hiking easy

This easy 4.7-mile hike on the Schoolhouse Gap and Turkeypen Ridge trails will give you a chance to see some of the loveliest wildflowers that grow during mid to late summer in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

A lot of people are shy about hiking in the Smokies during the winter months, especially when it snows.

Don't be. The scenery is unforgettable, the views are the best at any time of year with mountain ridges, tree limbs and animal tracks sharply defined in the snow.

For this easy almost-four-mile hike, you will seldom need more than a good jacket, hat and gloves and some sturdy shoes with maybe an extra pair of socks for warmth. Wear wool or fleece leggings instead of jeans or other cotton slacks, which soak up and hold moisture.

During the hot, hazy days of August this is a perfect short and shady hike along a happily flowing river and its tributaries.

There's a lot to see, and at the trailhead is one of the park's nicest picnic grounds.

The hike starts out along a wide, graveled jeep road that runs parallel to the Metcalf Bottoms picnic area. As I hiked there were children laughing and splashing in Little River, happy welcoming sounds that took me back to sweet summertime memories.