Hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a United States National Park located in a region of the Appalachian Mountains referred to as the Great Smoky Mountains, in a portion of east-central Tennessee and southwest North Carolina. With over 150 hiking trails extending for more than , within its boundaries, including a seventy-mile segment of the Appalachian Trail, hiking is the most popular activity in the national park .
Development of hiking trails in the national park.
As plans to create a national park in the eastern United States began to unfold in the 1920s, specifically in the area of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, various organizations began the process of procuring lands and constructing for the eventual national park. At the same time, the Great Depression had wrought havoc among the nation's people, leaving many homeless and unemployed. One of the organizations then-president Franklin Delano Roosevelt created to get Americans working again, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was instrumental in the development of the hiking trails and campsites in the national park. Many of the hundreds of miles of trails in the park were dug by the CCC in its formative years—even those still in place today.
Other hiking trails were, in another incarnation, in use hundreds of years in the past. Before the settlement of Anglo-Americans, largely from Scotland and Ireland, in the area of today's Great Smoky Mountain National Park, the region was a small portion of the expansive Cherokee territory. The Cherokee often traveled over the mountains via established routes for trading and reaching hunting grounds away from their homes. Over the years with the steadying encroachment of white settlers, many of the old Cherokee mountain roads were adapted to the uses of the new settlers and, eventually, a few of these were converted over to some of the hiking trails in the national park .
In addition to the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps and mountain routes of the Cherokee Indians, various hiking clubs have also worked to improve upon currently established trails and to construct entirely new trails in their own right. Perhaps the most popular of these, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, which promotes the conservation of the Appalachian Trail, works through an affiliated club to maintain the trail within the national park. Other similar groups perform similar functions on trails throughout the park.
Hiking trails of the national park.
Of the more than 150 hiking trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the majority of traffic centers on a few of the shorter trails located just off the main highway, U.S. Highway 441 (Newfound Gap Road). The lengthier, more isolated trails are much less frequented, though, at any one time, very few hikers are completely alone in the park.
Trails in the park cover all types; Short, self-guided nature trails are found off the highways in purposely diverse areas of the park, while longer, strenuous backpacking hikes are available along the Appalachian and various other primarily highland trails. Some trails are paved, some lead to waterfalls, others to overlooks, and still others lead to more trails.
The 900 Miler Club.
Hikers who complete all 150 trails within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and apply for membership are called "900 Milers" and are entered into the list of The 900 Miler Club. They've recorded and completed each trail within the Smokies and turned in their application to the group. For a small fee they can purchase a badge, magnet or sticker showing their accomplishment as well. The current unofficial total of the club members is 705 as of 9/9/2021. The fastest known time (FKT) for completion of the 900 Miler Club is by Jeff Woody with a time of "33d 8h 51m 0s" completed on 8/25/2020. 
Cross-country trails.
Perhaps the most famous trail in the world (certainly in the United States), the Appalachian Trail bisects the national park, for most of its length within the park running on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina. Another lesser known, more recently constructed footpath, the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, begins (or ends) at the Clingmans Dome Observation Tower, and runs, as the name suggests, from North Carolina's mountainous border with Tennessee, to the Atlantic Ocean at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
Trails: Cades Cove.
Cades Cove is the most visited area of the most visited national park in the United States . Though most of these two million visitors each year don't veer very far away from the one-way loop road that traverses the valley, hiking trails accessible from the road are nonetheless still often busier than most.
Trails: Cherokee Orchard/Roaring Fork.
The Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail is a one way paved roadway accessible only via Cherokee Orchard Road just out of the small resort city of Gatlinburg. The area's proximity to Gatlinburg lends it to a relatively high number of visitors during mid-day in the peak tourist seasons and on weekends, though dayhikers usually concentrate at Grotto and Rainbow Falls.
Three of the trails in this region lead to the summit of Mount Le Conte, one of the most popular destinations for hikers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Here, the LeConte Lodge provides the only commercial lodging within the national park and annually sells out all of its rooms, which contain no electricity or running water, months in advance. The mountain is also popular for its vistas at Myrtle Point and the Cliff Tops. 
Trails: Cosby/Greenbrier.
Cosby and Greenbrier campgrounds are located about fifteen miles (24 km) apart on the Tennessee side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The campgrounds share many similarities and even a few connecting hiking trails. Each are found east of the city of Gatlinburg and, while there still exists a town of Cosby, the old Greenbrier community largely came to an end with the establishment of the national park in the 1930s.
Trails: Clingmans Dome.
The highest point both in the State of Tennessee and along the Appalachian Trail, Clingmans Dome is also the hub of numerous dayhikes and longer backpacking trips. The mountain itself is one of the most popular destinations in the national park, as a seven-mile (11 km) paved road allows visitors to park only a half mile from the concrete observation tower erected in 1963, from which views into several states (on clear days) are available.
Trails: Little River Road/Elkmont/Tremont.
Beginning at a fork with Newfound Gap Road and the national park headquarters at Sugarlands Visitor Center, Little River Road links the main park thoroughfare with Cades Cove, the most popular destination in the national park. The road also provides access to the Elkmont Campground (and the historic community that once thrived there), Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area, and the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont.
Trails: Newfound Gap Road.
As the primary roadway through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Newfound Gap Road (U.S. Highway 441), is the hub of activity in the national park. Both of the largest visitors centers are on either end of the highway, near Gatlinburg (Sugarlands) and just out of Cherokee, North Carolina (Oconaluftee), as are most of the most popular hiking trails in the park. Newfound Gap, about midway into the park, is home to the Rockefeller Memorial, from which Franklin Roosevelt dedicated the national park in 1940. The gap is also crossed by the Appalachian Trail, which crosses alongside the memorial and over the highway towards Clingmans Dome.