A three-day, two-night, 30.96-mile backpacking trip in the Great Smoky Mountains was not on my agenda at the beginning of 2025, but that is where I found myself this past week. This is how I survived. On this trip, I had one main goal: catch a fish.
Backstory
Earlier this year, in May, I completed a six-ish-mile overnight hike on Michigan’s Manistee Trail. The trail leads you to follow the famous, trout-filled Manistee River. For that hike, I brought with me my Orvis Encounter 5 wt fly fishing rod and reel setup. This hike was a test hike, preparing for the much longer and more intense hike that would be coming in August. Unfortunately, I only had the opportunity to fish for about an hour in a less-than-ideal spot on the river, resulting in zero fish caught. However, I did perfect the gear list for my fly fishing equipment. August couldn’t come soon enough.
Backpacking the Smoky Mountains
The planned route for the Smoky Mountain adventure was supposed to be around 27 miles, but a wrong turn tacked on another 4, which wasn’t that big of a deal. The route that was planned was a long loop, so once finished, it would spit my group back out at where the vans were. The route was split up into three segments for the three days we would be hiking. Looking at the complete Strava now, day one was the longest and most challenging segment, 15.01 miles hiked with 3,789 feet of elevation gain. Day two was less challenging with 11.87 miles hiked with 1,486 feet of elevation gained. The last day was the easiest of the three, only 4.08 miles hiked with 102 feet of elevation gain.
The first day had many obstacles to scale. Many trees were lying over the trail that required you to bend and twist through to get to the other side. There were cliff edges that needed you to hold a wire so you didn’t slide to the bottom of the mountain. Small streams needed to be crossed by either leapfrogging rock to rock or by just walking through. The last two days were mostly downhill with clear paths and nothing too exciting.
Fly Fishing the National Park
I did get to fish more than I did on the Manistee hike, which was awesome. What was not awesome was the out-of-state license price tag. I did learn, however, that after purchasing the tag, I did not need to buy a trout stamp if I was fishing in the National Park. You live and you learn. Learn from my mistake, and read all the special rules thoroughly. The first day we did hike next to a river for eight miles or so, but it was all go, go, go, so no fishing time. Before we branched off the river and hiked away into the mountains, we had a lunch break where I fished for maybe 20 minutes. The spot had larger rapids, but there were a couple of pools where I aimed my fly. Those 20 minutes led to two missed hooksets. Even if that was the only time I could fish, I was satisfied.
At the end of the hike, our campground had a river running right through it, cha-ching. I still only fished for about an hour, but in that period, I caught two Appalachian fish. A creek chub, which was about 6 inches in length, and a very pretty rainbow trout that was a little shorter.
View this post if you want a more in-depth packing list of all the fly fishing gear I brought on the trip. While you’re there, you might as well leave a like and comment, and also follow the account:)
Hydration
You need to stay hydrated while you’re hiking or fishing so you can go for longer. We did have a sponsor for this trip. Nuun Hydration kept us going and sane while hiking 31 miles with more than 5,000 feet of elevation gain in the humid, hot Smoky Mountains. If you’re planning to do a long hike like me or just getting the line wet for a couple of hours, check out Nuun Hydration to keep the thirst away.
What I would do now
Looking back, the hike was the highlight of my summer. I bonded more with the friends that I hiked with, learned more about backpacking, caught a couple of fish in a new state, and have many stories to share. I would 100% do this hike again, either alone or with a group again. Next time, though, I would fish more than hike, which might shorten the loop or lengthen the trip.
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