Great Smoky Mountains National Park Active and Adventure Travel Guide

Above 4,500 feet, Smokies footpaths leave the hardwoods and tunnel-like rhododendron thickets and climb into fragrant Fraser fir and red spruce forests populated by juncos, boreal chickadees, red squirrels, and other creatures usually associated with the Canadian north woods. Higher still on some peaks are expansive heath meadows with great views known as balds, so named because pioneers periodically burned them to create grazing areas for cattle.
Fish for trout in the backcountry, a sublime sanctuary of overhanging birch, fir, maple, and chestnut trees, mossy boulders, dark-green pools, and shadowy, flitting quarry. For rainbows, strike out along Upper Abrams Creek; for browns, try Little River/Fish Camp Prong; for brookies, hike from Clingmans Dome to the headwaters of Hazel Creek.
The Smokies are home more than 1,500 species of blooming plants, more than any other national park. The blooming season ranges from late winter (hepaticas) to late autumn (goldenrod), and in the interim you'll see blooms of purple-and-white-crested dwarf irises, brilliantly red notch-petaled fire pinks, the Fraser magnolia tree's large creamy-white flowers, and blue phlox. Through most of the warmer months, the sheer profusion of blooming flowers, bushes, and trees boggles the mind and eye, and any tramp through the backcountry will be amid a blaze of color.
Backpacking is one of the best ways to see the Smokies' many faces. If you walk from low to high, you’ll enjoy much the same diversity of flora and fauna as a backpacker hiking the entire Appalachian Trail (AT) from Georgia to Maine. The AT is the master path of the park, offering stone camping shelters, spectacular scenery—and no solitude.
Ten campgrounds are distributed throughout the Smokies, and a few of them (Abrams Creek, Cosby, and Big Creek) allow for a car-camping experience that's worlds away from the stereotypical RV-park crowd scene.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

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 nine 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. Read More

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Where to go to play in snow? I want to take my children to the smoky mountains, just to play in snow! We live down south and we don't get any snow. We don't want to ski, just enjoy the cold and snow. Any ideas?
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IVE NEVER BEEN THERE? what are the names of the campgrounds that has vac. the9th through the approx. the13th? we want to come from the smokies and camp there(Desota state) on the way home, we are from boaz.We have camped there before and it is beautiful, with the trees and falls around.
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Great Smoky Mountains National Park Active and Adventure Travel Guide