Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Visit the most visited National Park in the United States! The Great Smoky Mountain National Park is easily accessed to experience personally. Learn all about the Smoky Mountains at allthesmokies.com

July 5, 2023

Dollywood’s Big Bear Mountain Rollercoaster

As sort of a “in case you missed it”, we gleefully remind you that Dollywood’s newest rollercoaster Big Bear Mountain is now open and taking riders ready for a new thrill in Tennessee’s greatest amusement park! From Dollywood’s official brochure: “LOCATED IN WILDWOOD GROVE Voted Best Kids Area 2022 – Golden Ticket […]
March 11, 2023

Great Smoky Mountains Park It Forward Program

It is possible you’ve heard the news already, but if not, we’ll be happy to introduce you to it here. Beginning March 1st, 2023, the Smoky Mountain National Park will require parking tags on vehicles for parking accessibility at National Park destinations. Daily passes are $5 and weekly and yearly passes are […]
March 9, 2022

Vacation Planning for the Great Smoky Mountains

Vacation planning for your trip to the Great Smoky Mountains can get overwhelming. The sheer volume of things to do, places to visit, and stay can make it difficult to decide what is right for your trip.  We offer insight from the perspective of having lived and worked in the area for […]
January 21, 2021

Pigeon Forge Official Travel Guide

For those who would be interested to see/have a printed Travel Guide for the city of Pigeon Forge, the city provides one that you can have sent to you by putting in your address on a form of their tourism site, www.mypigeonforge.com. A digital version for 2021 will be available at a […]
November 12, 2020

Synchronous Fireflies

We wanted to repost an article from the main Great Smoky Mountain National Park website that we felt was worth your reading. Check it out! “Synchronous fireflies (Photinus carolinus) are one of at least 19 species of fireflies that live in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. They are the only species in […]
November 12, 2020

Bears in the Smokies

We wanted to repost an article from the main Great Smoky Mountain National Park website that we felt was worth your reading. Check it out! “Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the largest protected areas in the eastern United States where black bears can live in wild, natural surroundings. Bears […]
November 12, 2020

Smoky Mountain Wildflowers

We wanted to repost an article from the main Great Smoky Mountain National Park website that we felt was worth your reading. Check it out! “Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a world-renowned preserve of wildflower diversity—over 1,500 kinds of flowering plants are found in the park, more than in any other […]
September 13, 2019

Along Little River Road

Laurel Falls The moderate 2.6 mile trail to Laurel Falls is one of the Park’s most traveled. The trail divides the waterfall in two. At the top, Laurel Branch bursts from a grove of rhododendron, or “laurel” as it was called by early settlers, and falls nearly 50 feet to collect in […]
September 13, 2019

Inside the National Park

70 miles of the trail pass through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Within the Park’s borders, the trail crosses from Davenport Gap near Big Creek on the east to Fontana Dam, N.C. on the southwest, reaching a halfway point at Newfound Gap. It passes near or over several of the highest peaks […]