At 6643 feet, Clingmans Dome, now known by its Cherokee name, Kuwohi, is the highest point in the…read moreGreat Smoky Mountains National Park. My visit to Kuwohi was a highlight of my visit to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The drive up to the summit is breathtaking. There are several overlooks along the way to stop and enjoy the views. When we arrived, it was about 20 degrees colder than in Gatlinburg and it was very windy. Fortunately, we had dressed warm for the hike. The half mile trail is paved and accessible, however, the climb is straight up and was very difficult for some people. At the top of the trail we passed the Appalachian Trail. Then we found a fantastic Mid Century concrete spiral structure to climb. At the top, is an observation deck with placards describing the magnificent views of Tennessee and North Carolina. The modern observation deck was completed in 1960, replacing a wooden structure. Thomas Lanier Clingman was one of the early explorers that mapped the region in the 1850's. Kuwohi was (and still is) a sacred mountain of the Cherokee people. The mountain held Magic Lake that is believed to have healing powers for those who value the earth and its people. Parking permits are required to park in the large lot. Permits can be purchased on site for $5/day. Restroom facilities are available, but no running water. A nearby Visitors Center sells maps, shirts and other hiking gear. Kuwohi is a must visit on a trip to SMNP. Bring warm clothes (gloves, hat, etc). Cell tower reception is poor, so maps are helpful.

This stop has been on my list for awhile, and I'm not really sure how I hadn't made it yet…read moreconsidering the amount of times I've road tripped to the Smokies... but here we are! Got to see a bear on the way coming from Oconaluftee, which meant the day was perfect no matter what else happened. The weather was a little rainy, scattered storms here and there, and the cloud cover wasn't great for a great view from the overlook, but.... The parking lot view was still excellent, and the overlook itself was cool to see, and there was a Passport stamp station and Visitor Center, loads of camp style restrooms, with plenty of parking, so, absolutely worth the stop!

Cute little park to while away a part of your day. On the river. Awesome bamboo area.read more

We took the perfect afternoon splash in the icy cold river water at Oconaluftee Islands Park. With…read moreeasy access from downtown Cherokee, the park offers shady picnic spots, swimming, tubing, trout fishing, or the pleasant option of simply basking and splashing around with friends and family. It was so easy to get to the river. I even found a scrap of a blue crawdad. Easy parking in the lot or along the park.

This trail is one of the best of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park…read more I've been visiting every year since I was a child, and I tend to go back to this one again and again. The hike is an intermediate level trail, and it's extremely rocky so make sure to be prepared for steep downgrades and upgrades on jagged rocks. The first half of the trail is almost all downhill, and the second half all uphill, so save your energy stores for the way back. The middle of the trail has magical Sherwood Forest vibes, with lots of mossy rocks and trees. I recommend bringing a healthy snack and lots of water that you can enjoy when you get to the Bald viewpoint. The view won't be visible on a misty, overcast day, but it's still worth the adventure!

Andrews Bald Trail was one of the many, many hikes that we did during our week-long adventure in…read morethe fall in GSMNP. Sadly, we visited in an "off" year as the leaves usually change when we were there, but due to warmer weather, they were 1-2 weeks behind. Still, the park was beautiful. My partner suffered from a knee injury while hiking up to Mount LeConte so we opted for taking it easier our last day or two in the park. This trail is conveniently located right off of the Clingmans Dome and Visitor Center. We did the Dome trail (which is actually challenging given the incline) and then did this one to escape the crowds. It's a nice out-and-back trail where you travel mostly downhill out to Andrews Bald and then mostly back up on the way back to the parking lot (if that's where you're headed). The scenery is beautiful on the trail, although the Bald is the best spot to break, have lunch, take a nap, and just listen to the wind rustle through the weeds that surround you. It was great to take in the views and have lunch as well, although if you're crunched for time, I would recommend other trails throughout the park to get even better views of the mountains.

There are three waterfalls at deep Creek and you can access them all with a fairly easy hike. The…read moremost difficult part is in the beginning when you go from the parking lot towards Juney Whank Falls. It's steep, probably a five out of 10 in difficulty but once you get past that, it's mostly easy terrain. If you've ever gone tubing on deep creek, Tom Branch Falls are the one you pass by while in the water. There are a couple benches there where you can sit and relax and look at the falls.

Beautiful place to enjoy the views and get some exercise. We were amazed at all the butterflies…read moreflying around, gorgeous!

Great Smokey Mountains National Park is bigger than we expected! So much to take in and we only had…read moreso much time. We did go to the visitor center and get a map. It was a good visitor center and had some cool merch and friendly rangers with good advice. We hiked a bit, saw many mushrooms, squirrels, birds and snakes. We did not see bears but we heard there are there. Highly recommend and can't hardly wait to check it out again with more time.

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.

Kids have been coming here for years. It's a fun place. Huge wooden play place with balance beams…read moreand monkey bars and such. Swings, tire swings, a basketball court. The volleyball court is in disrepair though. And sadly the paper mill up the road makes the air smell bad depending on which way the wind blows. But we've enjoyed it quite a bit for half a decade or more.

this park was so cute and completely fenced in which is amazing! it was a little busy but was big…read moreenough that it wasn't a big deal. there are bathrooms and a pavilion with picnic tables as well as a sand pit and basketball court. my daughters loved the wooden structures!

We don't come from PF to Gatlinburg without stopping at this park. It's excellent for our toddler…read moreto burn off energy before a car-nap or to move around a bit, especially if we've been in the car a while. We watched them build it for a while, even witnessed an Eagle a few years back in this same area, and were so glad once it was finally finished and open. They have nice bathrooms, a fishing access area, and a fence around this play area-which I really appreciate! Highly recommend stopping by if you have a kid and need to let them run and play a bit or if you're looking for something free to do. Also, be sure to walk down and look at the trout in the area near the restrooms.

Cute park located in downtown Gatlinburg--perfect for parents with kids who need to release some…read moreendless energy. I really liked that it had easy parking and was surrounded by a fence to keep kids inside. Restrooms are also located here.

Hello, I hope that this will be taken seriously, in hopes that this never happens to anyone else…read more Since Helene destroyed our local Canton park we wanted to give the Waynesville Recreation pool. I called the day prior to get all the information I could gather, checked the website since we have not been in over a decade. The receptionist gave me all the information, dates, times, pricing, and and temperature of the pool. I asked if there was still a kiddy pool working with buckets, slides, splash area etc. and I was told yes. The next day we were very excited and happily payed our fee to enter.As we walked passed the 1st life guard posted at the shallow end of the deep pool we smiled and found a spot near the slide as we knew that was what our son was going to be the most excited about. We got our son in his swim vest for safety and goggles and off he went down the slide. All of a sudden I see a young blonde lifeguard running around the Side of the slide saying "NO NO NO!". My husband and I smiled and said "Its ok we are right here and he's safe (Thinking she was worried he was alone since we didn't even see her from where she was sitting)". My son was already coming down the slide when she was yelling at him, (He's autistic and doesn't always understand things or respond to others well). He made it down no problem and was swimming to get out when she said "we do not allow swim vest or life jackets on the slide!" I asked "why?" And she responded with "because of the bolts on the slide they can get hung up and get hurt." I Replied " so there are bolts sticking out on a toddlers waterslide? I think you should be more concerned with that cutting and hurting someone if thats the case, not be concerned with a protective swimming vest." She replied "Well he's to small to ride" I was confused since I called asked and check the website and the slide is on the kiddie pool. I said "ok" as my husband is trying to regulate our son and explain things to him but he just wants to slide. By this point there are only 2 life guards for both pools and my son won't stop trying to slide. I carry him over to her hoping if he hears it from someone else that he's not allowed it will help. It did not! I then am very upset that was the whole reason for coming and anyone with autistic children or any kids understand if you tell them something fun your going to do but then have to tell them they can not its never fun. I ask the girl if I can sign a waiver or anything to allow him to slide, she says"no" I ask can he take of his vest and slide and ill be at the bottom to help catch him if he needs it ( He's a very good swimmer for his age) to which she responded "parents are not allowed to stand at the bottom and help there child". I was blown away buy this since we have been going to canton pool, and Dollywood splash country where kids can wear the life jackets, swim vest, or floats on any slide and parents were always at the bottom to help catch them as well since its all about safety when around water! Well, expect here at Waynesville rec. center. I was upset by this point and asked her what and where are these rules since I was not informed.?" She says "its on the back of the slide". Again I was upset and said " well that a horrible place for rules against a back wall on a slide that not every sees until your back here, also I was not told this and just so you know for the future maybe you all could post your rules on the website and tell them when they call so this doesn't happen to other special needs family and regular families to! I could tell she was uncomfortable so I simply asked what would happen if he did go down the slide (as he can be a runner)? She said " I would ask you to leave" I said "ok" and walked away. So for reference and refresh you can call and check the website where these rules are NOT posted or come in pay inside change enter at the opposite side of the pool area walk always to the back wall behind the side, and on the back said you see this weird outdated slide rules. By this time I was wondering why no one was on the slide and its because you have to be 48 inch tall but not over a certain weight, no parents are allowed on the slide, parents cannot catch kids at the bottom, and no life jackets or vest are allowed. These rules do the opposite of keeping kids in the kiddie pool safe. And again you can go to canton pool, Dollywood splash country or many other water parks or pools and they encourage you to put vests on your child and stay close to your child in water. By this point there are a good amount of ;little kids in the kiddie pool I would say about 10 to 15 and more kids in the bigger pool about 10 as well and only 2 life guards. I'm sorry but I'm not going to rely on a lifeguard to see everything in a pool. But none the less we kept trying to explain it to our son and play in the kiddie pool and enjoy the best we can. Our son was having a melt down and other parents in the pool understood what was happe

We just moved to the area and took a tour of the recreation center here. We will be joining the gym…read moreafter Covid issues get better. They have the main staples of indoor pool, workout equipment, racket ball courts. It clean and people are very friendly. We use the outdoor grounds a lot. Our main use is the dog park. There is a small dog park and a large dog park. We are in the small dog area. The disc golf court runs past the dog areas which is cool. There is a great skateboard park that lots of young people use, even on bikes. Lots of paved pathways. I love that the pathways attract older and young people. And, the path runs alongside The bold creek. It is more like a small river. It is filled with trout should you want to fish. Definitely a major asset to our town!

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.