Smoky Mountains - Smoky Mountain waterfalls, mountain rivers, beautiful floral and fauna, and wildlife. The Great Smoky Mountains, the majestic climax of the Appalachian Highlands, are a wildlands sanctuary preserving the world's finest examples of temperate deciduous forest. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park boasts unspoiled forests similar to those the early settlers found. Wildflowers and migrating birds abound in late April and early May. Autumn's pageantry of colors in the Smoky Mountains usually peaks in mid- October. Some 800 miles of trails thread the whole of the Smoky Mountains natural fabric - and its waterfalls, coves, balds, and rushing streams. The Great Smoky Mountains, a wild landscape rich with traces of its human past, calls people back year after year. The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad offers breathtaking views of the Smoky Mountains and Fontana Dam.
Location
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the southern Appalachians. It straddles the Tennessee-North Carolina border for 70 miles. The Cherokee people called this area Shacomage, or "Place of Blue Smoke." The bluish mist, which clings to the mountainsides and fills the valleys, gives the park its name and remains its most distinctive feature. The park is 520,976 acres. The highest elevation in the park is 6,643 feet at the summit of Clingmans Dome, and the lowest elevation is 840 feet at the mouth of Abrams Creek.
Operating Times
The Sugarlands Visitor Center in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is open daily except Christmas. It is two miles south of Gatlinburg, TN on US Route 441. Focusing on natural history, this visitor center has displays on the Park's plants and animals. The Smoky Mountains is only two miles south of Townsend, TN and two miles from Cherokee, NC. 
The Oconaluftee Visitor Center is also open daily except Christmas. It is one mile north of Cherokee, North Carolina. It is also near the southern terminus of the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway. Its displays centers on the economic and environmental changes associated with logging, farming, and other 19th century activities. Orientation information is available. Questions and comments are welcome.
The Cades Cove Visitor Center is open daily, except in winter when it is open on weekends. Cultural history displays are integrated with sales items. Orientation information is also available.
Hiking
Walking and hiking are favorite ways for many people to see Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Much of the interest and mood present in the park depends on finding subtle variations in nature not seen from automobiles. For example, wildflowers, cascading streams, the scent of evergreens, and the sounds of birds are best seen and experienced away from roads. For this reason, the National Park Service maintains 800 miles of trails here.
Special Info:
Wheelchair accessible facilities, including restrooms, are located at the three major campgrounds, Cades Cove and Elkmont in Tennessee and Smokemont in North Carolina, visitor centers, and many picnic areas. Campsites reservations can be made for the period May 15 to October 31 by calling Destinet at 1(800) 365-CAMP. A five-foot wide paved and level accessibility trail, Sugarlands Valley Nature Trail, is a quarter mile south of Sugarlands Visitor Center. Specially designed communications media, including tactile and wayside exhibits, large print brochures and a cassette version are part of the trail.
Park Phone Numbers
- General Park Information : (865) 436-1200
- Backcountry Information : (865) 436-1297
- Backcountry Reservations : (865) 436-1231
- Park Literature : (865) 436-0120
- LeConte Lodge: (865) 429-5704
