Hiking Great Smoky Mountains: Hikes Along the Cades Cove Loop, Cucumber Gap Trail, Ramsay Cascades, Shuckstack-Appalacian Trail, and Many Others

Forty-two walks are detailed in this guide to hiking the Great Smoky Mountains. Numerous other walks are briefly listed at the end of each chapter. Hikes are listed geographically in 11 areas, with two to six hikes per area. The description for each hike includes the distance, difficulty (easy, moderate or strenuous), elevation (including elevation changes), location of the trailhead, and a description of the walk itself. The descriptions are sometimes rather wordy, but do often include interesting historical or natural information. A trail map is included for most of the walks. The appendix includes a thorough bird list.We found many very interesting walks in this book. Some of the walks listed are the more popular ones, but there are enough of the infrequently visited trails for those who don't want a lot of company on their excursions. As the book mentions, it frequently rains in the Smokys. We found ourselves in the rain on several of our walks. However, the book itself doesn't take getting damp as well as I'd like. Yet, even though it's been wet several times, the our copy is still very usable.