Visiting the Great Smoky Mountains

I’ve only been to the Great Smoky Mountains once in my life, despite them being relatively close and growing up hearing so many stories about them. Even though I’ve finally made it, I still ended up with a brief trip so I plan on returning for some serious hiking and camping. The park is definitely a highlight of the Southeast with regards to wildlife and natural beauty. These two photos above were from some of the viewpoints along the roads in the Smoky Mountains.

I didn’t see or capture much wildlife with my camera unless you count this caterpillar and bug. Despite being summer and very humid, I wasn’t bombarded with gnats and mosquitoes like I would have expected. The flowers were getting all the attention from the bees and other bugs pollinating them.

Most of my time in the Smoky Mountains was on the North Carolina side. These two photos show a large creek that I stopped by on the Tennessee side and a waterfall on the North Carolina side. You can find hiking trails, waterfalls, and plenty of outdoor activities on both sides of the border.

The main hiking trail I wanted to do required a drive up into the higher parts of the park. Along the way we passed through some thick fog that eventually turned into rain. My friend’s car had an external temperature reading, so we were actually able to see more than a 10-degree drop as we gained altitude! I’ve been used to things like this on mountains out west or in other countries, but it was kind of unexpected for me to come across this so close to home.

The hiking trail we did was mostly in dense forest, so there weren’t that many views of distant mountains and valleys at first. The photo on the left was what most of the hike looked like. On the right is a sign marking the famous Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian Trail is one of the longest hiking trails in the world, running from Georgia all the way to Maine.

The trail I did finished up close to a mile high in altitude with a lookout tower. The flora here was noticeably different from the lower parts of the Smoky Mountains. The high-altitude forests were mostly made up of evergreens covered in moss and lichen.