Sisters of the Woods

You get to know a lot about a person if you hike 672 miles with them, especially when you climb almost 30 miles in elevation while doing it.

From the Great Smoky Mountains, that’s more than enough miles to get you to Chicago or Philadelphia. It’s also ample distance to reach Little Rock, Arkansas; St. Louis, Missouri; or St. Petersburg, Florida. And it’s exactly the right number of miles to complete 100 Favorite Trails of the Smokies and Carolina Blue Ridge, a map published by Smokies Life in cooperation with the Carolina Mountain Club.

The four of us—Judy Dykes, Jana Plemmons, Phyllis Woollen, and Katie Ray—together with lots of good friends on different hikes along the way, reached a milestone on Thursday, April 4, when we completed the 100th hike on the map. It was a day more than two years in the making, including five overnight trips to complete multiple hikes at some distance from our home base in Waynesville, North Carolina.

We met through different hiking connections, including the Haywood County Parks and Recreation program, and began hiking together regularly when we realized we had similar hiking styles and interests. Early on, we found it challenging to figure out where to go and which hikes to do, but then we discovered the 100 Favorite Trails map and decided, “Why not do them all?” We made a spreadsheet (of course we did) to track our progress, and we were on our way.

We all began hiking in earnest after we retired, and using the map as a guide taught us so much about the many different trail systems in the area. We hiked on the Appalachian Trail, the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, the Art Loeb Trail, and of course all through Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Pisgah National Forest. On one overnight trip, we hiked eight trails in four days around Boone, North Carolina. I’ve lived in Western North Carolina for 30 years, but I feel like I’m just now getting to know this beautiful place—through all the hiking I’ve done, I see the mountains in a much more connected way.

Over time, we began calling ourselves “Sisters of the Woods,” appreciating each other more and more as we met the physical challenges of hiking close to 700 miles together. Whether it was traversing the washed-out ravine on Cold (Hearted) Mountain, wading through the water on the Boogerman Trail in Cataloochee Valley, or navigating around the huge boulders on the Tanawha Trail at Grandfather Mountain, we all felt it was easier to push our limits with our sisters by our side.

Hiking, of course, is literally a “boots on the ground” way of experiencing the world, and the beauty and awesomeness of it all, at times, was staggering. Mists rising up from a valley. An old-growth tree so wide all our arms combined weren’t long enough to circle it. Two bears up ahead on a trail (and a rousing song to let them know we were headed their way). The wind on Roan Mountain.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of completing the challenge, however, has been the friendships we developed as we hiked those miles together. You really do get to know someone when you hike with them. You laugh together and learn from each other and find the strength to do hard things in company with others.

“I really can bring myself to tears thinking about how I might have missed out knowing these women if not for our hiking adventures,” said Judy Dykes. “They are life-long friends now.”

On our 99th hike, after a steep 2,500-foot climb up to Ramsey Cascades, the tallest waterfall in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we were descending the trail when we passed another group of quite young women headed in the other direction. As they passed by, one of them turned and said, with great enthusiasm and sincerity, “We want to be just like you when we get old!”

Or maybe she said bold? We aren’t sure. But she should have said bold.

First created in 1966 by Bernard Elias, a charter member of the Sierra Club and Appalachian Trail Conservancy, 100 Favorite Trails of the Smokies and Carolina Blue Ridge was updated in 2020 for publication by Smokies Life in cooperation with the Carolina Mountain Club, representing the first update since Elias’ death in 1993. This full-color map is printed on waterproof paper and contains numbered trail locations, trail lengths, and elevation gains, as well as detailed hike directions. While previous versions of the map were geared toward backpackers, the 2020 edition, updated again in 2022, focuses on day hikes of varying lengths throughout the Smokies and Blue Ridge Mountains.

100 Favorite Trails of the Smokies and Carolina Blue Ridge is available for purchase at park bookstores, SmokiesLife.org, and at area retailers for $14.99. Retailers can contact 865.221.1129 for wholesale orders.