Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Things to do in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is teeming with activities that cater to all types of visitors.

Hiking

Hikers find enjoyment in the Smoky Mountains year-round, with each season offering unique experiences. Winter unveils new vistas along trails as deciduous leaves fall away, exposing stone walls, chimneys, and other remnants of former inhabitants. Spring brings a stunning display of wildflowers and blooming trees every week.

In summer, walkers can cool off in the spruce-fir forests, explore open balds, or follow lively mountain streams to majestic waterfalls. Autumn offers crisp, invigorating air and a vibrant array of fall colors that enhance the hiking experience.

Some of the park’s most sought-after hikes include:

• Charlies Bunion

• Alum Cave Bluffs

• Andrews Bald

• Rainbow Falls

• Chimney Tops

Choosing a trail can be one of the most challenging decisions for hikers. It’s important to consider your hiking experience and choose a distance that matches your fitness level. For beginners, a roundtrip hike of up to five miles is a sensible limit to ensure a manageable and enjoyable adventure.

Touring Cades Cove

Cades Cove, a picturesque valley nestled among mountains south of Townsend, Tennessee, offers a wealth of experiences. The valley is encircled by an 11-mile one-way loop road, which provides access to hiking trails, wildlife viewing, and exploration of historic homesites, cemeteries, and churches. Additionally, the area features a visitor center, campground, picnic area, and riding stable.

The 11-mile loop road around the cove allows drivers to enjoy a leisurely sightseeing tour. Plan to spend at least two to four hours exploring Cades Cove, with more time needed if you choose to hike some of the trails. Be aware that traffic can be heavy during the summer and fall tourist seasons, as well as on weekends throughout the year.

Places to go in Cades Cove

• Cades Cove Picnic Area

• Dan Lawson Place

Things to do in Cades Cove

• Hike to Abrams Falls

• Walk to John Oliver Cabin

Explore Waterfalls

Each year, more than 200,000 visitors explore popular trails to witness iconic waterfalls such as Grotto, Laurel, Abrams, and Rainbow in the park. While these large waterfalls draw significant crowds, smaller cascades and falls can be discovered along nearly every river and stream within the park.

The Great Smoky Mountains are rich in the two key elements necessary for waterfalls: ample rainfall and an elevation gradient. The high country of the Smokies receives an average of over 85 inches of rain annually. In particularly wet years, peaks like Mt. Le Conte and Clingmans Dome can receive more than eight feet of rain. This abundant precipitation cascades down the mountainsides, creating waterfalls that drop over a mile in elevation from the high peaks to the foothills at the park’s boundary.

Paths to hike to the waterfall

Abrams Falls: Though Abrams Falls stands at just 20 feet high, its impressive water flow makes up for its modest height, creating a powerful and captivating sight.

Grotto Falls: Located along the Trillium Gap Trail, Grotto Falls is unique for its 25-foot drop and the opportunity it offers to walk behind the cascading water, all while meandering through an old-growth hemlock forest.

Hen Wallow Falls: A delightful journey through a lush hemlock and rhododendron forest leads to the 90-foot Hen Wallow Falls, offering a serene and scenic experience.

Indian Creek and Toms Branch Falls: A short, 1.6-mile roundtrip hike in the Deep Creek area rewards visitors with views of two beautiful waterfalls, making it a quick and satisfying adventure.

Juney Whank Falls: Juney Whank Falls features both an upper and lower section, collectively dropping 90 feet, creating a striking and dramatic waterfall.

Laurel Falls: One of the park’s most visited spots, Laurel Falls is an 80-foot high waterfall renowned for its picturesque beauty and accessibility.

Lynn Camp Prong Cascades: A brief, easy walk offers visitors a chance to admire multiple cascades along the Lynn Camp Prong, making it a pleasant and scenic outing.

Mingo Falls: Standing at 120 feet, Mingo Falls is one of the tallest waterfalls in the southern Appalachians, offering a breathtaking and impressive sight.

Mouse Creek Falls: Hidden away in the Big Creek area, Mouse Creek Falls is a 45-foot high waterfall that provides a peaceful escape from the more crowded spots.

Rainbow Falls: This 80-foot high waterfall often creates a beautiful rainbow in the mist on sunny afternoons, adding a magical touch to the scenic view.

Ramsey Cascades: As the tallest waterfall in the park, Ramsey Cascades stands out for its sheer height and stunning beauty, making it one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the area.

Visit Historic Buildings

Great Smoky Mountains National Park boasts one of the finest collections of log buildings in the eastern United States. The park preserves or has rehabilitated over 90 historic structures, including houses, barns, outbuildings, churches, schools, and gristmills. To see these historic sites, visit Cades Cove, Cataloochee, Oconaluftee, and the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. Self-guiding auto tour booklets are available at these locations to enhance your experience.

Some of these structures are also listed on the National Register of Historic Places, reflecting their exceptional historical significance and the meticulous state and federal efforts to preserve them. The accompanying map highlights these notable sites, which offer a glimpse into past community life and are maintained for educational and interpretative purposes.

For books, maps, and guides related to the park, visit the official online store of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Managed by the nonprofit Smokies Life, the store’s proceeds support educational, scientific, and historical initiatives within the park.

Burial Landscapes

The historic cemeteries within the park are key elements of its early landscape, connecting the contemporary Great Smoky Mountains National Park with its rich historical heritage. These cemeteries offer valuable insights into past burial practices, religious beliefs, cultural and ethnic influences, and the origins and development of local communities. They also reflect the landscape design principles of earlier times.

While many early remnants of the park’s communities may have disappeared, these cemeteries often stand as some of the last tangible connections to the past, preserving a link to the history and traditions of earlier inhabitants.

Horseback Riding

From mid-March through late November, you can enjoy guided horseback rides at three concession riding stables within the park. These rides vary from 45 minutes to several hours and traverse scenic park trails. Please note that weight limits and age restrictions may apply.

Additionally, two of the stables offer carriage and wagon rides. These 20-30 minute horse-drawn rides provide a charming way to experience the park’s trails.

The park features approximately 550 miles of hiking trails open to horses, but they are restricted to designated trails. If you plan to ride your own horse, be sure to obtain a trail map from the park, which shows the horse-accessible trails and outlines the park’s regulations for horseback riding in the backcountry.

Horse riders can use designated campsites along trails open to them, although some backcountry campsites require advance reservations. These sites are marked on the park’s trail map.

For convenient access to backcountry trails, five drive-in horse camps are available at Cades Cove (Anthony Creek), Big Creek, Cataloochee, Round Bottom and Towstring.

Bicycling

Bicycles are permitted on most roads within Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but many of these roads are challenging due to steep terrain, narrow surfaces, and heavy automobile traffic, which can make for a less safe and enjoyable ride.

An exception is Cades Cove Loop Road, an 11-mile one-way route popular among cyclists. It offers excellent wildlife viewing and a chance to explore 19th-century homesites. From May through September, Cades Cove is closed to motor vehicles all day on Wednesdays, providing a quieter experience for pedestrians and cyclists. During the summer and fall, bicycles can be rented at the campground store near Cades Cove Campground.

The park does not have designated mountain biking trails. However, bicycles are allowed on the Gatlinburg Trail, Oconaluftee River Trail, and lower Deep Creek Trail. All other park trails are off-limits to bicycles.

Other bicycle-friendly areas include the roads in the Greenbrier and Tremont regions in Tennessee, as well as Cataloochee Valley and Lakeview Drive in North Carolina.

Fishing

Great Smoky Mountains National Park features about 2,900 miles of streams, including one of the last wild trout habitats in the eastern United States. Approximately 20% of these streams are large enough to support trout populations, offering a diverse range of fishing experiences. Whether you’re interested in remote headwater trout streams or larger coolwater smallmouth bass streams, the park provides excellent angling opportunities throughout the year. Most streams are well-stocked and can sustain healthy fish populations, making for productive fishing conditions.

Fishing is allowed year-round, from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset, in all of the park’s streams.

Picnicking

Picnic areas are available at several locations in the park, including Big Creek, Chimneys, Cades Cove, Collins Creek, Cosby, Deep Creek, Greenbrier, Heintooga, Look Rock, and Metcalf Bottoms.

The picnic areas at Cades Cove, Deep Creek, Greenbrier, and Metcalf Bottoms are open year-round. However, the other picnic areas are closed during the winter months.

Picnic pavilions can be found at Collins Creek, Cosby, Deep Creek, Greenbrier, Metcalf Bottoms, and Twin Creeks.

See Wildflowers

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is celebrated globally for its extraordinary wildflower diversity, boasting over 1,500 species—more than any other North American national park. Known as the “Wildflower National Park,” it offers year-round opportunities to admire blooming flowers. For a guide to their locations, consult the Species Mapper.

The blooming season kicks off with spring ephemerals, a unique group of flowers that emerge in late winter and early spring. These plants, such as trillium (with ten species in the park), lady slipper orchids, showy orchids, crested dwarf iris, fire pink, columbine, bleeding heart, phacelia, jack-in-the-pulpit, little brown jugs, and violets, make a brief but dazzling appearance from February through April before fading by May or June.

Each spring, the park hosts the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage, a week-long event featuring programs, guided walks, and hikes to celebrate the park’s floral diversity.

Summer continues the floral display with vibrant red cardinal flowers, pink turtleheads, Turk’s cap lily, small purple-fringed orchids, bee-balm, butterfly-weed, black-eyed Susans, jewelweed, and more.

As summer transitions into fall, the bloom includes goldenrod, wide-leaved sunflowers, tall ironweed, mountain gentian, monk’s hood, coneflowers, and various asters. The towering purple umbels of sweet Joe-Pye-weed can reach up to ten feet, adding a dramatic touch to the autumn landscape.