Winter Hiking in Southern Appalachia

I wanted to share two of my favorite winter hikes in Appalachia that are not in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. If you are interested in reading some of my favorite hikes in the smokies, I wrote a blog post with quite a few of my favorite trails.

Citico Creek Wilderness

We started this hike the way we do any hike in the Citico Creek Wilderness or in Cherokee National Forest which was with some supplies from my favorite bakery Tellico Grains. It’s so delicious and definitely worth stopping at before a hike to fuel up. I also recommend going after a hike but they will have likely sold out of quite a few things by then. Sometimes we go before and after a hike.

So with baked goods in hand we’d headed to the Jeffery Hell Trail. We weren’t quite expecting as much snow as we had on the trail and it was so stunning. The trail is heavily covered in rhododendron and seeing them covered with snow was so magical. Especially in stretches of the trail where the rhododendron form a tunnel.

I also thoroughly enjoyed pausing at half frozen creek crossings. There’s just something mesmerizing about watching water flow below patches of ice and snow. We hiked for a while until we lost the trail where the snow got deeper. It was so nice to pause and enjoy the peaceful woods. Overall, it was such a lovely hike! I love how the experience hiking a trail in the winter is completely different than hiking it in any other season. It feels familiar and different all at the same time. It’s so nice to notice things I may not have noticed in other seasons.

Roan mountain

Roan Mountain is breathtaking any time of year but it’s especially stunning with a fresh blanket of snow. This hike is quite popular any time of year and I recommend getting to the trailhead early. Even in winter many hikers flock to this stunning area. One thing to keep in mind with such popular trails is it’s even more important to adhere to Leave No Trace (LNT) principles to help minimize your impact and to recreate responsibly. If you would like to learn more about LNT principles check out their website! Sooo back to the trail! The beginning of the trail at Carvers Gap begins with a nice little incline that leads into a magical wooded stretch of the trail. The snowy trail and heavily forested stretch form a tunnel of enchantment! It really reminds me of something out of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Then you emerge to more views of the surrounding mountains. You continue to climb and enjoy stunning vistas along the way. I will say it may be wise to have micro spikes as this trail can be quite icy in sections.