Great Smoky Mountains

Western section of the Appalachian Mountains, situated on the border between North Carolina and Tennessee. Site of some of the highest peaks in the eastern USA, the Smokies rise to 2,025 m/6,644 ft at Clingmans Dome, the highest point in Tennessee, and include Mount Le Conte (2,010 m/6,594 ft, near Gatlinburg, Tennessee), and Mount Guyot (2,018 m/6,621 ft), 23 km/14 mi east, on the state line. The mountain range gets its name from the deep, smoke-like haze that sometimes hangs over it.

The Smokies merge with the Blue Ridge escarpment to the east, and are sometimes considered part of it. The area is the meeting point of northern and southern flora and fauna. Most of the main 1,525 m/5,000 ft-high crest, which is traversed by the Appalachian Trail, lies within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This covers some 2,107 sq km/814 sq mi, and extends for 89 km/54 mi between the Little Tennessee River in the southwest and the Pigeon River in the northeast. It is renowned for its dense forests, large stands of rhododendron and mountain laurel, treeless mountain tops (known as ‘balds’), and varied wildlife. The park contains over 1,300 km/800 mi of hiking trails, plus numerous fishing streams, and has its headquarters at Gatlinburg.

The Great Smoky Mountains region also includes Sugarland Valley; Alum Cave Bluff, site of a 19th-century alum mine; Newfound Gap; Cades Cove, site of historic buildings; and, just northwest of the national park, Tuckaleechee Caverns, a large cave containing onyx formations. The Cherokee Indian Reservation lies south of the park.