A Day in Smokey Mountains National Park

The highlights of the trip is the wonderful scenery in the Smokies, the peace and quiet (during our trip - although I believe they can get quite busy) of Roaring Fork and Cades Cove and seeing the cabins where original settlers used to live, rear families, and work.

Quick Tips:

The best time to visit I would say would be midweek - I believe weekends and holidays can be very busy. The park has free entry and does not open on Wednesdays until 10am to give cyclists priority. Call in the interpretive centre and get maps (free or donation) and get leaflets at the beginning of Roaring Fork and Cades Cove so you know what you are looking at.

Best Way To Get Around:

Cycling, horse riding (there are stables in the park with horses for hire), driving - there are parking areas for walkers.

We left Helen, Ga, about 7:30am and it took about two hours to get to Cherokee in North Carolina which was our entrance to the Park.

The traffic was quite slow through Cherokee, which gave me a chance to glimpse the town. I would have liked to look around as it seemed quite interesting with its American Indian Heritage, but my husband was on a mission to see the mountains and didn't want to stop. We did however, have coffee in a cafe just before the park entrance.

Entrance to the park is free, which is unusual, but you are supposed to call in the Interpretive Centre, get a map and make a donation. My husband thought I had got lost at this point because I noticed a Mountain Farm Museum that I went round to photograph whilst he waited in the car - he thought I had only called in for the map. The farm contains a two room house and farm buildings and shows how the early settlers lived.

Our first call was up the hill to Clingmans Dome where there is a car park and a half-mile walk up a path that circles round to the tope of the Observation tower. It was a hot day, the path was very busy and a lot of children were complaining they were too hot to walk - it’s quite a walk for little ones.

On reaching the summit the view was tremendous - there is 360-degree views of the Smokies which are very hazy, hence the name "Smokey Mountains". There are boards round the rim of the observation tower explaining what can be seen and a Ranger was there to answer questions. He was telling people about a lot of the trees dying from a disease that came from Europe and they are finding it hard to treat as it eats the tree from the inside and can only be treated from the inside.

Back at the car park, we ate lunch that we had brought with us sitting on some steps and admiring the view. On our departure we saw a placard showing the Tennessee North Carolina State Line.

We drove back down the hill to find our way to Cades Cove and Roaring Fork Motor Trail.

My husband quite liked the look of Gatlinburg which we had to go through to reach Roaring Forks Trail and was very busy, so hopefully we may go back one day and spend more time in the area.

xAs we entered the park from Cherokee, North Carolina, we had to make our way right through to the other side to Gatlinburg to reach the Roaring Forks Motor Trail. You have to make your way into Gatlinburg to traffic light number 8 and follow "Historic Nature Trail". A booklet (which I think was about 50c) is available at the start of the trail and explains things to see as you go along.

This is a five-mile long loop road that meanders up and down through shady trees and past rushing rivers and trickling streams. Along the way are waterfalls, which you can park up and walk to, reconstructed shacks showing how the early settlers lived and raised families.

We found it very peaceful with not much traffic to delay my clock-watching husband.

Of course at the end of the loop we ended up on a different road to which we had started, but with a little common sense soon found our way back through Gatlinburg to the park and Cades Cove.

This seems to be the main area for wildlife spotting and there was quite a lot of traffic, all driving at 5mph to try to spot some form of wildlife.

Again a booklet can be obtained for a minimal amount that explains the area - unfortunately we didn't get one and I found it a big mistake. There are more settlers’ cabins here as well as a church and graveyard and grist mill.

According to the general Smokies guide, however, there are 1500 bears living in the park and Cades Cove is one of the areas where they are seen – however, we didn't see any. We saw plenty of deer.

At one point I saw a very large funghi at the side of the road and we stopped so I could photograph it. Of course everyone in the other cars thought we had seen wildlife and were asking us. One lady was very disappointed when I explained it was a large mushroom.

By this time it was getting dusk and my husband was getting anxious about the long drive back to Helen, GA on unfamiliar roads, so we didn't linger and made our way out of the park.

People were still sitting at the edge of the river that runs through the park and enjoying the last of the day - I was quite envious. We must return one day.