Great Smoky Mountains National Park sits astride the Tennessee–North Carolina border amid the majestic southern climax of the Appalachian Highlands. The most visited of our national parks draws more than 9 million adventurers and sightseers each year. And for good reason — the Smokies are within a day's drive of a third of the U.S. population, and very few places in the East are in their league as an outdoor-recreation destination.

The Great Smoky Mountains

Worm your way into these rugged, convoluted mountains and you'll find 900 miles of superlative trails, tracts of old-growth forest, views of undulating mountain ridges draped in hazy-blue, "smoky" tendrils of fog, and vivid reminders of the folkways of the Appalachians' early pioneers.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park protects one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, a place that supports more than 4,000 species of plants, 130 trees, 65 mammals, 230 birds, and more species of salamanders than are found anywhere else on earth.

Congress established the park in 1934, and its importance is now recognized around the world as an International Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site.

Johnny Molloy is the author of GORP's introduction and activity picks to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A Tennessean and author of a dozen books and numerous articles, Johnny spends over 100 nights in the wild each year, backpacking and canoe camping around the United States and abroad.