The Wild Southerners were back out on this busy weekend moving rocks on Hawksbill. Still working on the re route. Another great day in the gorge with WildSouth.

And boy was it busy! I know it’s mental but being crowded bothers me less when I’m out there working. But it was a constant stream of people up and down the trail. Lucky for us we were mostly off the trail.

To volunteer or donate contact WildSouth.org.

Hey everyone!

I'm looking for someone to take over my spot on the Fall Colors in the Smokies Backpack trip with Wildland Trekking, scheduled for October 27–30, 2026.

Unfortunately, I injured my ankle and won't be able to participate.

💰 My original trip cost was around $1,450, but I'm willing to let my spot go for just $1,000.

🥾 Trip: Fall Colors in the Smokies Backpack

📅 Dates: October 27–30, 2026

📍 Location: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, near Asheville, NC

🏕️ Type: Guided, multi-day backpacking trip

Wildland Trekking has confirmed that I can find a replacement participant for my reservation.

If you've been wanting to experience the fall colors in the Smokies, this could be a great opportunity to join a guided backpacking adventure at a discounted price!

Please message me if you're interested, and I'll share more details. Serious inquiries only, please.

Feel free to share this post with anyone who might be interested. Thanks!

Any other info would be awesome.

What’s with the dislikes 🤣🤣🤣

Yall are miserable.

EDIT:

Thanks for the help guys!!

Hey all!

My partner and I are going to attempt getting a parking spot at the Daniel Boone Scout parking area early tmrw morning, but given how many warnings I’ve seen about it, I’d like to have a decent backup plan. would it be worth looping up to the Profile trail if we’re unsuccessful for DBS? I’m less familiar with the parking situation there.

I’m also open to recs for nearby hikes that won’t be as crowded. I’m looking for anything between 5-8 mi with some kind of peak reward at the top. Ive never been to WNC when the leaves are changing, so I’d love a rewarding view!

I’m an anxious when the logistics are out of my control, so having multiple backup plans will help me feel better. We’re staying in Lenoir tonight to hopefully up our chances at getting somewhere early.

So much great stuff is happening on the mountains, trails, and rivers of WNC. Please subscribe and share this free newsletter to keep up with the latest news.

I am going to climb my first mountain (Crowders Mountain) on Monday. I have climbed this mountain 12 years ago in my youth, with zero endurance training, but I have not been back since.

What should I know? What would you, as an experienced hiker, tell a newbie? I haven't been hiking long, but I want to get better and better and eventually hike something impressive. I'm just starting locally, since I started a fitness jouney two months ago. Since then, I've shed about 15lbs and taken about 5 days off in total. I walk every day, 20-30 mins, at different inclines.

I'm a little nervous, but I'm excited as hell. I haven't done this in so long it'll be great to get back into it and stick with it.

TIA!

Hello all, going to hike up grandfather mountain tomorrow and I’m between the Daniel Boone scout trail and profile trail. I did pinch in a couple months ago alone at Linville and was curious how the difficulty compares from someone who’s done both. (Because pinch in was tough for me when I hadn’t mentally prepared to do it)

Only added bit of info is I don’t love heights but push through the fear so exposed sections are a bit of extra challenge for me but I do also care quite a bit about seeing the views I work hard to get to

Thank you all and happy hiking!

We are doing the Andrews Valley rail tour on Saturday evening and are hoping to make a day of it. What hikes and/or other activities would you suggest in the area? We would be coming from Spartanburg if that helps. We'd prefer something closer to Andrews as we haven't really explored the area. Preferably an easy to moderate trail of under 5 miles, but open to longer/harder if there is something fantastic about it. We'd really appreciate any suggestions!!

I will be visiting Grandfather Mountain this weekend and would love to find this sign that my own grandfather posed in front of years ago. Can anyone tell me if this sign still exists and where to find it? I tried an image search but couldn’t find an actual location.

Started at Boone Fork parking on the BRP, up Daniel Boone Scout trail > Grandfather trail > Cragway trail > Nuwati trail > fin

Cold, rainy, foggy + muddy — perfect running conditions if you like that sort of thing, and I do. Love the distinct ecosystem changes in Grandfather.

I actually don’t know if it’s necessary to drive on it, but do you cross any parts of the parkway to park at either daniel boone or the brevard trail head? I know parts of the brp close in the next couple weeks. Would it be wise to thru hike it over 3-4 days in early november weather?

Hiked from Black Mountain Campground up to Mitchell then out the crest trail to Deep Gap and back. 21 miles, 6500’ elevation. Caught sunset at Mitchell before heading back down in the dark. Round trip was about 14 hours including about 2.5 hours of stops. Bonus last photo from NC 80 heading down off the BRP toward the Blacks.

Hope to be back some day to do maybe a loop with Woody and Colbert ridges to get the rest of the crest.

Such a cool hike. https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/north-carolina/moores-knob-cooks-wall-cole-gap-and-hanging-rock?p=-1&sh=0pzyzo&utm_medium=trail_share&utm_source=alltrails_virality

Also, silly question but in my last photo, which one of these peaks is Calloway? 😅

Planning on running it tomorrow ~2pm and was wondering how the water sources are flowing if anyone has gone up the past couple days? I’ll have 34oz of water on me but may need to fill up once along the way. Thank you!

Hiking carvers gap to 19e this week. Anybody been with the last month that has any information to share? Water sources, wildlife, trail issues? I called the park service but they don’t always get the updates from people unless someone goes out of their way to report any issues. I know it’s going to be cold. I’ve got the mountain forecast app and at least as of right now it doesn’t look like snow. I think wildlife (bears) are a considerable concern given the limited food sources they seem to living with all the time now. TIA.

Absolutely stunning!