on Apr 26. Our RSVP will be open through the month of April so that we know how many spots we need to reserve. Group sizes are limited to 8, so we need to know how many people are going before we register with the park. If we have 8 people register, we’ll have one crew of 8. If we have 12 people register we’ll probably do 2 crews of 6. If we have 16 people register we’ll do 2 crews of 8. And so on. The nice thing about this is that there’s not a strict limit on how many people can sign up. The challenging thing about this is we won’t know who’s in what crew until everyone registers and then we see what sites we’re able to get at GSMNP.
Several possible routes are mapped out below. Each trek will include a portion of the Appalachian Trail. When you register please note your preferred trek - actual trek assignments will be dependent on availability at registration time.
MEALS
💰 Cooking Budget:
ℹ️ Cooking Note
We have 3 Scouts who need to cook for various rank/positions. Since we have 2 full sets of meals, we’ll split up the cooking duties a bit so that everyone who needs to cook will be able to.
MAPS & ELEVATION
GaiaGPS Route Overview
Summary: 22.4 miles, 6800’ of elevation
1: Saturday
2: Sunday
3: Monday
Trek 2: 24.8 miles, ~5700’ of elevation
Trek 3: 20.9 miles, 7200’ of elevation
Trek 4: 15.1 miles, 3500’ of elevation
Trek 5: 19.5 miles, 5600’ of elevation
WHO IS COMING
RSVP list final as of 8PM Apr 26.
Scouts (6)
Adults (2)
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