"First ascent logged! This was both my and my hiking buddy Zane's first hike up any type of mountain. I'm 19, as of writing about to turn 20, and Zane just turned 20. Mt Le Conte seemed like a great first hike as it's very safe and popular. The plan was to camp and make this more of a multi day trip, but the regulations on dispersed camping seemed difficult. As a result, we plan on camping on a future hike up Mt Mitchell. Future readers can see if that comes to fruition lol. Anyways, it was an 11.2 mile trail in and out - I took the Alum Cave Trail route - and it took around 5:36:00 to complete including all of our breaks for pictures, snacks, and rest. We began just after noon EST and finished just after 5:30 EST. I tracked about 2,854 ft of elevation gain. Took some great pictures and enjoyed some great views. This was also my first time in a national park - sans some visits via driving through one etc. Generally would consider the ascent hike as quite average in difficulty, albeit the snow melted into black ice and made for some slippery moments. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was lots of fun. Very pretty even in the winter and saw lots of people both on the trail a..." — ethanquick • Jan 3, 2026

"Sunset Rock on Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. Eight parking spaces at the top of a rock walk. Trails go down the side of the mountain, and we met a couple who had just hiked up to Sunset Rock." — davidensley • Oct 1, 2025

"Interesting and challenging hike on a very hot and humid day. Hiked along very rocky terrain to of the two summits before returning to the Wilderness Station (Visitor Center) due the oppressive heat and distant thunder. Was totally drenched in sweat - definitely bring a lot of water on hot and humid days. " — rick-brown • Jul 11, 2025

"Interesting and challenging hike on a very hot and humid day. Hiked along very rocky terrain to of the two summits before returning to the Wilderness Station (Visitor Center) due the oppressive heat and distant thunder. Was totally drenched in sweat - definitely bring a lot of water on hot and humid days. " — rick-brown • Jul 11, 2025

"Morning hike to avoid the heat of the day. Trails were quite active in the park. The ridge name is misspelled on peakery.com. It's actually Ganier Ridge. Heard and saw numerous winged friends from Wood Thrush to Carolina Chickadee to the rare Silver-winged 737 and active Airbus 320 (both flying overhead to/from BNA). " — rick-brown • Jul 5, 2025