Fall Color Quest: Smoky Mountain Fall Foliage Hike
Description
Autumn color in the Smokies changes by elevation, weather, and timing. Fall Color Quest is designed to follow the best color of the day, whether that means glowing streamside forests, colorful hardwood coves, quiet trails, or higher-elevation views. With an experienced guide, guests can enjoy fall foliage without guessing where to go or fighting only the most crowded roadside stops. This seasonal guided hike blends autumn scenery with natural history, forest ecology, and local insight into one of the most beautiful times of year in the Smokies. Transportation is included with this tour. Pick up from a downtown Gatlinburg hotel or the Sugarlands Visitors Center Best for: Fall visitors, photographers, couples, families, leaf peepers, and guests who want help finding peak Smoky Mountain color. Duration: 3-4 Hours | Difficulty: Easy to Moderate | Mileage: Variable | Elevation Change: Variable | Ages: 6+ Meeting Location: Gatlinburg Hotel Pick up or Sugarlands Visitors Center
Tour Options
Itinerary
Meet your guide at the Sugarland's Visitors Center for your hiking tour to experience the wonders of a Smoky Mountain Fall!
Experience the wonders of a Smoky Mountain Fall! Where we go during the tour will depend on where the best Fall color is at the time of your tour. Fall color starts in the high elevations and moves down the mountain. At the beginning of the Fall color season, we will go to places up high. This could include Kuwohi, Newfound Gap, etc. Mid season, we will seek out a mid elevation hike and at the end of the Fall color season, we will hike at low elevations
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
- Please note that, while we do our best to follow the itinerary listed, we may need to pivot due to road closures or events outside of our control. We require a minimum of 2 people to operate this tour. We operate rain or shine.
Reviews(16)
Luci provided the best tour experience we've ever had! She is a wonderful, caring, and incredibly knowledgeable guide whose passion for the Smoky Mountains is contagious. With her excellent communication skills, she gave us fascinating insights into the history, culture, and ecology of the region. She went above and beyond to ensure we saw the very best of the Smokies, making the tour a truly memorable adventure. Luci is an absolute gem—priceless and the key to an unforgettable trip. Book with her; you won't regret it!
What an amazing review! Thank you so much. We sure do love our Luci. Glad you had a great time.
It was well organized and our guide Samantha was great. She was very knowledgeable and talked us through the whole trip. Answered all the questions we had for her.
Thank you so much for the fantastic review. We are so glad you had a great time. We look forward to taking you all out again in the future!
Overall, the experience was average, as our tour guide, Samantha from 'A Walk in the Woods' company, did not take us to any of the most popular spots that were advertised on TripAdvisor. She deliberately skipped Kuwohi, Clingmans Dome Trail, saying, "traffic is horrible around this time of the day". Everyone on the trip was present at the pickup spot on time. If we were asked for an early pickup, we would have done that. We were not aware of the traffic and missed the most visited and most desired spot at the Smoky. It was disappointing.
Hi There. While we are sorry you were disappointed, we do not advertise that we will specifically visit any of the places you mentioned, unfortunately. This tour is a quest for the best Fall color at the time of your tour. That could mean upper elevations at the very beginning of the Fall season, mid elevations as the season progresses and low elevations towards the end of the season. For a holiday weekend in the Smokies, during a government shutdown, Samantha was trying to give you the best experience possible. Over the weekend, regardless of the time of day, traffic was backed up for miles in the Kuwohi area of the Park, with little Park resources to help with traffic and crowd control. I do apologize the tour did not meet your expectations. We would love to take you our again in the future and maybe we could do something private or custom, so you can visit the places important to you.
Comfortable van, not a bus. Small group, better than a large group. Friendly knowledgeable guide; easy to hear her and others in group. Just adults in our group. May not be best choice for kids.
Thank you for your review. We are glad you enjoyed the tour. Please feel free to contact us directly in the future. We have a few very kid friendly tours in house that are not advertised on Trip Advisor / Viator. We would love to help you find a good fit!
Well, I stepped out of my comfort zone for this tour based on the activity level. It was very beautiful. Our guide was great. The other people who were on the tour with us were very fun to be with.
Thank you so much for the great review. Glad you had a great time and enjoyed the others on the tour. Sometimes thats half the fun!
Learning about the history of the park was fascinating. Also enjoyed the bear information. Kelly, our guide, was sensitive about our age. She was well informed on the plant life.
Thank you so much for the great review!
We booked 3 tours in 3 days, from easy to moderate, and were not disappointed. This company is super professional, enthusiastic, responsive, friendly, informative, fun. We arrived just days after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of eastern TN and western NC and AWITW was all over it. They continually tracked the condition of roads and trails throughout the region and proactively emailed to change one of our itineraries because of flooding. They are focused on keeping you safe. We really enjoyed our two guides, Kels and Deb, and learned so much from them. Great Smoky Mountain National Park is large and very heavily traveled. Though millions go there yearly, only a fraction of the those hike, resulting in a huge number of cars trying to drive and park. Hiring these guys takes all the hassle out of it. Highly recommended!
Thank you so much for the fantastic review! We really appreciate it and look forward to seeing you all again in the future!
The trail guide was very friendly, and knowledgeable about the trail, the trees and the geology. He was very patient, took time to explain history and science regarding the venue.
Thank you so much for your wonderful review!
This tour is not what we expected. We both needed to drive in our own car following the guide! 230 dollars for this was a real waste of money.You really don’t need a guide to drive to Clingman’s dome. Our guide was a young lady , was really nice. It was too late to cancel the trip.
Hi there, So sorry you were disappointed with your tour. We never like to hear that! We do state in a few places that this tour does not offer transportation. That can be frustrating when the Park is so busy. October is the Park's busiest month of the year with the leaves changing. We are a small business that can be seriously impacted by negative reviews. We would greatly appreciate folks reaching out to us before posting a negative review to see if there is something we can do to make it up to you. Unfortunately, we have no control over some things like traffic and weather, but if you reach out to us directly, we can point you in the direction of a tour that would offer less traffic or something a bit more off the beaten path. The tour you signed up for is a quest to find the best color, and, at the time of your tour, Clingman's Dome area was the best viewing area. I hope this helps to clarify a few things and we do hope to work with you in the future. Thanks, Patricia
We took this tour with Ken on October 8 & had a great time. After meeting at the Sugarlands Visitors Center we made a short drive to the trailhead & then started our walk along the Little River. Ken was extremely knowledgeable about the trail & the park so we learnt a lot. Granted we could have done the hike on our own, but we wouldn’t have known the park history at all. Well worth doing to learn how the Great Smoky Mountains became a National park.
So glad you enjoyed your time with Ken!
