Hi friends! Thanks for coming over to our site! We are Sarah and Stephanie. We are local moms who live in the beautiful Smoky Mountains. As moms, we are always trying to find fun and FREE things to do with our kids and this walking trail is something we love to do all winter long! The sun is going down much faster than before so why not use that extra time we get when it is dark to look at beautiful lights!! The Winterfest Walking Trail is a beautiful lighted display that can start or end at The Island in Pigeon Forge and Patriot Park.
This FREE winter attraction starts and ends in both FREE parking lots so no need to pay for parking your car. The riverwalk runs from The Island in Pigeon Forge over to Patriot Park and is about a mile and a half long. It is full of lights to look at and each section has it own little theme with around 20 themes along the way. All the themes are not geared towards Christmas so this is always still fun to do even after Christmas is over.
It takes around 45 mins to walk the whole trail from start to finish depending on how often you stop but remember you will have to walk it back to get to your car. You can either park at The Island in Pigeon Forge close to the trolley stops going towards the LeConte Center or Park at Patriot Park and walk down Butler street through a cute little neighborhood onto the light trail.
If you have a husband like mine who doesn’t enjoy walking in the cold, then someone can easily drop you off and pick you up where it ends. When I take my kids, they don’t usually hold out for the whole trail so instead of fighting them we do half the trail one day and the other half another day and the big caterpillar is the middle if you are walking and wondering if you are half way done yet.
Here are some tips to help you out
- The Light Trail will be open from November to middle of February.
- No restrooms are available on the trail but if you park over at Patriot Park you can use theirs next to the trolley station
- Get some hot chocolate and play some Christmas Music on your phone
- The Trail is stroller or wagon friendly
- Dogs are allowed on the trail
- No motorized vehicles but my kids take their little push scooters on the trail to make us go a little faster
- Half way point is the Huge Caterpillar and if you have little ones who are walking or starting to complain, I would recommend that be your half way point.
If you are looking for more FREE things to do, be sure to go read these blog posts
FREE Things to do in Pigeon Forge
FREE Things to do in Gatlinburg
or
FREE Things to do in the Smoky Mountains
and if it’s Christmas time and you’re looking to mark some fun things off your Christmas Bucket we have lots of ideas on our
Smoky Mountain Christmas Bucket List
