Hiking Guide - Strenuous

Autumn color is still vivid in the Smoky Mountains, and there's no better place to see its fiery finery than atop a fire tower on a ridge overlooking a silvery mountain lake.

That's what you'll find at Shuckstack Fire Tower on the Appalachian Trail in one of the most remote and beautiful parts of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The late Horace Kephart, author of "Our Southern Highlanders" and other revered books on the Smokies, referred to this region as the "back of beyond."

There's never a better month than May to get out and see the waterfalls of the Smokies. They are at their finest.

Ramsay Cascade is the most "spectacular display of water anywhere in the Smokies," says Ken Wise, author of "Hiking Trails of the Great Smoky Mountains."

Few who've seen it in the springtime would disagree with his assessment. With almost daily freshets feeding Ramsay Prong, the cascade explodes from its stream bed in a terrifying and wonderful cacophony of foam, spray and thunder.

You'll have to do some work for the pleasure of its company..

Sugarland MountainIf you've done a couple of seven- or eight-mile hikes and you've been flirting with the idea of a longer one, Sugarland Mountain is a good place to start.

You'll travel through almost all of the park's different types of forest and witness some spectacular views that promise to get even better as the leaves change color. This trail descends gently for almost all of its 11 miles, making it "doable" for even some children and occasional hikers but rough on anyone with bad knees.