Great Smoky Mountain National Park

It was a good Saturday afternoon. Had been talking to my wife all through morning (she is in the other side of the earth to where I live right now). Got couple of calls from friends and talked about some usual things. It was sunny out in Atlanta with weather at around 85F. Planned to do some laundry and prepare for my GMAT. Hema Chandra called me around 14:00 to see if I’m available for the evening. I didn’t have any specific plan but wanted to concentrate on my preparation. But just wanted to check out to see what the plan was other than the regular weekend activity of watching a movie and going out to eat dinner and playing pool. This time, it was different. He talked about going to the smokies (abbreviated for the Great Smoky Mountain National Park).

Travel and tourism interest me a lot (especially driving through exotic picturesque) and when I moved to Atlanta couple of months back, researched some good places to see nearby. Every site that I searched suggested this park “a must see”. Hmm!! Thus didn’t say no to Hema. Had to push my GMAT plans for next day and I set out on a trip that lead me to write this blog. After visiting the park, I was spellbound by the vastness and beauty of it that I came back and researched on the history of the park. I’m documenting all my research and personal experiences in this blog. I’m sure this one will be really big and my apologies for that.

Hema (left in picture) , a guy whose name I don't know (center), me (to the right) and Sandeep (the guy who took this shot) set out on a 3 hours drive to the Great Smoky National Park from Atlanta. We have stopped at Applebee's for lunch and then drove through some of the local highways to our destination. By excluding the freeways, we were able to drive through some of the small towns and some good picturesque. Here is a look of our drive through.

The smokies is a major scenic attraction in south eastern US. Although there are some really beautiful natural scenery's in the western US but Smokies ties to them in its wildlife and the key role it played in history. Smokies is at the border of Tennessee and North Caroline and spans 500k acres. This park was established in 1934 and only 20% of the original forest now remains. Conservation and restoration of the green belt started recently and currently Smokies is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This park is also the largest protected areas in eastern US.

Geography:

The Great Smoky National Park is located at the border of Tennessee and North Carolina. Half of it is in Tennessee entering through Gatlingburg and the other half in North Carolina. Smokies is in the western part of the Appalachian Mountain range. The Appalachian Mountain range is a huge mountain chain which extends from southwest Alabama to south east canada, a total of 1500 miles. Appalachian mountain ranges have been home to lots of American Indian Tribes like Cherokee, Shawnee and others. Due to the vast mineral, log and other natural deposits of the Appalachian Mountain system, all of the Indian tribes have been driven out and most of the natural deposits have been extracted through out 18th and 19th centuries. The highest peak in the eastern US, Mt. Mitchell (6684 ft) is located in North Carolina just outside the Smokies. The highest point in the Smokes is the Clingmans Dome at 6643 ft.

History:

Great Smoky Mountains National Park preserves a rich cultural history of Southern Appalachian. The mountains have had a long human history spanning thousands of years—from the prehistoric Paleo Indians to early European settlement in the 1800s to loggers and Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in the 20th century. The smokies have been occipied from prehistoric times but it was not until the late 20th century that human activies have profoundly affected its natural ecosystem.

Cherokee tribes, the prominent of the many Indian tribes, have inhabited the smokies for nearly thousand years. Among the 563 federally recognized Native American tribes in US, Cherokee tribe is the largest. They are also one of the 5 civilized tribes. The Cherokee refer to themselves as Tsa-la-gi (pronounced "chaw-la-gee") or A-ni-yv-wi-ya (pronounced "ah knee yuh wee yaw", literal translation: "Principle People"). Cherokee were one of the most culturally advanced tribe, had permanent towns, cultivated croplands, sophisticated political systems, and extensive networks of trails. Most of the Cherokee were forcibly removed in the 1830s to Oklahoma in a tragic episode known as the "trail of Tears".

Bio-Diversity:

Bilogical diversity is the hallmark of the smokies. Over 10,000 species have been documented in the park and scientists believe an additional 90,000 to be present. The Great Smoky Mountains are among the oldest mountains in the world, formed perhaps 200-300 million years ago. They are unique in their northeast to southwest orientation, which allowed species to migrate along their slopes during climatic changes such as the last ice age, 10,000 years ago. In fact, the glaciers of the last ice age affected the Smoky Mountains without invading them.

Mountains, glaciers, and weather are the big reasons for this huge diversity found in the Smokies. The Smokies have been relatively undisturbed by glaciers or ocean inundation for over a million years, allowing species to diversify. It is home to some 100 species of native trees, 66 species of mammals, 200 varieties of birds, 50 native species of fish and more than 80 types of reptiles and amphibians. Biologists estimate that around 1500 American Black Bears live in the smokies. There are over 700 streams within the park. There are 30 salamander species in the park and thus it is also called "Salamander Capital of the World".

Viewing wildlife is pretty tough here because of the dense forest. A drive through the park will definitely not guaruntee a good view. Taking a trail through Cataloochee and Cades Cove offer some of the best opportunities to see white-tailed deer, black bear, raccoon, Wild Turkey, woodchuck, and other animals. Winter is probably one of the best times for viewing wildlife as the trees would shed their leaves.

Our Trip:

Driving north for about 3 hrs through the small highways from Atlanta to North Carolina brought us to the park entrance. We drove in my car, Nissan Murano, to the smokies. There are lots of camp sites and Smokies is a hiking paradise. Trails lead us through some of the best landscape in the eastern US. I didn't research much before taking this trip and regret now as we were not able to do much. We just drove through the park to its north entrance of Gatlingburg. Due to the lack of proper planning, we had to take the road trip through the park and spend some time in Gatlinburg town.

We reached the smokies southern entrance at around 17:00. We stopped for a while at the park entrance to take some snaps. Hema meanwhile strayed into wilderness and encountered a beautiful stream that was running beside the road we were driving.

There are around 700 small streams throughout smokies. The streams are lifeline of the vast species that survive in the smokies. Smokies receives about 85 inches of rainfall every year and these streams carry out the water from the top of the mountain ranges into the valleys and finally to the Missisippi river. There are a bunch of cabins available through out the smokies.

A typical hiker would prefer to book one of these cabins which are located at the entrance of smokies and start out their journey into the national forest reserve. Most of these cabins are usually pre-booked. Spring being the best time to visit the park because of the subtle weather and lush green, these cabins usually are priced much higher. Many cabins are located at very pretty locations. We didnt plan out on such a trip. Thus didnt explore this possibility much.

Any person who is interested in spending some good time at the smokies should definitely prefer to rent one of these cabins and then head out on smoky adventure. There are immense possibilities for any kind of person from hiker to casual visitor. The streams in the smokies stretch to about 2100 miles. So there are immense possibilities of various activities that can be done in these little streams like tubing, kayaking, rafting etc. Another interesting thing about the Smokies or in general about the Appalachian Mountain range is that, the rocks formed here are of sedimentary type. That is, they were formed by accumulations of soil, silt, sand, and gravel deposited into a huge shallow sea. Over millions of years, more and more sediments were deposited, becoming layers of hard rock into the earth's crust.

After taking some snaps at the park's entrance, we took a small walk through one of the trail which had a stream running beside it. Smokies is known for its vast trail network. These trails were a major source of transportation and travel among the Cherokee's. There are over 800 trails in the Smokies and 150 of them are official trails. It is a hiker's paradise. One has a daunting task of picking which trail to traverse. There are trails through waterfalls, old-growth forests, beautiful scenary's etc. After deciding the trail to be hiked, the next hurdle would be to choose the length. The length of the trails vary from half a mile to 10 miles and even longer. In the Smokies, people usually travel at the rate of 1.5 miles per hour. So one should have the energy to travel the distance and ample time to come back before the sun sets. In the Smokies, when it gets dark, it is real dark. It gets dark very soon because of the mountains and the very tall trees prevent sunlight to reach to the bottom even before the sun actually sets down. Thus proper planning is essential if we have to hike through one of the trail especially have a good idea on when the sun sets during that time of the year. A well planned hike would definitely be worth because of the beautiful scenic views the park offers a visitor.

We didn't plan enough for these activies. Thus took a brief walk through one of the trails going by a stream and captured some snaps. We entered the park very late. Thus we wanted to see the dynamics of what the park was offering to us and then move on. So we got on in our Murano and moved on a wonderful drive through the park. We were driving through a valley for the initial part and there was a steady stream flowing beside the road. It was one of the best drives I had in the recent times.

From beautiful streams to thick trees, the road took us through a wonderful path. The sun was going down and I wanted to take a quick overview of everthing that was present in the park. I basically went in there as a casual visitor this time. After driving beside the steady stream beside us, we started an ascent to the mountain. The ascent wasnt steep but was steady. We were slowly getting out of the valley and getting on to the mountain. Until now we were in the forest watching trees, birds and little animals which can be frequently found throughout the park. As the road started its ascent onto the mountain range, slowly the appalling landscape of the Smokies opened up. What can I say about the beautiful landscape that enormous mountain range has to offer? I would say, just see it and experience it:

After watching these spell bound scenary's we reached the web's point and then to the Rockefeller memorial at top the mountain that we have ascended to by road. The road also passed through some small tunnels when we started back from the Rockefeller memorial on the top to the next destination. The tunnels were small and fit into the landscape very beautifully.

Finally, we descended to a whole new setup. From the beautiful scenary and landscape that we experienced until now, we moved into a old country setup of a small town called Gatlingburg. Gatlingburg is a small town home to some 4000 - 5000 people. This town falls in the tracks of the route 441 and covers the town. In 1856, a post office was established in the general store of Radford Gatlin (c. 1798-1880), thus giving the town the name "Gatlinburg".



All along the Parkway and side streets, we find Gatlinburg shopping treasures in village-style stores reminiscent of days when shopping was a leisurely yet exciting time. We found a very old country setup. Gatlinburg is a top tourist destination in Tennessee and also in the eastern US. People visit the town for myriad of things to do. Some even come to get married :).

Along the streets of Gatlinburg, we found the would-be rock stars entertaining tourists with their street plays and shops selling log artifacts to memetos unique to the town. There are lots of things that can be done in the town. As we have moved into the town, we saw huge crowds moving on the streets and there are many activities that are being done both on the streets and in stores. So we decided to park our car and head on to experience the town on the foot.

The first activity Sandeep observed was the skylift. A ropeway to the top of the nearby mountain. We parked our car in a parking lot (costed us $8) and went straight to the skylift. The skylift ticket was $12 per person and it takes us from the street to the top of the mountain. There is a small souvenir shop on the top and a very good view of the whole town. On the left is a view from the top of the mountain after we took the skylift.

To the right is the picture taken while travelling to the top of the mountain on the skylift. This is a major attraction. Although the skylift stopped functioning for a while when we were getting down :) but overall the small Skylift trip to the top of the mountain was good. I didnt enjoy the lift much because it is mostly for kids but enjoyed the view atop the mountain. It was mostly dark but the view was really amazing. This small town was covered by mountain ranges from all sides and is deep within the valley.

After getting down from the skylift, we moved on to exploring the town on foot. We walked past many Ripley's showpieces like "Ripley's believe it or not", Ripley's Acquarium, Ripley's wax museum, Ripley's nascar show, Ripley adventure ride etc. Looked like Ripley's has bought the town completely. We finally stepped into Ripley Haunting adventure. It was Hema's idea to see how threatning it would be and tickets were expensive at $16 per person.

I wasnt interested in getting into any of these because I know that I wouldnt be threatened by these showpieces. It is basically for kids and not for guys like me who are interested in adventure rather than spending time in these fun activities. Fun to me is outdoor. Well, we went in there. The setup was good though. It had a huge warning sign and the guy who sold us the tickets was more fearsome than the haunting adventure. He was almost 6'5" and had a deep cut on his face.

There was a very good exhibit at the entrance. The picture to the left is an actual man whose bottom part of body is basically in the box on the backside. It was covered nicely and looks like he doesn't have a bottom part of body and instead has bones. He was talking to people and inviting them to visit the adventure. Overall the haunting adventure wasnt so haunting.

After spending some more time in the town, we had our dinner at the burger king and set out on our journey back. We reached Atlanta late in the night. It was a very good drive and worth visiting place.

To summarize my whole trip, I have only one thing to say. It was one of the best drive and place I visited recently. I didn't plan very good for this trip but the whole experience was very enjoyable. I learnt a lot about the Smokies, things to do there and activities that can be done in Gatlingburg. This small trip has given me lot of insight into the things to do. I'll definitely have a long list of activities to be done in the Smokies the next time I visit. It is definitely a place worth to see.

My pics link in Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/gatsmail/SmokyMountains?authkey=LMIZxRTGzgQ
More info about the smokies:
Wikipedia
National Parks Services (NPS)