Travel Planning: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

As things often do for lawyers, everything congealed and solidified. Motions were granted and denied, trial dates were set, subpoenas issued, and lo, we were once again able to plan our lives. We settled on Great Smoky Mountains National Park, ultimately ruling out Mammoth Cave National Park because its closer and it's one we feel we can do in less time than the full week we have to play with. 

We are selecting a cabin as we speak, and are picking one where we can bring Finn. He will have to stay behind most of the time, as pets are only allowed on two of the park's over 800 miles of trails, but he will be happier traveling with us. Like I said, he's a lazy bum, so if we hike in the morning and hang with him in the afternoon, he will be just fine with that. 

I created a list in my AllTrails account to flag hikes we should check out. There's a better than 50/50 chance that my mother in law will come down for a few of the days, so maybe JK and I can even do an adults-only hike at some point and leave the kiddos behind. 

When I say I've flagged "some" trails, I honestly mean I've flagged 52. There's no way we will go on 52 hikes, but I do enjoy having a menu from which we can choose. They're mostly all on the Tennessee side, since that's easiest for us to get to, but I've got some flagged that venture in further and over the state line. 

• Various parts of the Old Sugarland trails
• Peregrine Peak
• Courthouse Rock
• Laurel Falls
• Gatlinburg Trail, so we can bring Finn
• Nature trail walks, like Fighting Creek and Cove Hardwoods
• Twin Creeks
• Cucumber Gap
• Huskey Gap
• Chimney Tops
• Rainbow Falls
• And so many more

We will never get through all of those, especially the harder trails I have picked out. I am hoping for one harder trail, maybe one that gets us to a summit, but I would rather save that for sans kids, likely. EJ could totally do it, but JD is a bit more iffy at age 4.5. He can go for hours and loves adventure but when he hits the wall, it's over. 

Things we need to get in order:

• Air bed. Most of the places we are looking at are two bedrooms, and our children are, uh, aggressive sleepers. Having them share a bed would result in hilarity and possibly injury. They can share a room, as long as one of them is on an air mattress. 
• New hiking boots for JD. He's somehow outgrown his. Again.
• New hiking socks for the kids, who have worn holes in basically all their socks. 
• Shoe inserts for me, to help my sad feet.
• New daypack for EJ, so JD can now carry EJ's old pack.
• Some upgraded rain gear, because I think we are going to need it.

En route is a book on hikes in GSMNP as well as a park-wide trial map. We also like to buy a giant box of assorted individually packed snacks, and that works well for all hiking related snack needs. I think I may have some pre-made meals ready to go and bring them down in a cooler. I would have loved to try camping out here, but Jeff convinced me it will still get too cold during the night to make for a fun experience.

If you've got any experience in GSMNP, we are taking recommendations.