The 300-mile Benton MacKaye Trail begins at Springer Mountain, sharing the summit with the Appalachian Trail, and then runs in a long loop west and north through the Cohutta Wilderness, the Smokies, and into Tennessee. It is much less travelled than the AT and is widely considered the more scenic of the two routes through the southern Appalachians.
Day hikers can sample the BMT by walking the short loop from Springer down through Three Forks and back via the AT — about a five-mile circuit. Multi-day backpacking trips through the Cohutta Wilderness on the BMT are some of the best in the southeast, but require proper preparation; resupply is harder than on the AT.