Women's Beginner Backpacking

April 17-19, 2026

Learn to backpack in one of our favorite corners of Great Smoky Mountains National Park! Deep Creek is known for its numerous waterfalls and it's wildflower diversity. The trails start out wide and well-graded, allowing you to ease into the experience of backpacking. This 3-day trip will focus on learning and perfecting backpacking skills, making it a great first trip for folks who have some experience hiking and/or camping, but may not have backpacked before.

Weather in the mountains can be unpredictable. Hikers should be prepared for cold temperatures overnight, especially at higher elevations. Temperatures on trail can be 10 degrees cooler than in nearby Bryson City, NC.

"The best backpacking experience for those wishing to start or reboot their love of backpacking/hiking" - JM, Max Patch AT Backpacking Trip, August 2025

Cost:

$870 per person
Payment Plans, Scholarships, and Sliding Scale Fees are available for this trip. Please email our office at trips@blueridgehikingco.com for more information.

This trip will run if there are a minimum of 2 participants signed up. If the minimum has not yet been met, we'll contact participants two weeks before the trip to discuss options. The maximum group size is 6 participants. If you are traveling in a party of 4 or more hikers, we encourage you to consider a private backpacking trip. You can find more information about our private trip offerings by sending us an email.

In addition to your guide, this price includes backpacking gear, food while you're on trail, transportation between the meet-up location and the trailhead, and any necessary backcountry permits and fees. Price also includes access to a pre-trip Zoom call, where you can ask questions about your upcoming trip. It does not include personal items or gratuity for your guide.

Sign-Up Details:

In order to sign up for this trip, please go to our Trip Calendar and select the trip start date. You will find the trip listed there. 

A few weeks before the start of the trip, we will be in contact via email with an information packet for you to fill out. This includes a waiver, health form, and gear request form. At that time we will also send a detailed packing list and any trip-specific information.

Itinerary:

This trip meets at 9am in Asheville, NC.

You will meet your guide at our retail location in downtown Asheville (70 College Street, Asheville, NC 28801). Your guide will hand out your gear and food, go over necessary packing items, and discuss safety, weather, and logistics for the trip. They will walk you through how to properly pack your pack, and may look in detail at the items you've packed to make sure you're not carrying too many extra items. 

Around 11am, you'll head to Deep Creek, where you will start your 3-day, 15 mile hike. Shuttle time is just over 1 hour. This is a low elevation wooded hike, perfect for unpredictable spring weather - and catching early season ephemeral wildflowers! You'll also hike past 3 stunning waterfalls along the route. Daily mileage ranges from 4-6 mile per day; this trip is gradually uphill the first half of the trip and gradually downhill the second half of the trip.

Participants should be able to complete a 7-mile day hike over hilly or mountainous terrain, or an 8-mile walk on flat ground.

Hike generally finishes midday on the last day, then you'll shuttle back to Asheville. Itinerary is subject to change based on a variety of factors, including weather, trail conditions, and participants needs and abilities. Please inform our admin team or your guide ahead of time if you have a time constraint on the last day of your trip. If you're flying in for the trip, we recommend staying in Hot Springs or Asheville the last day of the trip and flying out the next day. 

Elevation profile created with Gaia GPS.

Trip Difficulty Rating:

This is a Level 2 trip, a beginner level trip with some elevation change, ideal for building confidence on multi-day trips.

For more details on our Level 1–5 rating scale and how to choose the right trip for you, please see our Trip Difficulty Page.

Guide:

Your guide for this trip is Melissa "SassyFrass" Gibson. Originally from Virginia, Melissa has called Asheville home for 7 years and is keen to get back on trail post Helene and share nature’s beauty with folks who may want to move at a moderate pace. What are her favorite things? Walking in the woods and sharing stories with friends old and new, and learning about the natural world - especially foraging and native plants. She has a treasure trove of historical facts about WNC. A love of travel has taken her to 24 countries, “swamping” on the Colorado River, walking the Camino de Santiago, and to China and Belgium as an expat. She has completed three 28.3-miles-in-a-day Trailblaze Challenges for Make-A-Wish Foundation and is a Trailblaze volunteer. She has section hiked 400+ miles of the AT and she has a couple of stories to tell about the O-Trek in Patagonia. For off trail fun Melissa sings with a community group and dabbles in batik. Her grandkids call her Sassy (for the native plant, right?). In her sights for 2025: creek snorkeling and getting certified in scuba.

What we Provide:

Food: BRHC provides all on-trail food. You will have the ability to choose your own food from our wide selection, and you will carry your own food during the trip. We do our best to cater to requests, though it is important to keep to lightweight foods appropriate for backpacking. If you have food allergies or dietary restrictions, please inform our team in your pre-trip paperwork.

Individual Use Gear: BRHC provides high quality, ultralight, cottage industry backpacking gear to make your experience as comfortable as possible.  We offer the following five pieces of gear at no additional cost:
Backpacks - We use a lightweight 60L pack. We will ask for your height and weight in order to fit the pack appropriately to you.
Tents - We provide a one-person tent, or and two-person tent if you are sharing with a partner or friend.
Sleeping Bags - We use a 20 degree synthetic sleeping bag with sleeping bag liners.
Sleeping Pads - We provide hikers with a closed-cell foam pad, for its excellent combination of weight and durability. Inflatable sleeping pads are available for an additional rental fee
Trekking Poles - These will provide you with some added stability while hiking, and may be used to set up your tent.

Community Gear: BRHC provides all community gear for the trip, including water filters, camping stoves and fuel, bowls, utensils and cups; trowels, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer; first aid kit; and navigational aids.

What to Bring:

We will send all participants a detailed packing list a few weeks before the trip. You are expected to bring your own clothing/footwear, a headlamp, two 1L water bottles (Nalgene or disposable Smart Water bottles are good options), personal medications/toiletries, and approved optional items. Generally, comfortable trail shoes are better than heavy hiking boots. Please pack synthetic or wool athletic clothing rather than cotton. Cotton does not dry quickly and will not keep you warm when wet. For most trips you will need only one outfit to hike in, one outfit to sleep in, a raincoat, and a warm layer. A beanie and lightweight gloves are appropriate in most seasons as temperatures cool down in the mountains at night. You will not need a new set of clean clothes for each day, make-up, hair products, scented products or deodorant. Just bring a toothbrush and toothpaste and enjoy going all natural for the trip!

Cancellation Policy:

Trip cost includes a 15% non-refundable administrative fee. Hikes may be cancelled up to 1 month before the trip for a refund (minus the 15% admin fee). Within 1 month, a 50% refund will be offered. Within 1 week, no refunds will be offered. If Blue Ridge Hiking Company cancels the trip due to severe weather, we'll offer a refund less the 15% admin fee. We are unable to offer exceptions to this policy; we strongly recommend all hikers purchase travel insurance to cover their trip.

Hikers may reschedule their trip once (at least 1 month before their trip) free of charge. Additional changes to their reservation date may result in a rescheduling fee.

We hike rain or shine! While it is incredibly rewarding, backpacking is an endurance sport, and it can be challenging and/or uncomfortable at times. Maintaining a positive mindset, even when it is uncomfortable, is key to enjoying your time in the wilderness. With our focus on lightweight gear, our goal is for your pack to weigh around 25lbs (or no more than 25% of your body weight).

If your guide does an exceptional job, please show your appreciation with a tip. Our team of highly trained professional guides never expects but always appreciates a tip. Industry standard gratuity for a guided backpacking trip is 20-25% of trip price.

If you have any questions regarding this trip, you can reach our office by phone at 828-713-5451 or by email at trips@blueridgehikingco.com.