Trip Duration: 4 days, 3 nights

Difficulty Level: Beginner

We’re excited to announce our first trip to the most popular national park in the US - the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. We'll explore one of the most biodiverse national parks while hiking and exploring beautiful trails and building sisterhood along the way. If you’re an East Coast Ma’wa girl, this trip is for you - don’t miss out and join us for an unforgettable adventure. For more trip details, including itinerary highlights, please visit our website: www.mawacollective.com/trips/smoky-mountains-summer-trip

There is one large lodge/home reserved for this trip with 7 bedrooms and over 7 bathrooms. Each bedroom has a different configuration of beds - you may register for your preferred sleeping arrangement via our booking platform.

The lodging reserved for this trip is located in Gatlinburg, Tennessee - about a 1 hour drive from McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park surrounds the city of Gatlinburg with the nearest gate less than 10 minutes away from your lodging. Participants should be prepared for some driving/commuting over the course of the weekend to reach the hikes and activities planned in the itinerary.

If you will be flying in for this trip, we recommend flying into McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS): arrival must be no later than 1 pm on Friday, July 25th, and departure no earlier than 1 pm on Monday, July 28th.

Carpools: While we can assist with arranging carpools among participants, we cannot guarantee that every Trip will have local participants that are able to volunteer their personal cars and offer a carpool. In some cases, a rental car may be the only option for carpooling. Some participants will need to volunteer as drivers for the rentals and the cost of the rental car is not covered by Ma’wa Collective. 

This is an Beginner Level trip. The hikes planned are slightly challenging but can be done by those with strong physical fitness. Good physical fitness and proper footwear is essential. 

Itinerary highlights include:

• Visiting the Kuwohi Observation Tower, the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
• Hiking along the Tennessee and North Carolina state borders
• Visiting early homestead cabins and other Appalachian structures
• Exploring though lush forests and hiking behind cascading waterfalls

*Our itinerary may be subject to slight changes throughout the weekend due to delays, weather, or factors outside of our control. 

- All Deposits and Installment Payments are NON-REFUNDABLE

- All Ma'wa Collective trips are considered group trips. Unless otherwise noted in the Itinerary or by a Trip Lead, you are expected to remain with your group at all times.  Participants are not permitted to leave the group and engage in activities outside the published itinerary. Any participant found in violation of this may be subject to dismissal from the trip and/or future Ma'wa Collective trips.