Hiking Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Regional Hiking Series) Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
This guide features 82 hikes within Great Smoky Mountains National Park, America's most visited national park. It is complete revised and updated.
Series: Regional Hiking Series
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Falcon Guides; Second Edition edition (March 19, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0762770864
ISBN-13: 978-0762770861
Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 6 x 8.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #31,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #7 in Books > Travel > United States > South > East South Central #14 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Hunting & Fishing > Fishing #39 in Books > Travel > Food, Lodging & Transportation > Parks & Campgrounds
I bought the Kindle version of this after checking out the actual book at the library. The book has elevation profiles of the trails the Kindle version does not. The book has a chart for the trails that show level of difficulty that the Kindle version does not. The author listed at the bottom of that chart his favorite hikes and that too is missing. The book also has a nice Hikers checklist for planning based on day trips or overnights that is missing in Appendix C. Looks like book was scanned and anything complex was left out. Maps are also fuzzy. Not the brilliant book you would expect in digital format.The book itself is a great guide it has put me on some new trails that I might not have hiked. The author does well to explain the trails and let you know the ones that are not worth your time. The 4 stars I give to the book not the Kindle version the material left out is very important especially elevation profiles.
I got this from the library and am very glad that I did not purchase it. Living in East Tennessee I have hiked a lot of these trails and read a lot of trail guides for the region. This book has several dozen big glossy photos--some full page-- which show the beauty of the Smoky Mountains. Those are more suited for a coffee table book, though, than a trail guide, and this book lacks some things a good trail guide needs. I cannot believe that the elevation gains for the hikes are not provided, something that is essential for hiking in the mountains and was present in the previous edition of this book. The maps are also poor. First, the maps are very basic and provide little information. Despite the maps showing a relatively small area they are at the same level of detail as the large NPS trail guide you download get for free at the park website or buy for $1 at the park. Second, the maps can be confusing, which is never good. In some instances three hikes that share some of the same trails are all shown on the same map with the same yellow highlighting. You can eventually figure the route out, but I like a map that quickly and easily show me where to go. It is also disappointing that at least one of the most popular hikes in the park--Mt. LeConte via Alum Cave--is not fully covered, as the author stops at Alum Cave. More subjectively, I found the author's attitude off-putting. There is a belittling of many hikers that began to wear on me. For instance, he complains that "some of the strenuous routes are crowded with hikers probably should have chosen an easier trail. They crawl back to their cars and grumble about how rugged and inhospitable the park is," or writes that "many people hike Alum Cave Trail all the way to Mt. LeConte and back as a day hike, including a lot of overweight and out-of-shape people huffing and puffing up the trail." At the same time, the guide ignores the most fit and experienced hikers. It states that only the shortest Mt. Sterling hike is suitable for a day hike, even though at least some fit and experienced hikers would be fine with a 17.4 mile day hike. This book seems aimed at a narrow range of hikers. There are better guide books for the Smoky Mountains, that both provide more information about the actual trails and have a nicer tone. I like Johnny Molloy's Day and Overnight Hikes: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 4th Edition and other books, as well as Russ Manning's 100 Hikes in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Second Edition
I used this book in tandem with a 2 nd book "100 hikes in Smoky Mountains National Park. This book has glossy pages and some nice pics. I used it also with the Nat Geo map. Great planning resource. As a general tip, I would also look at other books too as I found other hikes not mentioned in this book.
Was really excited to get this book based on recommendations from others since we moved to the area and are enjoying hiking every weekend.I must say this book is not the best though. The pictures are nice but many of the authors trail grading systems are not accurate in my opinion.I feel most trails are a notch above what he lists them at as far as difficulty. This past weekend we did Laurel Falls and continued on to Cove Mountain Trail as the author suggested was a moderate hike with some easy stretches. Once you get past Laurel Falls there is a little easy stretch but after that is is pretty much uphill for 2.5 miles.I would give this trail a difficult rating. Another example is Spruce Flat Falls. He has it is moderate, I understand the trail itself to get to the waterfalls is only a mile, but it is every bit of a difficult/strenuous hike.Even the information board at the Tremont Institute puts it at moderate +. I understand ratings are subjective based on one's physical ability but we have taken many trails suggested by the author only to feel misled in his representation of them. We will be buying a new book for our hikes.I am looking forward to his waterfall book though and hoping that will be a better fit for us.
This is supposed to be a hiking guide but it does not provide elevation profiles or even total elevation gain information for the hikes? I'm not kidding - no elevation information included for any of the 82 hikes. The maps and color photos are nice, but omitting elevation information is inexcusable for a hiking guide IMO. I have the excellent Falcon Guide for Glacier NP and included elevation information so I assumed it was standard for all Falcon Guides - apparently not. I found the Top Trails- Great Smoky Mountains National Park book to be much more helpful in planning our week of day hikes in the GSMNP - complete with elevation profiles. If you only buy one book for planning hikes in GSMNP, get that one instead. On the other hand, if you like to buy several books and compare/contrast trail reviews as part of your planning, then this guide deserves to be included in your list.
This book has given me all the information possible for a wonderful hiking experience. It will become my diary also, placing the dates on each hike taken! Even has the GPS coordinates to find the parking lot / trail head. Wonderful book!!
we got this book so we could plan out hikes before a trip to the Smoky Mountains. Although all of this information can probably be found for free online, it was fun to use for planning and to keep in the pack for areas without strong cell signal (most of the smoky mountains).
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