The Great Smoky Mountains have been designated as “one of the world’s finest examples of temperate hardwood deciduous forest”. For those interested, they also apparently have “possibly the greatest variety of salamanders in the world” and are “a centre of endemism for N American molluscs”!! I am afraid we didn’t look for any examples of these “families” on either of our visits and, I suspect, neither have many of the people who visit the Park each year.

In reality the most amazing aspect of the “Smokies” is that it exists at all in such a relatively pristine state so close to the great cities of the eastern seaboard and southern states. It would be an interesting “trivia speculation” to consider which of the world’s UNESCO heritage sites receives the largest number of visitors (clearly this question can only apply to WHS with “entry rules” not to eg cities!). Apparently the Smokies has over 9 million pa – more than twice as many as the next most popular US park. And you will notice as you drive in/through on the relatively few roads! To pass through the “border towns” of Gatlinburg and Cherokee is to see what could have existed inside the park if there had been no restrictions on development. The nearby “Dollywood” theme park is billed as follows:-

“Unique as its namesake Dolly Parton, Dollywood is a one-of-a-kind Smoky Mountain Family Adventure! Spanning 125 acres and nestled in the lush foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, near Gatlinburg, Dollywood is one of the most popular family vacation destinations”.

And that is the problem with visiting the Smokies - wherever you go it is going to be very crowded. No doubt there are slack days but, in vacation season, it can be hell. The side trip along a loop road to the historic “log cabin” pioneer settlement of Cades Cove (Photo) can take hours to drive (it gets 2 million people a year). But it is a beautiful valley with lush pastures, dark green woods and rushing streams. Clingman’s Dome, at 6643ft the 2nd highest point in the eastern US, has an enormous car park and crowds walking the last half mile to the observation ramp (the Smokies are too far south to have a conventional “tree line” and, although there are some mountains called “Balds” topped by meadows most of the mountains are fully wooded - hence the ramp to get a view). No doubt it is possible to find quiet trails and to escape the crowds out of season but my visits have been in May/June when the area is popular for the Rhododendrons and both were pretty busy. By the way you can actually see the blue “haze” which gives the mountains their name – well I don’t think it was exhaust fumes anyway!