Smoky Mountains

Anyone who has hiked to Gregory Bald in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will agree that reaching the top of this mountain is a truly unique experience. What sets Gregory Bald apart from other peaks in the Smokies is that its summit is essentially a large open meadow, albeit at nearly 5,000 feet in the air. With no trees or rocks getting in the way, the top of Gregory Bald offers unobstructed panoramic views of Cades Cove and the mountains.

The cities of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville are some of the most beloved destinations in the state of Tennessee. If history had gone just a little differently, however, all of these cities would belong to an entirely different state! Before Tennessee was on the map, Sevier County was part of “Franklin”, a territory that almost became the 14th state in the Union. Visit My Smokies did a little research to bring you the strange story of the Lost State of Franklin.

It’s not hard to find references to Tennessee hero Davy Crockett around the Smoky Mountains. In Gatlinburg, you can play 18 holes at Ripley’s Davy Crockett Mini Golf, a course that is inspired by “the old days” when Crockett “roamed them thar hills”. Downtown Gatlinburg is also home to Crockett’s Breakfast Camp, which is actually named after another local legend, David C. “Crockett” Maples. Additionally, visitors to the area may remember Davy Crockett’s Tennessee Whiskey Distillery, which merged with Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine in February, 2016.

Two of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s most precious resources are often taken for granted: quiet and darkness. However, anyone who lives in an urban area knows that these commodities are actually in short supply outside of national parks. City dwellers will be hard pressed to find a spot where they can enjoy the sounds of nature without any competing noises or admire the constellations in the majestic night sky.

Did your mother always tell you how important it is to eat fresh fruit? Well, it turns out Mom was right...especially if you’re a bear! According to a recent report from WBIR News, the season’s beautiful bounty of blackberries is doing a lot to keep black bears in the Smoky Mountains on their best behavior. Read on to find out why one of the summer’s sweetest treats is making life sweeter for black bears and humans.

There’s no better place to vacation than the Great Smoky Mountains! If you agree, we need your help! The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been nominated for an award - “Best National Park for Kids.” There is a list of 20 national park nominees and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was trailing behind in the #2 position. We need your vote to win!

2016 has been a big year for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park! The Great Smoky Mountains National Park recently celebrated its 82nd birthday, and in August, the National Park Service will turn 100 years old. To mark these festivities, WBIR in Knoxville asked the park what the top five most popular hikes in the Smoky Mountains are. Read on to see which trails made the list:

This year (2016), the National Park Service is celebrating its 100th birthday! As part of the celebration, Time Magazine released a special edition of their magazine, “America’s National Parks: 100 Years of Preserving Our Land and Heritage,” and it features the Great Smoky Mountains National Park!

Long before European settlers came to the Great Smoky Mountains in the late 1600s, the region was inhabited by the Cherokee people. Today, the influence of the Cherokee in the Smokies is still very strong. Even the name “Smoky Mountains” is derived from the Cherokee word “Shaconage” (Sha-Kon-O-Hey), which means “land of the blue smoke”.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about the hemlock wooly adelgid insect in the Smoky Mountains. The insect was first detected in the national park in 2002, but it wasn’t until recently that it started causing problems for the national park. Officials at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park say they haven’t experienced this kind of ecological challenge since the loss of the chestnut trees at the turn of the 20th century.

Henry Ford didn’t just revolutionize the automobile industry...he also revolutionized camping trips! A lover of nature, Ford and some of his famous friends took a series of high profile road trips between 1914 and 1924 to some of the nation’s most scenic areas. Along the way, Ford showed the world how fun it could be to pack up the car and head into the great outdoors. Visit My Smokies did a little research to bring you an account of the time Henry Ford and Thomas Edison went camping in the Great Smoky Mountains.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park provides visitors with so much, and asks for so little in return. As one of the few national parks without an entrance fee, the GSMNP allows over 10 million annual visitors to enjoy its hiking trails, scenic roads, and picnic areas for free. This summer, however, the national park requested your help to vote to receive a grant of $250,000 to restore the Clingmans Dome Observation Tower, and the results are in!

With its 100th birthday fast approaching, the National Park Service has plenty to celebrate. A recent analysis of last year’s data found that over 300 million people visited America’s national parks and other NPS sites in 2015 - an all time high. When compared to 2014, that’s an increase of 14 million visitors!

To mark the National Park Service’s 100th birthday, Good Morning America is travelling all across the country to profile some of the nation’s most famous parks. Our very own Great Smoky Mountains National Park got plenty of love when GMA special correspondent Jesse Palmer took a trip to the Smokies. We have collected the best clips from Palmer’s adventures and added some additional information, so you can enjoy all of the fun activities highlighted on GMA.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is filled with a variety of historic cabins from a bygone age. When you visit the park, you can walk into these cabins, look around, and imagine what life must have been like over a hundred years ago. But what if you didn’t have to imagine?