Also marked as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the USA's most visited, covering 816 square miles (2,114 sq. kilometers) of the Blue Ridge Mountains (part of the Appalachians) straddling eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. With four visitors' centers/ranger stations - including one near the entrance close to Gatlinburg, Tennessee and the other near Cherokee, North Carolina, both with exhibits, shops, and facilities - the park is a wonderland for the outdoors minded, and especially gorgeous during the fall foliage season now underway.
You can take scenic drives like Newfound Gap Road and Roaring Fork Motor Trail, and of course get out and hit your choice among more than 80 walking routes from easy (Spruce-Fir Trail, on wooden boardwalks amid gorgeous evergreens) to quite challenging (Mount Le Conte, the third highest peak, is perfect for investigating natural tunnels and caves, some of which contain a fair bit of history - one, Alum Cave, was used in the 19th century to mine epsom salts!). Other notables include Charlies Bunion Trail with its spectacular viewpoint, the Jumpoff, Chimney Tops Trail, and the trail to Clingmans Dome, at 6,643 feet the park's highest peak).
A number of themed walks are also available - an invigorating yet educational medicinal plant walk may be exactly the thing to quench your thirst for outdoor knowledge; spend time learning about native wildflowers such as wake robin, spring-beauty and trillium, or go on a self-guided scavenger hunt, assisted by maps and other materials at the visitors' centers. Lovely waterfalls are another highlight, such as Grotto Falls, Laurel Falls, Mingo Falls, and Ramsey Cascades (the park's highest, at 100 feet).
Speaking of history, in addition to the displays at the visitors' centers, check out for example the collection of rustic cabins and other structures built by 18th-and 19th-century pioneers, like those at Cades Cove.
And while you're here, enjoy staying in the comfort of a luxury Gatlinburg cabin from Mountain Air Cabin Rentals!
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