Awesome state park with plenty of parking, pull offs to play in the creek, and tons of hiking…read moretrails. Dog and kid friendly, no bathrooms available. Lots of wildflower blooms and creekside hiking. Great spot for a picnic and sunning by the water.

Great park to take kids for easy access to wade and swim in a mountain stream. Has trails. Picnic…read morearea is very limited and located too close to porta-potties. Just go for the water!

This park was right around the corner from our AirBnB and we passed this park almost daily- we…read moredipped in a few times and then I discovered there is a waterfall down a trail off the side of the park and I was delighted! Obviously a local favorite, especially for morning walks, jogs and getting outside. The kids feeding ducks, a few guys fishing and the playground was always being used, it made every visit fun.

My favorite place to walk near Asheville, NC. Located in Weaverville few minutes from downtown…read more Downtown Weaverville with multiple restaurants few miles away. My favorite Greek place down the road. Right off freeway. Note crowded on warm days and weekends ..parking can be tough on those days

So incredibly beautiful. So many dang bears…read more Or so I've been told. Fortunately for me, a person who is very much afraid of bears and wants nothing to do with them, I did not see any bears during my visit to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But they're there! Lurking ... somewhere ... in the forest, I'm sure. I visited during the spring, when the bears were waking up from their long slumber, and I'm sure they were just waiting, with growling tummies, to eat someone. Because of the bears, I didn't travel too far away from the visitor center area of Newfound Gap. But there are trails and other things to see that are beautiful if you like hiking and whatnot. As for me, I was satisfied staying close to where there was more concrete and cars than nature. (I know! I'm kind of dumb sometimes.) Newfound Gap straddles both Tennessee and North Carolina, so you can be in two states at once -- literally, you can have one foot in Tennessee and the other in North Carolina! There's also a cool rock structure that you can climb to the top of called the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, where you'll get great views of the mountains. They really do look smoky! They ain't lyin'. The Newfound Gap area of the Smoky Mountains also has a trailhead for the Appalachian Trail, plus restrooms. I saw backpackers who definitely looked like they had been on the the Appalachian Trail for a while. I've since learned that although this is not the largest national park, it's the most visited, and I believe it! There were quite a lot of people at the Newfound Gap area. That said, I visited a few other places around the park where there were zero people, so you might have to change locations, depending on how many people you want to share your park experience with.

The #1 most visited National Park in the USA!…read more We spent three days in Gatlinburg and visited the Kuwohi Observation tower and did the Cades Cove 11 mile drive. Both awesome! Definitely try to get to Kuwohi for sunset. Amazing panoramic views of the blue ridge mountains, and on a clear day you can see as far as four states away! Cades Cove is an early morning must. We beat the crowds by getting there at 6:30am and were done with the 11 mile drive by 9:30am, taking our time to check out most of the stops along the way. Just to note it is closed on Wednesdays to cars when they turn it over to bikes and pedestrians. We also did the Roaring fork motor nature trail which was also very nice and not as chaotic as Cades Cove.

Great place to bring your dog to swim. Restrooms & changing area. Open to anyone for free! Nice…read moresandy area if it didn't rain heavily which makes the water murky. Families go swimming in warmer months. Beat to go when the sun is out, part of the mountain blocks the afternoon sun and water is colder in the shade. Park is pretty clean, not too many people on weekdays. Lots of rocks after the beach atea and further down people go rafting or canoe oaddle. Nolichucky is beautiful when the water is moving and this is an ideal spot to enjoy the river. About 20 mins from Johnson City/Jonesborough off i26, very easy to get to.

Beautiful falls. Trail was good shape for healthy senior walking. Strenuous but not exhausting or…read moreunbearable. Everyone on trail & parking lot were polite & helpful

We enjoyed our hike - from car, to falls and back was a little over 3 miles. It is a great hike but…read morebring a walking stick to help navigate some of the rocky areas- you do cross a creek but the rocks were easy to cross without getting wet and were not slippery. On the way down you really tend to enjoy the views - because you aren't focused on getting to the end ;) my husband and I - are out of shape lol but it was not that bad of a hike - our daughter , who is an athlete had no issues - but there is a good 30 ye diff between us ha! I highly recommend spending a few hours enjoying nature ;)

Completely and utterly agree with Jamie S. Best park I've found in Asheville as of yet!…read moreWooden structures on small "islands" separated by shallow creeks flow through this gorgeous playground. We went on a family adventure to explore Black Mountain and saw this adorable playground. The boys begged to be let out of their seats (even if it was 50 out and melting snow on the ground) to go play. I'm so glad we found time because I will drive the 30 minutes to get to this park again. My toddler apparently loves slides because he went down the Tree House Island slide multiple times. Middle went down to the creek and found out how freezing cold winter creek water is. So many trees, beautiful structures, picnic tables, gazebo. Whoever designed this park is a genius. Even though there is a creek it is easy to keep new walkers away from the edges and occupied elsewhere (mine is so CLUMSY and gives me heart attacks often throughout the day) I cannot wait to visit here during the summer - best splash area ever - and maybe have a few birthday parties.

One of the larger parks in the area and quite fun for the kids, at least according to my 9, 6, and…read more2yr old. Spaced out with plenty of room to run, different playground sets for kids to run between, and even a creek running through the middle that the kids can safely play in!

It's a beautiful spot for swimming, or to launch your kayak from. Great for picnics and it's very…read moreeasy to access and handicap accessible. The con is the putrid smell from the unclean restrooms and the garbage is overflowing. I went up several times with my grandchildren and truly it was not kept up. Such a shame as it is a popular tourist and local destination.

Good place to visit!…read more Duke Energy worked with the city/state/County? to build this beach/Park. Nice parking spots on both sides of the road. Bathrooms located up in the parking area. A nice ramp down all the way to the water. Seriously, you could wheel a wheelchair all the way into the lake. The sand is very nice. And you can easily swim out to and hold onto the barriers. There's a dock off to one side where you can fish off of. We'll thought out and done pretty well. They even have donated life jackets for kids hanging here at the beach! My reasons for 4 instead of 5 stars: Dogs. The path down to the beach was littered with dog poop. On the path, on the side, everywhere! It was gross and unsanitary. Don't know if dogs are allowed on the beach, but they've turned the park area to crap. The beach is quite small. I do believe too small to support all the parking. The beach is very steep. I know it's the mountains, but if you're going to drain the lake and make a beach, a gentler slope to the beach for the little ones would've been preferable. A larger swim area. Some people just want to swim! Maybe another 10 feet out into the lake for swimming, not just waking.

I never met a waterfall that I didn't like. We did a driving tour along Little River in Great Smoky…read moreMountains National Park to see if we could spot some wildlife. The Sinks is a lovely waterfall along the river. There is a small parking lot with about a dozen spaces where we found parking. An observation area is a short walk from parking. A sign describes the area and that the falls were manmade. During the late 1800's the river was used to transport logs/timber to the nearby town of Elkmont. After a storm, flood waters caused a jam in the river. Dynamite was used to restore water flow. The blast resulted in a twist in the river and creation of the waterfall. A set of stone steps leads up a hill, offering lovey views of the falls. There are dozens of waterfalls in the Park. Sinks is one of the few that is drivable, which is great for people that cannot hike. I picked up a Waterfalls map at the visitor center that I found interesting and informative. Parking passes are required to park in the lot. There are no amenities at the falls. Plan 15-30 minutes for a stop and photos.

Was more than I thought. Great experience. Small parking area. A little hard to get out of but…read moreworth it.