{"id":785,"date":"2017-05-05T08:55:03","date_gmt":"2017-05-05T06:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.travelspotting.de\/?p=785"},"modified":"2019-06-02T17:16:49","modified_gmt":"2019-06-02T15:16:49","slug":"great-smoky-mountains-nationalpark-ueber-200-000-hektar-wald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelspotting.de\/en\/great-smoky-mountains-national-park-more-than-200-000-hectares-of-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Smoky Mountains: a Forest covering an Extensive Area of More than 200,000 Hectares"},"content":{"rendered":"The Great Smoky Mountains NP is the biggest national park in the United States and has the highest number of visitors. Yet, in Germany it is largely unknown. Travel agencies rarely advertise the park at all and only offer very few trips there. Why is the National Park a nice place to visit? Why should I go there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Where It Is and How It\u2019s Called<\/h2>\n

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is in Tennessee and North Carolina, the closest town is Knoxville, Tn. You can best reach the Great Smoky Mountains from the two cities Atlanta and Charlotte. From Atlanta, it\u2019s a 3-hour-drive (260 km, Interstate 85, Highway 23 and 441). There are two smaller villages close to the park: Cherokee (at the park\u2019s main entrance) and Pigeon Forge\/Gatlinburg (west of the park). Both have many hotel options available. Highway 441 goes through the park from Cherokee to Gatlinburg.<\/p>\n

Great Smoky Mountains is the official name, but the forest is most commonly called Smokies. The name comes from the fact that the view is in general bad: because of high humidity, large parts of the mountain are covered in smoky clouds.<\/p>\n

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Booking a Hotel in Cherokee: Harrrah\u2019s Cherokee Casino<\/h2>\n

We stayed in Cherokee, east of the park. Cherokee is a little village, basically a transit place to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Quality Inn Hotel was, as expected, good and cheap. We were totally surprised to see a casino right on the opposite side of the road. Not a small casino, but a huge hotel called Harrah\u2019s Cherokee Casino, a hotel with restaurants, buffets and of course gambling: a huge complex right in the middle of nowhere. According to Wikipedia, the hotel has 1108 rooms. It’s the only place in Cherokee that serves alcohol. I was expecting to find a hotel that size in Las Vegas but not in Cherokee, a little village with a bit over 2000 residents.<\/p>\n

Clingman\u2019s Dome<\/h2>\n

The Smokies is one of the very few national parks in the US that is free (that means you don’t have to pay admission fee). The forest is very important for environmental protection and even became UNESCO world heritage in the 1980s. For this, the very old parts of the forest (that have existed even before the European settlers came) are particularly important. Highest peak of the forest is Clingman\u2019s Dome (2015 m). You can walk there on a paved, solid path. It\u2019s only a few hundred meters from the parking space but it\u2019s quite a climb and not totally easy. You don\u2019t need to be a professional climber for that it\u2019s only a steeply rising walking lane. There is an observation tower at the peak that can be reached on a long, winding bridge. The bridge made me a bit dizzy but I\u2019m uncomfortable with heights anyways. You can indeed reach the tower easily by just walking there.<\/p>\n

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Chimney Top Trail and Newfound Gap<\/h2>\n

We also walked along Chimney Top Trail. We wanted to do a short hike that is doable in regular running shoes and anyways leaves the regular, paved roads. We did not walk until the very end, the Chimney Top. On this hike, you get to see a forest, nature and a little creek. Signs are everywhere, the hiking path is easy to find. The visitor center has free maps that describe exactly where all the hikes lead, how long and how difficult these hikes are. That is always very helpful. We always try to find easy hikes with no climbing. We also reasonaly long because we usually don\u2019t have time to hike 10 or 12 miles per day.<\/p>\n

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Newfound Gap is right next to highway 441 and is good spot to stop for the view. Gap refers to a low point between the mountains that connects one mountain to the other. The ecosystem changes a lot here, even temperature and weather can change within short distance.<\/p>\n

Cades Cove<\/h2>\n

Cades Cove is an area in the far northeast of the park (in the Tennessee part, 57 miles from Cherokee). Cades Cove was the center of early settlement: a well isolated, green valley with meadows and grass. The valley still has some leftovers from the early settlers: a Methodist church, a Baptist church, an old wooden house, a mill and a little creek. The best way to see the valley and all the remaining buildings is to drive the Cades Cove Loop Road. It\u2019s an 11-miles-one-way-loop-road (20 km). You drive very slowly and can stop whenever you see something interesting. You can also rent a bicycle and do the loop on the bike.<\/p>\n

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Cades Cove is the main attraction of the Smokies and attracts most visitors. It\u2019s always busy. You drive the loop in a bit of a chain. That mean you just follow the car in front of you. If you are on the loop, there is no way to turn around and go back, you can only do the entire loop. The valley is very beautiful the early settlers have indeed chosen a very nice place to stay. The visitor center is half way on the loop, next to the mill.<\/p>\n

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We made a mistake and took the loop twice. The GPS gave us some wrong information. The GPS lead us to an exit that was indeed a 20 mile unpaved road. When we saw that, we were already on the loop and had to finish it a second time. You definitely need to plan enough time for that loop, you cannot drive fast at all. You need at least 2 hours (better 3, to have time to stop).<\/p>\n

The official park website says the GPS is wrong in the park. We did not know that and made that mistake. Some advice: get a map from the visitor center and use that map instead.<\/p>\n

There are many more hikes, paths and camping shacks in the park.<\/p>\n

Some Advice and General Information<\/h2>\n

We liked the park. At the beginning, you get to see a huge are of forest. It looks a bit like the Black Forest. Yet, in the US things are always bigger. Same counts for the Smokies.
\nWe liked the combination we did: a viewpoint, hiking in the forest and seeing the valley of an early settlement. I would also recommend doing something like that. The national park has many faces. Besides Clingman\u2019s Dome, there are many more viewpoints like Rich Mountain Road which has a great view of the Cades Cove Valley or Abraham\u2019s Creek. Newfound Gap is easy to reach, right at highway 441. Cades Cove is not the only valley; a second valley is called Cataloochee Valley. There are two waterfalls called Deep Creek and the Damm in Fontana. There are many hiking paths here, you should pick the one you do according to time, motivation, and fitness level. It\u2019s definitely recommendable to leave your car and do at least some walking.<\/p>\n

In the Smokies, I asked myself quite some times: where is the forest line? There is still heavy coniferous forest in Clingman\u2019s Dome on 2000 meters. I always thought, the forest stops somewhere at around 2000 meters? I don\u2019t know much about that, maybe someone can answer that.<\/p>\n

I think, without a car, it\u2019s very difficult to do the Smokies. We drove along 441 in one day (including a tunnel right through a mountain) and did some viewpoints, hiking and Newfound Gap. The following day, we did Cades Cove and its loop and left the park on the west (heading to Nashville). Going back and forth makes little sense because of the sheer size of the park. It\u2019s better to make a plan about how these routes fit together.<\/p>\n