The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountains

Cascading waterfalls, roaming wildlife and a view that stretches out over 500,000 acres – this is the country’s most-visited national park. Vacationers often start in Gatlinburg and make their way to one of the park’s famous paths where they can find everything they’ve been looking for. A hike through the Great Smoky Mountains – whether it be on the Appalachian Trail itself, a wildflower walk, or a trip to one of the many waterfalls – will leave you with a smile and a lasting impression. Because the experience changes season to season, there’s always a new scene to come explore.


Hiking And Waterfalls
800 Miles Of Perfect

The best way to experience the Smoky Mountains is to do what the original settlers and explorers did: hit the trails. From the original Appalachian Trail to breathtaking wildflower walks, there are 150 Smoky Mountain trails covering 800 miles of pristine backcountry. Waterfalls, wildlife, valleys and vistas are everywhere. Learn more


Wildlife & Nature
Undisturbed For Over A Million Years

Thousands of species of plant and animal life have been documented in the Smokies, and more are being discovered every year. Because the last Ice Age didn’t get this far south, and the sea never came this far inland, flora and fauna have been thriving and diversifying here for millennia. When you venture into one of the world’s few International Biosphere Reserves, black bears and wildflower blooms are only the beginning. Bring your binoculars, enjoy the show, and read more about what to expect in our Guide.


Scenic Drives
This Is Why Sunday Drives Were Invented.

There are three entrances to Great Smoky Mountains National Park from Gatlinburg, and every one takes you into a section of the 800 square miles of unspoiled Appalachia. Every trip to the Smokies begins with a drive on the Newfound Gap Road, so pack a picnic and see highlights along the way, including the Sugarlands Visitor Center, Newfound Gap, Clingman’s Dome Road, Ocanaluftee Valley and Mingus Mill. Wildflower watchers love exploring the Greenbrier, a six-mile road featuring the most colorful flora in the Park. Porter’s Creek is particularly vibrant in March and April. If you’re feeling adventurous, hop out, hike four miles, and witness the tallest falls in the Smokies at Ramsey Cascades. Whether you arrive during the rich, green days of spring and summer, the crazy quilt of autumn color or the sparkling white of winter, your drive through the roads of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is guaranteed to be an adventure in itself.


Picnic In The Park
Break Bread With Family And Friends.

Gatlinburg is home to many scenic and accessible spots that are just perfect for bringing back the lost joys of picnicking. Admire the antique architecture of century-old cabins and mills at Cades Cove picnic area. Soak up the scenery of the Little Pigeon River or share a meal at one of several other designated picnic spots near Gatlinburg, including Metcalf Bottoms. It’s a great way to relax and unwind during your vacation.

Living in Tennessee

This morning, FOX News had a segment on the hundreds of people that were leaving Democratic-controlled states and moving to Tennessee, specifically NASHVILLE.  But, the state of Tennessee is not just about Nashville...

• When I think of Nashville, I think of the home of Country Music...
• When I think of Memphis, I think of the home of Elvis Presley...
• When I think of Bristol, I think of the home of NASCAR....
• When I think of Knoxville, I think of the home of Oak Ridge National Laboratories...
• When I think of Chattanooga, I think of  Glenn Miller's Chattanooga Choo Choo and the revitalized riverfront, similar to the riverfront in San Antonio, Texas...

Tennessee is also the home of Jack Daniels whiskey and has the nickname of "Volunteers" that dates back to the Alamo and Davy Crockett...

And, what is not mentioned often is the Great Smoky Mountains which is the NUMBER ONE TOURIST ATTRACTION in the entire US of A...   imagine that?

Tennessee has a HUGE system of LAKES thanks to the TVA and the public works projects of the 1920s that put people to work because of the Great Depression.  And, where I am currently living, I have access to two lakes on either side of me, Cherokee and Douglas...  I can get to either lake in about 10-15 minutes.

About 40-60 minutes (depending upon traffic) away from my location, there is:

• Pidgeon Forge
• Dollywood
• Gatlinburg

Each of these tourist attractions went from just being opened in the summer months (circa 1990s) to being open 12 months a year (circa 2000s)...

Oak Ridge National Laboratories just outside of Knoxville, receives 80% of the Department of Energy's budget each year to work on a variety of projects for the Federal Government...  Currently, ORNL works on protecting nuclear materials to secure the peaceful use of energy production, medical applications, and scientific discovery around the world...

I moved over to TN in 1990 and 32 years later not only am I still here but I have no desire to live anywhere else...  I wear a t-shirt from April through December...  that's 8 months out of the year...  not bad.

Do yourself a favor...  come to TN for a visit...  stay a week or two, maybe three...  spend your money, but don't stay!!!

Magical Road Trip

Just South of Knoxville, TN and on the way to Pigeon’s Forge and Gatlinburg, this is the perfect place to stay for a long weekend (or more!) while you explore all the area has to offer. I was traveling with four teenagers, so I booked a rental van and struck out for east Tennessee and headed towards the Great Smoky Mountains. The 3 hour, 45 minute drive was pretty scenic and took us through Chattanooga and a time zone change to Eastern Standard Time.

There are lots of places to stop along the way if you like, and we stopped at Goats On the Roof to ride the goat coaster, a one-person mountain coaster that flies an exhilarating 30mph down a 1-mile track. You control your cart using a hand brake and let gravity do the rest! The mountain views are so pretty, and since you can go as fast or as slow as you want it’s great for a variety of ages. Parents can ride with their littles in their lap too! There’s also a kitschy little gift shop, gem mining, ice cream, and a goat petting zoo to enjoy.

After our little pit stop, we headed over to Ancient Lore Village.

The owner and creator had a vision to create a world where people from different backgrounds could live together in peace and harmony in a place where only good, genuine goodness, exists. Sounds fantastic, right? Technically, Ancient Lore Village is a boutique resort and event facility, and the story of how it came to be is fascinating and inspiring.

The first thing you see as you drive through the gates is an enormous waterfall, Boyd Hollow Falls. It’s one of the largest man-made waterfalls in the country, and it’s a breathtaking backdrop. We were there during St. Patrick’s Day and the water was tinted green for the celebrations happening at the Village. All around the falls are places to sit for a meal or just to watch the sun set or rise. At the base is a valley with nature trails to explore.

Right next to the waterfall is Bokee’s Bungalow, a cozy 2-story house fit for a hobbit! This is where we stayed with our group of five, but it can house up to eight people. It’s nestled into the side of a hill, and even has charming grasses shipped in from Ireland growing on the rooftop.  READ MORE...

THe Iron Mountain

It’s not often we get a glimpse into the road not taken.  There was a movement in the early 1900s to preserve the beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains and create the national park.

But that movement came with consequences. Whether those consequences were good or bad depends on your point of view.

Ultimately, people lost their homes, their land and their way of life for the greater good. Communities were erased. Bizarre fairly lands built for the amusement of the ultra-rich were abandoned back to the mountains.

Loggers who were clearing great swaths of the forest were forced to look elsewhere.  I think by and large, we’re all quite pleased with how things turned out. We love the national park, and the areas surrounding the park drive the local economy.

But what if things had turned out differently? What if the parks had remained private land?

Maybe it would have turned out like Foxfire Mountain Adventure Park, located not far from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Sevierville.  It’s a wonderful place with lots of manmade adventure, where you can hike the natural beauty of the Smokies.

Foxfire Family Adventure Park in Sevierville
The park was founded by the Postlewaite family. Prior to 2009, it was chiefly a cattle farm. By 2009, the family was ready to sell the farm for financial reasons.

However, during an Alaskan vacation, Marc tried ziplining. They called the realtor, took Foxfire off the market and built an adventure park, offering some of the best ziplining in the region.  READ MORE

Synchronous Fireflies

Great Smoky Mountains National Park has had the market cornered on synchronous fireflies for years. But thanks to a relatively recent discovery, the Blue Ridge Mountains just might give it a run for its money.


The Photinus carolinus is a species of firefly that each year, typically in the spring, put on a synchronous light display in order to find a mate. They are the only species in America whose individuals can synchronize their flashing light patterns.

CREDIT: JIM MAGRUDER

For decades, it was believed that the Smokies had the only population of synchronous fireflies in U.S. And while synchronous fireflies were eventually identified in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and in two other parts of Tennessee, the Smokies have always gotten the glory. In fact, the annual viewing event at the Elkmont Campground in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, is so popular that the National Park Service instituted a lottery system for tickets.

So, you can imagine how surprised Dr. Clyde Sorenson, a professor of entomology at N.C. State University, was by what he saw when he spent the night on Grandfather Mountain in June 2019.

"I noticed them immediately by their flash pattern—they were synchronous. By 10 p.m. there were hundreds of them. I walked up and down the roads and they were all through the woods. It thrilled me to death," Sorenson told the Asheville Citizen-Times.  TO READ MORE ABOUT THESE FIREFLIES, CLICK HERE...

Unpredictable behavior

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (WZTV) — Great Smoky Mountain National Park Service is warning visitors to keep their distance from elk in the park as breeding season is gearing up.

Elk are the largest animals in the national park, attracting visitors from all over. But as fall nears, males, or "bulls," are ready for the rut.

"This season is highly anticipated, as bulls begin to mate and make their notorious bugling calls to challenge other males," GSMNPS wrote.

During the rut, park rangers say elk behavior is unpredictable and bulls have been known to charge at people and cars.

All fields are closed to pedestrian traffic this time of year. People should stay near or inside their vehicles. Dogs should be kept on leashes.

What To Do via the GSMNPS:

• Use binoculars, a telephoto lens, or spotting scope for close-up views
• Keep at least 50 yards between you and them
• Use your thumb: Extend your arm, raise your thumb, and close one eye. If your thumb covers the entire animal, you’re a safe distance away.

Learn more about elk in the Smokie here.

Returning Elk

In the not-so-distant past, red wolves and bison roamed the Great Smoky Mountains, passenger pigeons flew en masse overhead, and Carolina parakeets chattered in the welcoming branches of American chestnut trees. 

Today, every one of those species has disappeared from the Southern Appalachian landscape — hastened along the way by the arrival of European settlers, new diseases, and new hunting and farming practices that dramatically reshaped the region’s flora and fauna.

Among the largest and most conspicuous species lost to human activity were eastern elk, a regional subspecies that vanished in the 1800s. 

But now, thanks to an ambitious project launched 20 years ago in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the resonant bugling calls of elk can be heard echoing across North Carolina’s Cataloochee Valley.

“The great pie in the sky would be to have one large, contiguous population throughout the East Coast again,” said Wildlife Biologist Joseph Yarkovich. “But that’s still way, way down the road.”

Yarkovich has spent much of his career with the National Park Service working to ensure the success of the elk’s reintroduction to the Smokies, mostly on the North Carolina side of the national park. 

After two decades of accumulating small wins, the park service is now looking to make the new herd more resilient and improve standard practices for tracking and managing reintroduced wildlife.  READ MORE

East TN Living

Today, if you were to watch your local news or weather channel or check out the weather channel on cable or dish, you would discover that the temperatures are going to be in the HIGH 90's in the south from Texas curving around through Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina...   but because of the GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS the hot temperatures WILL NOT PENETRATE into the Voluteer State of Tennessee...  specifically east TN where I am living...

NOW...  that is not to say that we don't get hot temperatures in the 90's because we do...  and we had those temperatures here for the last two weeks, and the only good thing about those temps for me was the fact that I did not have to mow the lawn or weedeat and I could remain inside where it was cool cooking on my electric portable stovetop and watch programs on ROKU, HULU, and NETFLIX...

I am CABLE and DISH FREE...

I have a fiber optic WIFI connection to the internet and my telephone communications are done via cell phones not a landline any longer...  it is almost as satisfying as the day I became completely DEBT FREE...