This fall, I had the chance to go visit the Great Smoky Mountains and the nearby National Park with a few friends. The Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are also a part of the Appalachian Mountains, the oldest mountain range in the world!
The primary motivation for planning the trip was to see the beautiful fall colours that can be seen in the National Park in October and do some hiking as well. Another reason was to try the scenic drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway!
Overall, I had a great experience and loved the fall colours on display throughout the area. Our hike offered great views of the mountains and the surrounding landscape. The drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway was breathtaking, as we were driving under the cover of beautifully coloured trees with many viewpoints. We couldn't spend much time on Blue Ridge Parkway, but it was so good that I wished to return and spend some more time in the area. Here's how I planned the trip:
Day 0: Arrival in Atlanta
We decided to reach Atlanta late in the evening to rest well before leaving for the park in the morning the next day. We also arrived on a Saturday, towards the end of October, to time our visit perfectly. The park is the most visited national park in the US, and it gets pretty crowded during the weekends in October. To avoid crowds and use the weekend, we decided to reach the park by Sunday and do weekday activities.
Day 1: Drive towards Great Smoky National Park (4-5 hr drive).
We left for the park in the morning. The drive was smooth and pretty. We could already see some fall colours on trees and were excited to see more in a few hours.
We reached Cherokee in the afternoon and checked in to our Airbnb before leaving for the park. The NP is next to Cherokee, and it takes 20-30 minutes to get inside the park. We decided to go to the visitor's centre and do the small hike at Clingsman Dome on our first day.
Clingmans Dome is the highest point in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It offers spectacular 360° views of the Smokies and beyond for visitors who can walk half a mile to the top tower. We had reached the trailhead in the evening, just in time to catch the sunset, and fortunately found a parking spot as well. It was an easy hike to the top, and we could get an excellent panoramic view of the Smokies.
Day 2: Mount LeConte Hike
For day 2, we had planned to hike to the top of Mt. LeConte. At 6,593 ft, it is the third highest peak in the national park, behind Clingmans Dome and Mount Guyot. There are multiple trails to reach the top. We had decided to take the Boulevard Trail on the way up (8.1 miles from Newfound Gap to lodge) and Alum Cave Trail (5.1 miles from Lodge to Trailhead) on the way down. The reason for doing this was that the Alum Cave Trailhead parking got filled up very early in the morning, and we would have to go really early in the morning to find a parking spot. Another reason was that the Boulevard trail was less steep and offered more panoramic views along the way than the Alum Cave trail. But since the boulevard trail is long, we decided to go down through the Alum Cave trail. We had asked one of the rangers at the park about our plan, and they told us that many hikers take the same route and hitchhike back from the Alum Cave trail to the Newfound Gap parking lot. However, in hindsight, the whole plan might be too risky. There's no network coverage in the area, and it took us quite some time to find someone who agreed to take us back to the Newfound Gap parking lot. But overall, it was still a fantastic experience since we could do both the trails and see the beautiful views.
Day 3: Andres's Bald Hike
After a very tiring day 2, we decided to keep it lighter on day 3. We started the day by visiting the Museum of the Cherokee People to learn the history of the area and the native americans who lived there. Afterwards, we went to the Sugarland Visitor Centre to get more gifts and had lunch in Gatlinburg. Finally, we returned to Clingsman Dome trailhead to hike to Andrew's Bald and see the sunset later in the evening. This hike was 3.6 miles long and offered great panoramic views of the smokies and the surrounding highlands.
Day 4: Blue Ridge Parkway and Drive Back to Atlanta
For the final day, we had planned to do a part of the scenic drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway and then leave for Atlanta to catch our flight back to Austin. We left early in the morning to see the sunrise at one of the viewpoints on Blue Ridge Parkway. We went to the Waterrock Knob viewpoint and hiked for a mile to get to the top to see the sunrise. The view was excellent, and the whole experience of running to catch the light was enthralling! Afterwards, we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway until it was time to leave and return to Atlanta. I didn't want to leave Blue Ridge Parkway and wanted to spend more time there because it was so beautiful. However, one of my friends had to catch a flight earlier than the rest of us, and we could only partially enjoy the Blue Ridge Parkway. But I promised myself to return and spend some more time here.
ROUTE
At the beginning - https://goo.gl/maps/6TzTYxDgPZ7n2y1h6
On the way back - https://goo.gl/maps/8ASBwtdXBqqkRcXz7
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