Festivus in the Smoky Mountains! Hike off that Christmas Turkey!

My office closes the week between Christmas and New Years. I don't know about you but I'm sure I could use some fresh air after all that family time.

We would head South to the Smokies the afternoon on the 26th. This should let anybody that needs to work the 26th get in a full day and leave early for TN. We'll crash in a hotel room, consume some great food and drink in the evenings and day-hike and enjoy the mountains.

The website for the town we'll be staying in:

http://www.gatlinburg.com

There will be hikes in the Smokies but we'll also do one or two day-hikes in Asheville, NC led by Ladan who knows the area well.

We can spend a day at this ski lodge tubing. I doubt the slopes will actually have snow but the tubing area is open when we'll be there.

http://www.obergatlinburg.com/­

And we can also try indoor sky diving in Pigeon Forge.

http://www.flyawayindoorskydivi...­

Since it is the off season hotel prices in Gatlinburg are pretty good. I'd like to split a room between 1 to 3 other people to keep my costs down. Here are two options to show the range:

I'm looking into hotels and they range from about $150/night for a 4 star at a golf resort a few blocks from downtown

https://www.diamondresorts.com/bent-creek-golf-village

to well rated motels for about $100/night right in downtown.

http://www.rodewayinn.com/hotel-gatlinburg-tennessee-TN270

Since it will be winter you'll need cold weather gear. I will be staying in the lowlands so we should not need gear for dealing with ice or significant snow. Boots, extra socks, many layers and water resistant outer layers should be good.

I plan to shoot for hikes in the 5-10 (moderate) difficulty rating from this list:

http://www.hikinginthesmokys.com/difficulty.htm

Since we're exploring and enjoying the scenery we'll be shooting for a slower pace of about 2.5mph.

I have only done a few hikes in the Smokies before so many of these will be exploring hikes for me. We'll be letting the Park service know our plans the day we leave in case there are any emergencies.

Please post the days you want to stay, any activity ideas, whether you want a roommate and any carpool requests. I want to get the hotel rooms booked by 12/15.