We just got back from a week-long road trip that included a day traveling through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Located on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina, the park consists of over 522,000 acres and some of the most scenic views in the eastern United States.
Our trip through the park followed the path of US Route 441 between Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Cherokee, North Carolina. (There’s also a faster, less scenic route a few miles northeast on I-40, between Knoxville and Asheville.) Starting on the Tennessee side the road is frequently parallel to a scenic creek with occasional “pull-offs” where you can bask in the beauty of nature. It’s a winding two-land road most of the way, with a speed limit designed more for safety and visual enjoyment than speed.
The high point of the voyage – both literally and figuratively – is just over the North Carolina border, where you can take the 7-mile drive to Clingman’s Dome, the highest point in the Smokies. Unlike most major mountains in the western United States, you can drive to within a half-mile of the top. After a fitness-testing uphill half-mile walk you’ll reach the 50-foot tall observation tower. If the conditions are right, you can see well into North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia from the top.
The trip down the North Carolina side of the mountains is significantly steeper – be prepared to downshift or, at least, spend some time with your foot on the brakes. If you don’t go flying past them, you’ll find some of the best scenic stopping points on this downhill part of the trip. You’ll exit the national park as you enter Cherokee, North Carolina.
Cherokee is the home of the headquarters of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The Cherokees have benefited greatly from the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, first to offer big-money bingo then expanding to a full-scale casino in Cherokee. And we can honestly say that, working the the Caesars Palace folks, they’ve created the prettiest casino we’ve seen. The casino and adjacent hotel towers of Harrah’s Cherokee are on opposite sides of a whitewater creek. The buildings were created using thousands of tons of rock, wood and glass to create a slick modern design that fits very well with the surrounding area. It’s a big casino, be prepared to walk.
If you’re anywhere near the area, a visit to Great Smoky Mountains National Park is well worth a side trip. Not surprisingly, the largest crowds show up when the leaves of millions of trees change colors in the fall. Combined with the adjacent Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest, Cherokee National Forest, Pisgah National Forest and Nantahala National Forest, there are over 3 million tree-filled acres in the region.
