I'll be in Chattanooga TN in mid-March on business and want to tack a few days of hiking on to the trip. Any ideas for a 35 to 50 hike within a 4 hour drive would be appreciated. My first thought is a loop, but if you have suggestions for shuttle services, that'd open up "thru-hiking" as an option.

Many thanks!

I'd post this question over on Whiteblaze .... you're within 4 hours of the AT and they'd give you a lot of advice!

Personally .... I'd look at hiking through Smokey Mountains National Park. Remember .... the AT is a lot of ups and downs, and isn't grated for pack stock ... so make sure you have a bailout plan for half the miles you plan, just in case you want to take things a little slower for your personal enjoyment.

Thanks Mark. I'll do that. I hear you re: the up and down of the AT... I do most of my hiking on the northern end.

Ditto on the Smokies, you could do a couple of loops in an hourglass fashion by looking at the map, and planning ot use the AT as a connector. There is a 53 mile loop called the Old Settler's Trial/AT loop (Backpacker Magazine's "Trekking the Southern Appalachians").

2 other options that come to mind...Big South Fork (make your own loops) and Savage Gulf (you could basically hike the entire area with concentric loops that would hit your total while bascecamping in the middle). We did this a few years abck and it was loads of fun.