You can also explore old farmsteads of the Appalachian people who once called these mountains home. Roosevelt in 1940, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) offers near-endless outdoor fun - from hiking (you can find trails for all ability levels) to boating, cycling, fishing and horseback riding. The ever-present fog circling the range prompted the Cherokee to name the mountains “shaconage,” which translates to “place of blue smoke.” Euro-Americans later dubbed them the Great Smoky Mountains.Ĭhartered by Congress in 1934 and officially dedicated by President Franklin D. Members of the Cherokee Nation lived in these mystical mountains long before European settlers arrived - their roots here dating back more than 1,000 years. It's also home to more than 67 varieties of fish, 234 species of birds and dozens of species of salamanders (the park has been called the “Salamander Capital of the World"). Nearly evenly split between eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, the park has 62 species of mammals - including iconic black bears, bobcats, coyotes, red wolves and an estimated 200 elk - roaming its 522,427 acres. Within driving distance of so many busy hubs in the eastern U.S., the massive natural expanse offers hard-to-match beauty with its unbroken chain of mist-shrouded mountain peaks rising more than 5,000 feet, meandering streams, cascading waterfalls, flower-strewn meadows and miles of old-growth forests. En español | It's not surprising that the Great Smoky Mountains is the most-visited of the nation's 62 national parks, welcoming more than 12 million visitors last year.
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