Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Great Smoky Mountains are part of the ancient Appalachian range, some of the oldest mountains on Earth, worn down over hundreds of millions of years into rounded, forest-covered ridges rather than sharp peaks. The park protects more than 800 square miles of that high country, rising from around 875 feet in the lowest valleys to 6,643 feet at Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the whole park and the highest point along the entire Appalachian Trail. That huge range in elevation is part of what makes the place so rich: climbing from the valley floor to the summit is a little like driving from Georgia to Canada, passing through the same kinds of forest you would find hundreds of miles north.

The signature feature here is the forest itself, and the blue haze that rises from it. The Smokies hold some of the largest stretches of old-growth woodland left in the eastern United States, cathedral-like groves of tulip poplar, hemlock, and other giants that were never logged. Higher up, near the summits, that broadleaf forest gives way to a cool, damp spruce-fir woodland that has clung to these peaks since the last ice age, a little piece of northern forest stranded on the roof of the South. The park bursts into bloom in spring with wildflowers and flame azalea, then blazes into some of the most famous fall color in the country each October.

There are two main gateways into all this, and they feel like two different worlds. On the Tennessee side, the Sugarlands area near Gatlinburg opens onto Cades Cove, the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, and the busy resort corridor, with easy wildlife viewing and preserved pioneer cabins. On the North Carolina side, the Oconaluftee valley near Cherokee is quieter, sitting in the ancestral homeland of the Cherokee people and home to the park's most complete living-history mountain farm. Between them, Newfound Gap Road climbs over the crest of the range and ties the two together.

• Sugarlands Entrance at Gatlinburg, off US-441 and Newfound Gap Road, is the main way in from the Tennessee side and is open year-round. It leads to the Sugarlands Visitor Center and on toward Cades Cove and Newfound Gap.
• Oconaluftee Entrance at Cherokee, North Carolina, off US-441 and Newfound Gap Road, is open year-round and is the quieter southern gateway, with the Oconaluftee Visitor Center and its living-history Mountain Farm Museum right there.
• Townsend Entrance, off TN-73 near Townsend, is open year-round and is the local 'quiet side of the Smokies,' giving the most direct approach to Cades Cove.
• From Knoxville and Interstate 40 to the northwest, follow US-441 south through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg to reach the Sugarlands side in about an hour. From Asheville, North Carolina, come west on Interstate 40 and US-19 to Cherokee, or take the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway to its end near the Oconaluftee entrance.

• Oconaluftee Visitor Center, North Carolina side. Sitting in the Cherokee Oconaluftee River valley, this side sees less traffic than the Tennessee approaches and offers the park's most complete living-history farm. It is the closest visitor center to Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the Appalachians at 6,643 feet and the highest point on the entire Appalachian Trail.
• Sugarlands Visitor Center, Tennessee side. The busier Tennessee gateway takes in Sugarlands, Cades Cove, and the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. Cades Cove is a 4,000-acre open valley dotted with historic 19th-century farm buildings and known as one of the most reliable places in the park to see deer, wild turkey, and black bears. The Alum Cave Trail from this side climbs to Mount LeConte, the park's finest backcountry destination.

• Cades Cove is the park's most popular spot: an 11-mile one-way loop road circling a broad open valley, with preserved cabins, churches, and a grist mill, and reliable dawn-and-dusk viewing of deer, turkeys, and black bears.
• Clingmans Dome, reached by a 7-mile road from Newfound Gap that closes in winter, is the highest point in the park, where a short but steep paved path leads to a spiral observation ramp and a view that can stretch a hundred miles on a clear day.
• The Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail on the Tennessee side is a 5.5-mile one-way loop that winds through old-growth forest past rushing streams, waterfalls, and historic homesteads, closed in winter.
• The Alum Cave Trail runs about 4.4 miles up to LeConte Lodge, the most dramatic hike in the park, passing an arch, a bluff, and open cliffside views along the way.
• Newfound Gap, at 5,046 feet on the Tennessee and North Carolina line, is the high point of the road across the range, with a sweeping overlook, a spot to step onto the Appalachian Trail, and the stone memorial where the park was dedicated in 1940.
• Cherokee, North Carolina, at the southern entrance, is home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and its heritage sites, a chance to learn about the people whose homeland these mountains have always been.

Long before it was a park, this land was the heart of the Cherokee homeland. For countless generations the Cherokee lived among these ridges and rivers, farming the coves, hunting the high forests, and giving the mountains their own names, including Kuwohi for the peak now called Clingmans Dome. In the 1830s the United States forced most Cherokee people from their homes and marched them west along the route remembered as the Trail of Tears, a tragedy of enormous loss. A number resisted and remained, and their descendants make up the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, whose community of Cherokee, North Carolina still borders the park at its southern gate.

After the Cherokee, waves of settlers moved into the coves and valleys, building the log cabins, churches, mills, and mountain farms whose remains still stand in Cades Cove and the Oconaluftee valley today. By the early 1900s much of the range was being rapidly clear-cut by timber companies, and it was the threat of losing these forests that sparked a movement to protect them. Unlike the western parks, which were carved from public land, the Smokies had to be assembled piece by piece from thousands of private tracts, farms, and timber holdings.

Buying all that land took years and enormous effort. Ordinary citizens, schoolchildren, and local groups pitched in nickels and dimes, the states of Tennessee and North Carolina contributed, and a five-million-dollar gift from John D. Rockefeller Jr. finally closed the gap. Creating the park meant displacing the mountain communities who had farmed these coves for generations, families who were bought out or moved off the land they knew, a hard chapter that still echoes among their descendants. The park was established fully in 1934, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated it in 1940 from the Rockefeller Memorial at Newfound Gap.

Because the land had been paid for in part with the pennies of ordinary people and given freely to the nation, the park was created with a lasting condition attached to some of its roads: no toll could ever be charged to travel through. That is why, to this day, Great Smoky Mountains remains one of the very few major national parks with no entrance fee. In the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps went to work here too, building trails, bridges, and much of the road system that still carries millions of visitors over the mountains each year.

• The 'smoke' the mountains are named for is not smoke at all. It is a natural blue haze created by the forest, as the trees release tiny droplets of plant oils into the humid air, which scatter light and give the ridges their soft blue color.
• The Smokies are known as the 'Salamander Capital of the World.' The park is home to around 30 species of salamander, more kinds than anywhere else on Earth, including a group called lungless salamanders that breathe through their skin.
• For a few weeks each spring, the park hosts one of the only firefly displays in the Western Hemisphere where the insects flash in unison. Thousands of synchronous fireflies blink on and off together in waves through the dark forest, so popular that viewing is now managed by a lottery.
• Great Smoky Mountains is the most-visited national park in the United States, drawing roughly twice as many visitors each year as the Grand Canyon.
• The park holds an extraordinary diversity of life, with more than 19,000 species documented and scientists estimating that tens of thousands more, many of them tiny or unknown to science, are still waiting to be found.
• Clingmans Dome, at 6,643 feet, is the highest point in Tennessee, the highest point in the park, and the highest point along the entire 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail.
• The park protects one of the largest blocks of old-growth forest left in the eastern United States, groves of towering trees that were never logged.
• Great Smoky Mountains is an International Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site, honored for its rich forests and remarkable variety of plants and animals.

• There is no entrance fee to the park, one of very few major national parks that is free to enter from any direction. A parking tag is now required if you leave your vehicle parked for a while, so pick one up before your visit.
• The park is open year-round. The Sugarlands Visitor Center near Gatlinburg is the main Tennessee entrance and stays open through the year, as does the Oconaluftee Visitor Center on the North Carolina side, with its heritage farm alongside.
• The 7-mile road up to Clingmans Dome from Newfound Gap closes in winter, generally December into March, along with the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.
• The Cades Cove Loop is an 11-mile one-way road that can back up badly at midday in season; on some summer mornings the park closes it to cars so people can walk and bike it. Come early or off-season for the best of it.
• The Alum Cave Trail climbs 4.4 miles to LeConte Lodge, the only lodging inside the park, which is reachable only on foot and often books up a year ahead.
• Peak fall color usually lands in the second and third week of October at mid-elevation, and it is the busiest and most beautiful time to come. Gatlinburg is the closest gateway town, with Pigeon Forge just a few miles beyond.

No. Great Smoky Mountains is one of very few major national parks with no entrance fee, and it is free to enter from any direction. This goes back to a condition placed on some of its roads when the park was created from privately purchased land. Do note that a parking tag is now required if you park your vehicle for a while, so pick one up before your visit.

The park itself is open year-round, and the main visitor centers stay open through the year. Some higher roads close in winter, though. The 7-mile road up to Clingmans Dome from Newfound Gap and the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail typically close from around December into March, and Newfound Gap Road over the crest can close temporarily during winter storms.

A general reservation is not required just to enter the park, but a parking tag is now required if you leave your vehicle parked. Certain popular experiences may need reservations or a lottery, such as the synchronous firefly viewing in spring and a stay at LeConte Lodge. Check the National Park Service website before you go, since rules and programs can change.

You can get a good taste in a single day by driving Newfound Gap Road over the mountains, stopping at overlooks, and walking a short trail. To add the Cades Cove loop, a longer hike, or Clingmans Dome, give it two or three days. The park is huge and spread across two states, so more time always rewards you.

Fall is the showstopper, with peak color usually in the second and third week of October, though it is also the busiest time. Spring brings wildflowers and the famous synchronous fireflies, summer is green and lush but crowded and humid in the valleys, and winter is quiet and stark with far fewer people. Any season has its own reward.

Yes. The Smokies are home to a large black bear population, and Cades Cove at dawn and dusk is one of the most reliable places to spot them. Always keep a safe distance, never feed a bear, and store food properly. Bears here are wild, and getting too close is dangerous for you and for them.

Pets are allowed in campgrounds, along roads, and in parking areas, but they are not permitted on almost all of the park's hiking trails. Only two short walking paths allow leashed pets. Never leave a pet in a hot vehicle, and check the park website for the current rules before you rely on bringing your dog along.

The only lodging inside the park is LeConte Lodge, high on Mount LeConte, reachable only on foot and often booked a year in advance. There are also developed campgrounds within the park. Most visitors stay in the gateway towns instead, with Gatlinburg right at the Tennessee entrance and Pigeon Forge just beyond, and Cherokee on the North Carolina side.

The Smokies are wild and their weather changes fast. High country like Clingmans Dome stays much cooler and windier than the valleys even in summer, so bring a layer. Streams and waterfalls can be slick and swift, so stay on trails and out of fast water. Keep your distance from all wildlife, especially bears and elk, and never approach or feed them.

The soft blue haze that gives the Smokies their name comes from the forest itself. The trees release tiny droplets of natural plant oils into the humid mountain air, and those droplets scatter light in a way that gives the distant ridges their blue-gray color. It is a natural process, not smoke, and it is strongest on warm, humid days.