There’s a Reason It’s Called Great Smoky Mountains National Park

On a road trip through Tennessee a stop at Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a must. We try to visit every national park we can, so we knew this was one we could not miss on our trip. In preparing for our visit, we learned the this is the most visited National Park in the country, further validating our need to see this gem.

So why are they called The Great Smoky Mountains? According to National Geographic, the smoky look is a fog caused by, “water and hydrocarbons exuded by trees produce the filmy "smoke.”

Smoky Mountains National Park is the largest park in the east, covering over 800 square miles of land. It was formed in 1934, the first park funded federally, as other parks to date were all privately funded. We only had a little over a day in the park so we had to plan well.

This National Park does not have traditional fees per se, however, if you want to park for more than 15 minutes anywhere, a parking pass is necessary. Parking passes can be picked up ahead of time online or at kiosks at Visitor Centers throughout the park.

We used a map from the National Park Service website. For a better copy of the map, click: HERE

For this shorter day trip, out of Gatlinburg, the best entrance as it takes you to the park headquarters at the Sugarland Visitor Center. From there, on this one day journey, we went mostly south along the road that cuts right through the center of the park.

Our best advice…go early! This park can get very busy, especially in the summer months.

Stop #1 - Clingmans Dome

Running north to south through the park takes you to the highest points. This is also the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. The first stop was Clingmans Dome. At the top of the mountain it features a 54 foot high observation tower is a highlight in the park. The walk is somewhat steep to the top of the tower.

This spot is the highest point in Tennessee. There are 360 degree views at the top of the platform, which gives a good sense of just how huge this national park is. On this early May day it was unseasonable cold….26 degrees!

Along the ridge of Clingman’s Dome runs the Appellation Trail, the 2,300 mile trail stretching across 14 states in the eastern US. This is the highest point on the entire Appellation Trail.

Bordering Two States

The road on the way to Clingmans Dome drives right along the Tennessee and North Carolina border for a time. This road is called Newfound Gap Road, winding up the mountains to over a 5,000 ft elevation.

Stop #2 - Mountain Farm Museum and Oconaluftee Visitor Center

The next stop was down in the Valley, now in the North Carolina side of the park. This lush green valley is the site of another visitor center and a collection of buildings from the 1800’s. There is also a very nice visitors center that gives additional detail about the park.

The little collection of cabins were interesting showing what life might have been like in the 1800’s here. There was a small living cabin, a cabin to store dry goods, a barn for the livestock and, of course, an outhouse.

Just chilling on the cabin that was the small home of the Davis family long ago.

This beautiful little creek runs right along side the cabins, most likely where they got their water, did their laundry and bathed many years ago.

Keep an eye out for wildlife everywhere. The elk below was just hanging out mid-day in the meadow. They are even more prevalent in the early morning and early evening hours as they are out feeding.

Stop #3 - Waterfalls in the Deep Creek Area

Our next stop took us out of the park for a time, through the town of Cherokee, and then back into the park through a southern entrance. There are some spectacular waterfalls in this part of the park, all a fairly short hike to see.

Juney Whenk Falls

After less than a half mile hike we came upon the path taking us to the first waterfall.

It had been raining so there was a good amount of water coming out of the falls. It doesn’t look like it here, but there were a lot of people hanging out by these falls. I could imagine how crowded Juney Whenk falls would get in the summer.

Now looking down at the lower part of the Juney Whenk falls. It was all so lush a beautiful.

Waterfall Selfie

There was a great bridge that went right over the top of the waterfalls, making for a great picture. We looked like we’d been on an uphill hike though! This hike, while short, is not one to do without good footwear and legs ready for uphill walking.

Tom Branch Falls was the next stop on the waterfall hike. These falls were down the hill from Juney Whenk and down a flat, wide path. The flat path continued for a little less than a mile.

The beautiful flat walk along the path continued.

The final stop on our 3 waterfall walk was, Indian Creek Falls. These falls can be accessed both from the top of the falls and the bottom. Since we were on the long, semi-flat path, we entered from the bottom. We could hear these falls roaring louder than the others we’d visited all the way from the top of the path.

To be honest, these falls were not the prettiest from this angle. It made us wonder, what the view would have been from higher up. We were glad we made the hike though, having seen 3 waterfalls inside this beautiful park. Overall, we hiked just under 3 miles to see all three falls.

Stop #4 - Roaring Fork

Our last stop of the day was Roaring Fork. This driving trail is outside of the park in the town of Gatlinburg. It is a one way loop in parts, with beautiful scenery along the way. There are places to get out and hike, but we were tired so we just enjoyed from the car.

A stop that is a must see is the Cades Cove Loop. This is a spectacular driving loop that takes 3-4 hours. It was our desire to take this loop. However, due to our poor planning, we found out that on Wednesdays May-September, the loop is closed to auto traffic. We were so disappointed! More information on Cades Cove Loop: HERE. Plan well!

We are so glad we made it to Smoky Mountains National Park. It is a beautiful park, with so much to see and do!

Back to Gatlinburg

We finished the day with dinner at a local steakhouse, situated right along the river. This was our last night in Tennessee on our epic road trip. We are so glad we made the time for this trip.

To see more on our 5 day trip to Tennessee see our post: HERE