¿Lees Español? Bilingual Storybook Trails have arrived in the Smokies for the summer

The Storybook Trail of the Smokies is back, and this year, the popular self-guided outdoor education series is bringing both English and Spanish reading opportunities to new trails in the park and beyond. Great Smoky Mountains Association recently partnered with the City of Gatlinburg, the Sevier County School System, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park […]

Trailside Talk: The perfect Smokies day

Get ready, Cades Cove! On the alert, Laurel Falls! Look out, Alum Cave! Sugarlands, here they come!  Over the next several months, the Great Smokies face the year’s biggest season of visitation as schools dismiss students for the summer and hundreds of thousands of workers target mountain trips for their annual vacations. From one-day picnics […]

Trailside Talk: Appreciating the Gateways to the Smokies

It often seems that every community within 100 miles of Great Smoky Mountains National Park wants to be known as the “Gateway to the Smokies.” This is not surprising. Claiming an attachment to the country’s most-visited national park has obvious positives. Make a ring around the park boundary, and the map presents Maggie Valley, Waynesville, […]