A Historic National Park: Great Smoky Mountain Forest & Railroad

The Great Smoky Mountain in North Carolina and Tennessee is known to be the "culminating region of the Appalachian system." Combining ancient and towering mountains, beautiful and virgin waterfalls and a wide variety of wildlife, the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is one destination for tourists and non-recreational guests.

It started as an isolated and inaccessible patch of forest and mountain ranges that until the first World War where the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad was built and made a way into the virgin forests of the now famous 814 square miles (2,108 square kilometers) national park.

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park is among earth's oldest uplands, which is also considered as one of the largest protected areas in the Eastern United States. A total number of sixteen mountains reach higher than six thousand feet, with Clingman's Dome as the park's highest peak with an elevation of 6, 643 feet (2,025 meters).

The outstanding feature perhaps of the whole Great Smoky Mountain National Park would be its 200,000 acres of virgin forests that houses a huge variety of an estimated 10,000 species of plants and animals, and surprisingly, still a huge number of 90,000 varieties that are unknown and yet to be discovered.

A major tourist attraction during the summer months along the North Carolina border of the park is the outdoor drama, Unto These Hills by the Qualla Reservation of the Cherokee Indians. Also, it has other offered tourist attractions like caves and other land forms that have remained untouched despite the advancements of the United States' technology.

The Congress authorized the establishment of the area as a national park in 1926 and was dedicated in 1940 after Tennessee and North Carolina gave it funds that were added to the $5,000,000 gift from Dr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. that were used to acquire the needed lands.

Famous outdoor activities on national parks especially those as grand and magnificently beautiful as the Great Smoky Mountain National Park are popular among all vacationers and otherwise. Examples would be camping, hiking, trekking, spelunking (a term for cave exploring), and more.

For those who prefer a little less rugged adventure, the park has its own share of entertainment that one can enjoy without roughing it up with Mother Nature. Meditation, picture taking, visiting a reservation and other historical landmarks scattered all throughout the park are a welcome change to the hectic worlds that park visitors escape from whenever they plan on visiting the Great Smoky Mountains.

Two seasons define the park which extends from early spring to late autumn. Millions of people get attracted to its autumn colors that are painstakingly remembered by those who have witnessed it for its dazzling display of beauty and wonder, a mixture of reddish orange colors splashed across a bluish black sky backdrop.

A visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is never an easy feat but is always a memorable one. Try it out to experience a one on one adventure with one of the ancient mountain ranges this side of the world.

Find related products in our Hiking Shop: