Great Smoky Mountains National Park guides
12 in-depth guides to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in reading order: what to see, how to get around, and what to know before you go. Back to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park overview.
Parking Tags and Beating America's Busiest Crowds
Every vehicle parked in Great Smoky Mountains National Park for more than 15 minutes needs a parking tag.
When to Go: 1,500 Wildflowers and Beyond
Spring is when the park's more than 1,400 flowering plant species begin their show. Trilliums, Dutchman's breeches, Solomon's seal, bee balm and even hardy orchids appear in the mountains and valleys, while flowering trees add color overhead.
Clingmans Dome and the Kuwohi Tower
Kuwohi, long known as Clingmans Dome, is the highest peak in Great Smoky Mountains National Park at 6,643 feet.
Laurel, Abrams and Grotto Falls
Water is everywhere in the Smokies, and two conditions explain why: plenty of rain and a steep drop in elevation.
Newfound Gap Road: Gatlinburg to Cherokee
Newfound Gap Road, also called US Highway 441, crosses the Great Smoky Mountains for 33 miles between Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and Cherokee, North Carolina.
Hiking the Appalachian Trail in the Park
Roughly 71.6 miles of the Appalachian Trail run through Great Smoky Mountains National Park, linking Fontana Dam with Davenport Gap.
Alum Cave Trail to LeConte Lodge
Five trails climb to the top of Mount LeConte, and none is shorter than Alum Cave Trail, at 10 miles round trip.
Salamander Capital: America's Most Biodiverse Park
No national park in the country holds more kinds of living things than the Smokies. Around 19,000 species have been identified here, and scientists think another 80,000 to 100,000 may be waiting to be found.
Rockefeller's Gift and the Fight for the Park
By the early twentieth century, timber companies were stripping the Smokies with cut-and-run clearcutting, and local people began pooling money to save what remained.
Ocoee Supergroup: Rocks of the Ancient Smokies
Most of the bedrock under Great Smoky Mountains National Park belongs to the Ocoee Supergroup, a vast set of late Precambrian layers.
Cades Cove Loop: Churches, Cabins and Gristmill
The Cades Cove Loop Road is an 11-mile one-way route that circles a cleared valley ringed by the mountains of the Smokies.
Elkmont: From Logging Town to Resort
Archeological finds at Elkmont show that people used this valley at least 5,000 to 8,000 years ago, during the Middle Archaic Period.
