Hiking Guide - Moderate

For most of the year Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail is just as its name suggests -- an idyllic route for windshield sightseers who hesitate to leave their cars for more than a brief stroll.

For this reason, you won't find it in most hiking guides. Nevertheless, it's a great 51/2-mile walk in winter when the road is gated by the national park.

The newly revised "Hiking Trails of the Smokies," published by the Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association, describes the Road Prong Trail as "wet, rocky, steep and beautiful" - a succinct but apt description. This is almost certainly the most historic trail in these mountains. I might add that it's slippery and includes a number of challenging stream crossings that require good balance, the help of a walking stick and, if possible, a strong hand to help you across.

After several weeks of regular rainfall, the creeks and streams in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are often raging at near flood stage. With this in mind, it's best to avoid trails with a lot of "rock hops," since the rocks are likely to be submerged and stepping into the icy current can be dangerous.

That narrows the choices down, since many of the trails in the Smokies are liberally interspersed with creeks. Only a small fraction of them are spanned by foot bridges.