Adventure Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains, 2nd Edition (Hunter Travel Guides)

344 Pages·2001·3.5 MB·English

dventure Guide to the
Great Smoky
Mountains
2nd Edition
Blair Howard
HUNTER
HUNTER PUBLISHING, INC.
130 Campus Drive
Edison, NJ 08818-7816
% 732-225-1900 / 800-255-0343 / fax [phone]
Web site: www.hunterpublishing.com
E-mail:
Contents
Introduction 1
The Nature Of Adventure 2
Geography 3
Flora & Fauna 6
The People 12
History 13
Climate 15
Basics 17
Getting Around 17
Safety 21
Adventures 27
Camping 27
Caving 32
Fall Color 33
Spring Wildflowers 34
Snow Skiing 34
Hiking 34
Mountain Biking 37
Bird Watching 38
Hunting 38
Horseback Riding 38
Rock Climbing 40
Gliding 40
Watersports 41
Shoping 4
Antiquing 45
Craft Hunting 45
Southeastern Tennessee 45
History 45
Sightseeing 47
Chattanooga 47
Ocoee 59
Fort Loudoun State Historic Park 60
The Lost Sea 60
Red Clay State Historic Area 61
Adventures 62
Boating 62
Canoeing Trails 65
Camping 67
Fall & Spring Colors, Scenic Drives 67
Fishing 69
Hang-Gliding 73
Hiking 74
Whitewater Sports 83
iv n Contents
Shopping 84
Chattanooga 84
Cleveland 85
Upper East Tennessee 87
Getting Around 87
Sightseeing 87
Cherokee National Forest 87
Elizabethton 89
Erwin 90
Gatlinburg 91
Great Smoky Mountains National Park 93
Greeneville 103
Jonesborough 105
Knoxville 105
Morristown 107
Rugby 109
Sevierville 109
Townsend 110
Tri-Cities 111
Roan Mountain 116
Adventures 117
Antiquing 117
Boating & Canoeing 117
Camping 119
Craft Hunting 120
Fishing 121
Hiking 125
Off-Road Riding 134
Snow Skiing 135
Northwestern North Carolina 137
History 137
Getting Here 138
Getting Around 139
Sightseeing 139
Asheville 139
Black Mountain 143
Blowing Rock 144
Blue Ridge Parkway 145
Boone 150
Hot Springs 151
Jefferson 152
Linville 153
Linville Falls 154
Marshall 155
Pisgah National Forest 155
Sparta 157
Spruce Pine 158
Adventures 158
Pisgah National Forest 158
Boating & Canoeing 162
Craft Hunting & Fairs 165
Contents n v
Fishing 167
Rock Climbing 168
Hiking 169
Mountain Biking 172
Horseback Riding 174
Llama Trekking 178
Snow Skiing 179
Shopping 182
Southwestern North Carolina 187
History 187
Getting Here 189
Getting Around 190
Sightseeing 190
Brevard 190
Bryson City 192
Cherokee 193
Cullowhee 196
Flat Rock 197
Fontana Dam & Fontana Village Resort 198
Franklin 198
Wayah Bald 202
Hendersonville 202
Highlands 203
Murphy 204
Nantahala National Forest 206
Adventures 215
Boating 215
Camping 217
Craft Hunting & Fairs 218
Fishing 219
Rock Climbing 220
Hiking 220
Snow Skiing 226
Whitewater Rafting 227
Shopping 227
Brevard 228
Dillsboro 228
Hendersonville 229
Highlands 230
Waynesville 230
Northern Georgia 233
Getting Here 234
Sightseeing 236
Amicalola Falls State Park 236
Black Rock Mountain State Park 237
Blue Ridge 238
Cloudland Canyon State Park 238
Chattahoochee National Forest 239
Chief Vann House State Historic Site 250
Dahlonega Gold Museum & Historic Site 250
Fort Mountain State Park 251
vi n Contents
Hart State Park 252
Helen 253
James H. “Sloppy” Floyd State Park 253
Lake Chatuge 254
Moccasin Creek State Park 254
New Echota State Historic Site 255
Rabun Gap 256
Red Top Mountain State Park 256
Tallulah Falls & Gorge 257
Traveler’s Rest State Historic Site 258
Tugaloo State Park 258
Unicoi State Park 259
Victoria Bryant State Park 259
Vogel State Park 260
Adventures 261
Boating 261
Camping 263
Canoeing 263
Craft Hunting & Fairs 264
Fishing 266
Hiking 269
Shopping 274
Camping Directory 275
Wilderness Camping 275
State Park Camping 292
Commercial Camping 305
Accommodations Directory 321
Southeastern Tennessee 321
Upper East Tennessee 322
Northwestern North Carolina 323
Southwestern North Carolina 324
Northern Georgia 325
Information Directory 327
Fish & Wildlife Agencies 327
Blue Ridge Parkway 327
Fishing 327
Great Smoky Mountains National Park 328
Cherokee National Forest 328
Pisgah National Forest 329
Nantahala National Forest 329
Chattahoochee National Forest 330
Rivers & Lakes 331
Whitewater Outfitters & Adventures 331
Contents n vii
Maps
Great Smoky Mountains 19
Southeastern Tennessee 46
Lookout Mountain 51
Upper East Tennessee 86
Great Smoky Mountains National Park 94
Northwestern North Carolina 136
Pisgah National Forest 156
Southwestern North Carolina 186
Nantahala National Forest 207
Mountain Waters Scenic Byway 209
Northern Georgia 232
Introduction
ention the Great Smoky Mountains to most people and they
Mimmediately think of the Great Smoky Mountains National
Park. And so they should, for each year more than nine million
people make it the most visited national park in the United
States. But the park is not the be all and end all of the Smokies. In
fact, it’s just a small part of the whole.
The Smokies, for the purposes of this book, encompass an area
that runs from the Virginia state line, straddling the Tennessee/
North Carolina border, all the way down into northern Georgia.
Along the way they embrace the great Nantahala, Pisgah, Chero-
kee and Chattahoochee national forests – four vast outdoor tracts
of wilderness.
Although civilization came here in colonial times, the area is, for
the most part, still a very primitive domain that hasn’t kept pace
with the outside world. Great pockets of unspoiled wilderness ex-
ist within the Smokies; some areas still don’t have electricity, and
there are places where the locals are downright suspicious of
strangers. Many people here live out their lives much as their an-
cestors did almost 100 years ago.
A visit to the national park will take you to the famous mountain
city of Gatlinburg, to Dollywood and Pigeon Forge, but the land
where Davy Crockett was born and raised has much more to offer.
Over a dozen ski resorts are tucked away among the hills and val-
leys; there are plenty of unspoiled fishing spots and hundreds of
backcountry camping grounds offer thousands of sites, from prim-
itive to full-service. Then there are the tiny towns, some no more
than a couple of clapboard shacks and a country store; towns like
Tellico Plains, Sylva, Highlands, Sweetgum and Rainbow
Springs. A network of backcountry roads, narrow and winding,
join one small woodland colony to the next. Hundreds of miles of
narrow trails, pathways and bridleways interlace the forest and
criss-cross one another in a bewildering spider’s web of footpaths.
It’s an area where careless travelers can get easily get lost, and
stay lost for days on end.
The Great Smoky Mountains are also home to a diverse assort-
ment of wildlife. Black bear, white-tailed deer and wild boar roam
Introduction
2 n Introduction
free; wild turkeys, eliminated from eastern Tennessee by genera-
tions of hunters, have returned to the Cherokee National Forest.
And each year in the fall, the great hardwood forests provide visi-
tors with spectacular displays of color.
The Smoky Mountains represent one of the last real opportunities
for great adventure in the southeastern United States.
n The Nature Of Adventure
Adventure means different things to different people.
To some it means the far-off jungles of Africa, the snows
of Antarctica, or the peaks of the mighty Himalayas. To
others it means beachcombing, hiking or horseback rid-
ing. Adventure in the Smokies means an excursion into the great
outdoors – hiking, rock climbing, snow skiing, fishing, hunting,
and boating. The Adventure Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains
covers all those activities and more. It takes you to the historic
sites in the area, and to the hundreds of antique stores, gift shops
and craft fairs. It covers fine dining and luxury hotels, and details
afternoon drives on country roads.
We have taken three separate approaches to the order of this book.
First, each type of adventure is briefly covered on pages 27 to 43.
There, you will find out what’s available and where.
Second, each geographical region is described in depth, along with
a detailed report of attractions and adventures within that partic-
ular region.
Lastly, we have included three separate directories at the back of
the book – one for camping, one for accommodations, and one for
information services. The listings in the camping and accommoda-
tions directories are not recommendations, but they do include
short descriptions of the facilities.
So, if you want to spend a few days snow skiing, you’ll turn to that
particular activity on page 34, and there you’ll find that snow ski-
ing is available in upper eastern Tennessee and upper western
North Carolina. From there, it’s simply a matter of turning the
pages to your region of choice where you’ll find a list of resorts and
all the information you’ll need to make an educated choice.