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Smokies Facts
- The Great Smoky Mountains
National Park was dedicated on September 2, 1940 by Pres.
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- Mountains were created over
2 million years ago
- Over 4,000 species of
plants, 65 mammals, 200 birds, 70 fish, and 80 reptiles
and amphibians.
- First known inhabitants were
the Cherokee Indians.
- The Great Smoky Mountains
National Park straddles the North Carolina/Tennessee
border for 70 miles.
- There are over 300 streams,
flowing over 700 miles.
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There are over 150 hiking trails,
extending over 800 miles.
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From your car you can see much of what the
Smokies offer, including wildflowers, flowering trees, colorful fall foliage,
mountain vistas, and historic buildings. Newfound Gap Road, the main road
across the mountains, is itself a famous scenic drive. The Roaring
Fork Motor Nature Trail will provide you with breath-taking views,
waterfalls, nature scenery, and history. Other park roads
offer glimpses of the park's natural and cultural heritage. Park roads
also link you to self-guiding trails and short footpaths to other park
attractions for more intimate insights into this great public treasure.
Taking a park trail can be the best way to
sense how directly you are related to the world of nature. Walking even a
short distance from park roads can put you in a totally different world.
The lack of human generated noise opens up the world of natural sounds for you.
Simply being inside the magnificent
forests can be a full spectrum sensory experience -- rich with sights, sounds,
smells, and that special skin warmth felt when isolated light rays penetrate the
deep shade cast by a forest canopy. Dwarfed by the big trees, your sense
of scale may even be altered.
The Appalachian Trail threads the length
of the national park along the Smokies' crest and Tennessee North Carolina
border. This national scenic trail goes north to Maine's Mount Katahdin
and south to Georgia's Springer Mountain. Volunteers coordinated by the
nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conference maintain it. On the two-mile
stretch between Newfound and Indian gaps, accessible near the Newfound Gap
parking lot, you can see wildflowers in spring or look down at colorful foliage
in fall. And then you can tell people "I walked part of the
2,155-mile-long Appalachian Trail."
Bicycling is especially popular on the
Cades Cove Loop Road. Ask about special "bicyclist and pedestrian
only" hours on the loop road in summer. At Cades Cove you cycle on
the 11 mile road through open fields encircled by mountains. And you can
stop at the many historic buildings preserved there. Bicycles are allowed
on park roads, but many are winding, steep, or narrow and shared by many
motorists new to mountain driving. Bicycles are prohibited on nearly all
park trails. Ask at visitor centers about possible exceptions.
| Pets are permitted in the park
on a leash only but prohibited on trails or cross-country hikes. |
Horseback riding also offers a good pace
for seeing the park. Drive-in horse camps provide access to backcountry
trails, but space is limited. Horses can be hired by the hour at several
park locations for guided trail rides. Horse camps and rentals are not
available for parts of the winter. Check schedules at a visitor center, in
the Smokies Guide, or on the park website.
Backcountry
hiking can immerse you in these Southern
Appalachian mountain wildlands.
Any overnight backcountry use requires a backcountry use
permit. You also need proper equipment, adequate
preparation, specific use information, and, for some areas,
reservations. Please learn and use responsible
techniques of the Leave No Trace outdoor ethic. For the
information you will need, check the park website or Smokies
Guide or call the Backcountry Information Office at
865-436-1297.
This is bear country.
To protect you and the American black bears here, federal law
requires proper food storage. Store all food in the
trunk of your vehicle and place all garbage entirely within
bear proof trash cans or dumpsters. Clean up food scraps
around camp and from grills and table tops, so bears won't
become habituated to human food and garbage. Such bears
eventually lose their natural fear of humans and become
aggressive problem bears that are killed by automobiles,
become easy targets for poachers, or must be destroyed.
Please don't be bear careless!
| National Park Rangers issue citations for
improper food storage and feeding bears. These offenses can result
in fines of up to $5,000 and jail sentences lasting up to six
months. Visitors are urged to view all wildlife at a safe distance
and never to leave food or garbage unattended. |
Have fun learning more
about the park's nature and history in programs offered by the
Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont and by the Smoky
Mountain Field School. Programs vary from one day to a
week or more and are offered for ages nine to 17 and for
adults, including Elderhostel participants. Check the
Smokies Guide to find out how you can participate in learning
experiences such as overnights, hiking weeks, summer camp,
canoeing, wildlife seminars, teacher weekends, Elderhostel,
and landscape photography. These and other programs
cover topics such as backpacking, geology, spring wildflowers,
park history, and birds and other wildlife of the park and
environs. Great ways
to support the park include joining the non-profit Great
Smoky Mountains Natural History Association and the Friends of
Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Both groups exist
to help the park and to help you care for, learn about, and
support the park, including volunteer opportunities.
Find details in the Smokies Guide or ask at a visitor center. Great
Smoky Mountains National Park is part of the National Park
System, whose more than 370 parks preserve important examples
of our nation's natural and cultural heritage unimpaired for
this and future generations. For information contact:
Superintendent, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 107 Park
Headquarters Road, Gatlinburg, TN 37738; 865-436-1200.
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Essentials For Seeing The Smokies
