The Smoky Mountains or shortly, The Smokies are the mountain range spread in North Carolina and Tennessee. It is a sub range of Appalachian Mountains. The Smoky Mountains National park is the most visited national park in USA (About 10 million visitors per year!)The best time to visit Smokies is Spring/Summer to take advantage of all activities, ranging from hiking to river rafting.
We visited Tennessee side of the park and 3-4 days are sufficient to cover everything. There are mainly 3 towns where most of the attractions are located – Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville, where Gatlinburg being closest to the mountains.
To thoroughly enjoy beauty of the mountains and the park, one should stay in Rental Cabins. Such cabins are available in both Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. One has to book them well in advance (at least a year ago) since there are not too many options. Second best option is to rent a condominium with furnished kitchen and 1/2/3 bedrooms. This option is quite expensive and only feasible if you are going in a group. For a small group or an individual family, there are many hotels and motels in downtown Gatlinburg.
The first and most wonderful attraction is river rafting. Kayaking and Tubing is open from March to October. It offers level 3 and 4 rapids at lower and upper region of the river.
(Day 1)
The most obvious activity is hiking and biking. There are all together 6 trails ranging from 1 to 3 miles. Each offers scenic beauty, waterfalls and of course, splendid photography points. If you are not too much into hiking, visiting one or two trails is enough. One can also drive to peak of the mountains, which offers panoramic view of the entire city. It is about an hour drive from Pigeon Forge. If driving is not your cup of tea, there is couple of more options reach the top – Air Tram and Cable Line. Both will take you to other end, you can get down there and return rides are available every 20 minute. Once you get down at other end, there is lot of activities like mini golf, ice skating, mini zoo, souvenir shops and so on.
(Day 2)
Gatlinburg offers family fun activities. It’s a typical small American Town with just one main street stretching for 3-4 miles. Driving will be a problem, so it’s better to park the car at one place and then either walk or take trolley buses. Both street parking and cheap lot parking are available. One needs almost full day to visit Haunted House, Mirror Maze, Guinness World Records Museum, Museum of Illusion, Mini Golf, Go carting, Laser Tag and Game Arcade.
(Day 3)
The most adventurous activities are for the last day – Wonderworks and Zipline Tours. Wonderworks is located in Pigeon Forge. Also known as a crooked house or upside down house, it offers adventurous activities and mind games- thrilling ride, indoor rock climbing and space walk are a few to name. It takes about 3-4 hours to cover everything.
Our next and final destination at Smokey Mountains was Zipline tours. It’s a canopy tour via Zipline. I was the most enthusiastic about this tour but after we reached there, I got scared! I was not sure whether I would be able to finish the tour hence spending 60 bucks was also an issue. But I am glad I did not miss it. The entire tour is divided in five lapses and it takes about an hour. Flying through woods at about 40 mile/hr with some spectacular views was certainly an exhilarating experience.
We spent 4 effective days at Smokey Mountains and we did not miss a single activity/attraction. It was indeed a good break. Looking forward to another vacation
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