Seeing the Great
Smoky Mountains
By: Austin McCarter
MyStateTENNESSEE staff writer
Season-by-season tips for seeing Great Smoky Mountains National
Park are found on MyStateTENNESSEE.com. Read our important
information on safety and regulations to protect you and the
park's natural and cultural features.
From you car you can see much of what the Smokies offer,
including wildflowers, flowering trees, colorful fall folage,
mountain vistas, and historic buildings. Newfound Gap Road
(U.S. 441), the main road across the mountains, is a famous
scenic drive.
Other park road offer glimpses of the park's
natural and cultural heritage and also link you to self-guiding
trails and short foot-paths to other park attractions for
more intimate insights into this great public treasure.
Walking a park trail can be the best way to
sense how directly you are related to the world of nature.
Walking even short distance can put you in a totally different
world. The lack of human-generated noise opens up the world
of nature sounds.
simply being inside the magnificent forests
can be a multi-sensoty experience rich with sights, sounds,
smells, and that special skin warmth felt as light rays penetrate
the deep shade cast by a forest canopy. Dwarfed by the trees,
your sense of scale may even be altered.
The Appalachian Trail threads nearly the length
of the national park (some 70 miles) along the Smokies' crest
and the Tennessee - North Carolina border. You can take this
national scenic trail north to Maine's Mount Katahdin or south
to Georgia's Springer mountain. Volunteers cordinated by the
nonprofit Appalachian Trail conservancy maintain it. On the
two-mile stretch heading south from Newfound Gap, accessible
near Newfound Gap parking lot, you can see wildflowers in
spring or colorful foliage in fall. Then you can say: "I
walked a aprt of the 2,174 mile-long Appalachian Trail."
Bicycling is especially popular on the Cades
Cove Loop Road. Ask about special bicyclist and pedestrian-only
hours on the loop road in summer. At Cades Cove you cycle
on the 11 -mile road through open fields encircled by mountains.
You can stop at the historic buildings perserved there. Bicycles
are allowed on park roads, but many are winding steep, or
narrow and shared by many motorists new to mountain driving.
Bicycles are prohibited on nearly all park trails; ask at
visitor centers about exceptions.
Horseback riding also offers a good pace for
seeing the park. Auto-access horse camps provide access to
backcountry trails, but space is limited. horses can be hired
by the hour at several park locations for guided trail rides.
Horse camps and rentals are not available for parts of the
winter.
