I consider the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to be my “home park.” It’s where my love for hiking and appreciation for wilderness first began. I have spent more time in this park than in any other wilderness area I have visited, and consider myself somewhat of a resident expert on many features and areas of the park.
In 2016, I stumbled across the 900 Miler Club, a club that keeps records and membership of everyone who has reportedly hiked all 900 miles of hiking trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which actually requires roughly 1500 miles of hiking before every stretch of trail can be covered. They even track how many people have hiked every trail more than once.
“That sounds fun,” I thought. “I’ve spent a lot of time in the Smokies, I’m probably already well on my way.” Wrong. After downloading the map and spreadsheet, and going through old records from past years, I discovered a very humbling fact. I calculated that I had hiked just under 200 miles of trails; less than a quarter, albeit many repetitions on some of my or my family’s favorites. Keep in mind that the current record stands at 12. Yes, someone has hiked over 900 miles of trail (probably closer to 1500 miles) 13 times! I guess I’m not as much of a “resident expert” as I had hoped.
Over the years, the total mileage of trails within the park has decreased substantially. As of fall of 2020, there were just over 800 total trail miles. This is because some trails are rerouted, and others become so overgrown that they are eventually removed from the map. Others are closed due to damage and never reopen. The name of the club is preserved as “900 Miler” because of the fact that it still requires substantially more than 900 miles of hiking to complete every section of trail in the park.
Follow along with my progress at the bottom of this page, but keep in mind that I am not in a hurry to complete this goal, I still have my favorite trails that I will continue to hike over and over again, and there are many other trails throughout the country that I hope to hike first. To me, the Smokies are a familiar, steadfast example of consistency and resolute preservation in an ever-changing world.
I sometimes worry about many of the impressive wilderness parks and trails out west being permanently and substantially affected by fires, development, and general careless human activity and overuse. The Smokies, while technically the most popular national park in the US (most visitors never stray more than ten yards from their vehicle along the roadway), possess a sense of permanence and resilience that other parks have no sense of.
Hike a dozen miles into the backcountry and you begin to feel like a pioneer, exploring the old-growth forests of the east that no man has ever laid eyes on. I can hike a trail today that I haven’t hiked in ten years and it still feels the exact same – unchanged and familiar. It is slightly disappointing that many trails have become overgrown and abandoned over the years, but that is the nature of these ancient hills. They have been overused and abused for centuries and are now gaining ground back, reclaiming the wilderness inch by inch.
Maybe that’s the difference between these mountains and popular wilderness areas and parks in the west. The western parks, Yosemite, Arches, Zion and many others that I have visited seem to be in a constant, losing battle against human impact. Maybe this is because they have not been settled, cleared, burned, farmed, developed, and reclaimed over several centuries. Maybe that is what is happening now. Maybe in 100 or 200 years, the natural forces of the environment will begin a renewed assault on the human progress that only promises to build more hotels, cafes, convenience marts, parking lots, parking garages, and paved highways, parkways, byways, and pathways all in the spirit of “accessibility.” But these things do not lead to accessibility. Accessibility would help people enjoy nature apart from human detraction. This boundless development is only assisting people in enjoying human detraction with as little nature as possible.
Maybe 200 years from now they will have the same resolute sense of permanence that emanates from the quiet forests of the Smokies. This will only happen, however, after they have been thoroughly put to the test by the heavy machinery and careless, although carefully planned, ambition of human development – progress they call it. I love all these parks, but the Smokies are so impressive because under the shade of the high, humid forest canopy is proof that this world is still too durable and persistent for us to do much permanent harm. Progress still happens, yes. Trees grow, creeks tumble, and bears thrash hungrily through the dense undergrowth, far from the clattering ruckus of humanity that can be found in the neighboring valleys. It is my hope that I will eventually experience every step along every trail in this incredible park, I just have many other trails in many other spectacular parks that I want to see first – before the park service decides to pave them and contract out commercial vendors every quarter mile. I’m sorry, Ranger Sir, but I don’t want to stand in line for a cold, greasy hotdog as I ponder the ancient forces that carved this here canyon.
| Total Miles | Miles Hiked | Percent Complete |
| 800.3 | 272.5 | 34% |
