Great Smoky Mountains National Park ranks No. 2 in U.S. for hiking

With Memorial Day just around the corner, many Americans are gearing up to start planning summer travel, and for many, visiting a national park is on their bucket list. It’s no secret that Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be on the top of the visitor list; the Smokies welcomed 13.3 million visitors in 2023, its second-highest year on record.

But a disheartening number of those visitors barely get out of their vehicles, crawling along the Cades Cove loop and possibly venturing slightly off road to see a waterfall or two. That’s a shame, because Great Smoky Mountains National

Park has a number of amazing trails to explore, making it possible to find solitude even on the busiest days.

Shoe manufacturer KURU Footwear recently analyzed all 63 national parks using metrics that looked at the high number of trails, miles of trails and crowd density, ranking Great Smoky Mountains National Park No. 2, just beclose

hind Yosemite.

How did Great Smoky Mountains stack up on the hiking metrics?

Great Smoky Mountains National Park actually ranked No. 1 in the number of trails: 348, far outdistancing runnerup Yosemite’s 278 trails. Yosemite has more miles of trails, however: 4,729 miles versus 4,354 mile in the Smokies.

KURU’s analysis also used an average trail rating from AllTrails that put Yosemite No. 1 on the top 10 list, with the Smokies falling to No. 6.

If you head out to hit the trails at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, be warned. One of the most popular trails in the park, Laurel Falls, is set to through mid-2025. Check the park website for details on trail closures. And don’t forget to get a parking tag!

Which national parks made the top 10?

1 Yosemite National Park (CA) 2 Great Smoky Mountains National Park (NC/TN)

3 Yellowstone National Park (WY) 4 Olympic National Park (WA) 5 Shenandoah National Park (VA) 6 Glacier National Park (MT) 7 Rocky Mountain National Park (CO)

8 Sequoia National Park (CA) 9 Grand Canyon National Park (AZ) 10 Kings Canyon National Park (CA)