Great Smoky Mountains

April 7th - April 28th, 2024

Land of the Blue Smoke

Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited national park in the USA. The Cherokee called this area “Land of the Blue Smoke” for it’s iconic blue fog that blankets the mountains. We loved how green the mountains where here, which is different than what we’re used to in the west.

We stayed in Gatlinburg while we were here which is only a 10 minute drive from the national park. The city of Gatlinburg itself is pretty crowded and touristy, but we loved it’s proximity to the park. Also nearby is Dollywood, Ijams Nature Center and Lost Sea Caverns.

Great Smoky Mountains NP

We did plenty of hikes inside the park that we loved. Some of our favorites were Peregrine Peak, Rainbow Falls, Clingman's Dome (the Tennessee highpoint), Cade's Cove Loop, Laurel Falls and Chimney Tops.

The view from near the top of Peregrine Peak, overlooking the smoky mountains.

View from the Peregrine Peak trail.

Interesting features along the Peregrine Peak trail.

Creek along the Peregrine Peak trail.

Hiking the Peregrine Peak hike in the early cold morning.

Cave feature along the Peregrine Peak trail.

Near the top of the Peregrine Peak trail.

Rainbow Falls, Great Smoky Mountains NP.

Rainbow Falls trail, Great Smoky Mountains NP.

Rainbow Falls, Great Smoky Mountains NP.

Rainbow Falls trail, Great Smoky Mountains NP.

The tower at Clingman's Dome, highest point in Tennessee.

The view from the top of Clingman's Dome.

The tower at Clingman's Dome, highest point in Tennessee.

Laurel Falls, a short and sweet hike in Great Smoky Mountain Mountains NP.

Chapels and graveyards along the Cade's Cove loop in Great Smoky Mountains NP.

Cade's Cove, Great Smoky Mountains NP.

Cable Mill in the Cade's Cove loop.

The waterfall at the end of the Spruce Flats trail.

A chapel along the Cade's Cove loop.

There are a lot of old structures to explore along the Cade's Cove loop.

Cataract Falls in Great Smoky Mountains NP.

The Chimney Tops trail, Great Smoky Mountains NP.

The view from the Chimney Tops trail.

Stream along the Chimney Tops trail.

Soco Falls on the east side of the smokies.

The Mingus Falls trail on the east side of the smokies.

Mingo Falls on the east side of the smokies.

Mingus Mill, on the east side of Great Smoky Mountains NP.

Anakeesta

Anakeesta is an adventure park in Gatlinburg that you ride a gondola to get to. On top they have treetop skywalks, overlook towers, mountain coasters and more. We had a really fun time playing around here and watching the sunset on the top of the tower.

Riding the gondola up to Anakeesta adventure park.

The views from the overlook tower at Anakeesta.

The views from the overlook tower at Anakeesta. Our Airbnb is near the large hotel on the left side of the picture.

The views from the overlook tower at Anakeesta.

The treetop skywalk at Anakeesta.

Taking in the views along the treetop skywalk.

Anakeesta

The treetop skywalk at Anakeesta.

There were fun adult (okay, semi-adult) slides to ride at Anakeesta.

The BirdVenture at Anakeesta, which was actually really fun to play around in.

Views from Anakeesta.

The views from the overlook tower at Anakeesta at sunset.

Fun obstacle courses to play on at Anakeesta.

Riding the Gondola back down to Gatlinburg after the sun had set.

Gatlinburg Skybridge

The Gatlinburg Skybridge is another gondola in Gatlinburg that has a suspension bridge at the top. It provided great views of the town and the gondola is fun to ride.

The gondola up to the Gatlinburg Skybridge.

Views from the tower at the Gondola Skybridge.

The Gatlinburg Skybridge.

The Gatlinburg Skybridge as seen from the tower behind it.

The view of Gatlinburg from the Gatlinburg Skybridge.

The Gatlinburg Skybridge.

Tuckaleechee Caverns

Tuckaleechee Caverns is an awesome cave in the smokies known as "the greatest site under the smokies". It featured an underground river that flowed throughout the cave tour.

The waterfall at Tuckaleechee Caverns.

Tuckaleechee Caverns

The underground river at Tuckaleechee Caverns.

Formations at Tuckaleechee Caverns.

The big room at Tuckaleechee Caverns.

Tuckaleechee Caverns.

Ijams Nature Center

Ijams is a nature center near Knoxville, TN. It has a fantastic climbing crag inside of it that we visited and tackled all the noob routes. There's also a fun lake there and a lot of good hikes.

Hanging at the Ijams crag.

There was a cute adventure cat at the Ijams nature crag that belonged to one of the climbers.

Climbing at the Ijams Nature Center crag.

Hanging at the Ijams Nature center crag.

The Ijams Nature Center lake, which was full of University of Tennessee students so we felt a little out of place.

Mead's Quary at Ijams Nature Center.

Gatlinburg

Our Airbnb was located in Gatlinburg, which wasn't our favorite due to it's overcrowded tourism, but there were a few really fun things about it. Our Airbnb was nestled in the mountains and it was fun to be so immersed and nearby the national park. Dollywood (Dolly Parton's theme park) is also nearby which was a blast.