Hi Slade,

Good that you’re planning ahead. You can always list the full AT through GSMNP as your first choice and my bottom to top hike as an alternate choice on your permit application, as a backup, given the popularity of the AT through the Smokies.

Thanks Michael. I’m thinking about doing the AT section through the Smokies or doing the “Bottom to Top” Route you’ve written about. Can’t decide. I’m eventually going to do the full AT and don’t know if I want to do the section through GSMNP right now so I might do your bottom to top route instead. Got a late start this year with planning and have a lot going on this year with the move to Canada and other travel plans. Wanted to do something end of September that won’t be too far from home and could drive down instead of flying.
Thanks so much for responding.
Slade

Hi Slade,

You are correct that Great Smoky Mountains National Park accepts backcountry permit reservations 30 days in advance. Good luck with it.

Thanks, Steven. Sounds like you had a very memorable trip in Zion. Great place.

Thanks, Matthew. Good luck with your permit application. Good on you for planning to get your baby out in the backcountry; we took our son on his first backpacking trips before his first birthday. You may like my very popular “10 Tips For Raising Outdoors-Loving Kids.”

You really can’t go wrong in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, including some of the most-accessible lakes in the Leavenworth area, like Chiwaukum Lake and Larch Lake. Or hike in to beautiful upper Spider Meadow along Phelps Creek, reached via the Chiwawa River Road in the Glacier Peak Wilderness; we dayhiked up there with our kids as a toddler and a baby and backpacked the awesome Spider Gap-Buck Creek Pass Loop with them when they were school-age.

Thanks for the kind words and I’m glad you find my blog enjoyable and helpful. I hope you sign up for my free email newsletter and decide to Join The Big Outside to get full access to all of my blog’s stories. And click here to learn how I can help you plan your next trip.

Please keep in touch!

Man this is a SOLID list, love it!!! The TCT is spectacular. I did a route very similar to what you describe in Yosemite on a 5-day hike… Primo backpacking. Love all of your desert SW trips, but GC is the only one I’ve done. I will apply for a north Circle permit the day permitting opens here in a week and a half or so… Wish me luck!!

I am planning to go take my wife and 1-yr-son on a 2-day hike in Washington in either Snoqualmie National Forest or the Wenatchee National Forest. Any hikes you loved in those parks between 8 & 18 miles?

My hope is that I’m backpacking up till the day I die : )

Thanks, Josh, and good for you getting back into backpacking. Check out my e-guide “The Best First Backpacking Trip in the Grand Canyon” for your rim-to-rim plans. And get in touch anytime I can help you with my custom trip planning.

Have fun!

Hi Shari,

Thanks for the comment and congratulations on your successful first backpacking trip; that trip in the Grand Canyon is a perfect one for beginners, and in fact, it’s one of the trips I suggest in my story “5 Perfect National Park Backpacking Trips for Beginners.” I’ve also traversed the canyon on the route you’ll take this fall, in both directions, and it’s in many ways even more spectacular and diverse.

To your question about campgrounds along the backpacking trips described in this story: I believe you’re talking about backpacker campgrounds like the ones where you stayed at Indian Garden and Bright Angel in the Grand Canyon, and yes, some parks have established backcountry campgrounds for backpackers, in certain areas, including Yosemite, Glacier, and Mount Rainier. It sometimes depends on which trails you’re backpacking.

I could answer your questions in far more detail and help you pick out and plan all aspects of a trip like you’re looking for. See my Custom Trip Planning page for more about that service I offer, and feel free to email me with questions at info@thebigoutsideblog.com. Thanks again for the comment.

Are there any of the above parks that have campgrounds along the way? If not, can you suggest good 20- to 40-mile trips with actual campgrounds along the way?

Thanks, Richard. Sounds like you plan to start knocking off more of these trips. I’d love to hear any suggestions you have for trips I should consider adding to this list or other lists at my blog. Keep in touch!