12 STOPS 3 DAYS in GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK | Smoky Mountains | Clingmans Dome

there is so much to see at great smoky mountains national park these are the 12 stops we made in just three days i'll let you know which of these were in our top five and then check in the description below i'll put the links to the individual videos for the hikes and the waterfalls [Music] we are sharing these stops in the order that we saw them so they're not ranked in any kind of way but just outside the southern entrance is mingo falls and this is an absolute must do waterfall 120 feet tall it's a 0.4 mile trail but there is a lot of stairs up to it but it's absolutely stunning we always recommend you stop at a visitor center on the way into any national park and we stopped at the southern entrance to great smoky mountains national park there is a lot to do and see here often right there on the grounds there are elk present especially very early in the morning they actually have signage that they limit how much you can explore around there when the elk are present but the streams out behind there are beautiful there's a small hiking trail that's worth taking in but if you just stop for an hour you can see so much and then you'll have your hiking maps and everything you'll need to maximize your trip [Music] [Music] [Music] after skipping a few stones right there on the river we headed on over to our next stop which was mingus mill and this is definitely worth putting about a 30 to 45 minute stop in the mill was built in 1886 and they usually have a miller right on site to demonstrate how it was operated back then [Music] our next stop was the newfound gap where the states of tennessee and north carolina come together there's beautiful trails right here and the vistas from the parking area are just gorgeous and i would also point out right here that there are plenty of places on this drive up that you want to stop and just take in these views and they'll have plenty of pull out areas for you to do just that [Music] our next stop was laurel falls this is a beautiful waterfall one of the most popular trails at the park because it's so close to gatlinburg maybe just a 15-minute drive away from gatlinburg try to do this trail early if you can [Music] we have seven more stops to show you and within these seven you will see our top five one of those is right here cades cove probably the most popular stop in the park itself i would say give yourself enough time on your trip to do it more than once that's what we did we hit it in the evening once and one in the early morning once and that's how we ended up seeing the most wildlife but this is just a beautiful beautiful trail and lots to see and do and explore here [Music] [Music] it is hard to see everything there is to see there at cades cove but we do recommend stopping along the way and just trying to check out some of these earlier settlements the cabins there are beautiful and definitely worth taking in [Music] one of the stops that we really enjoyed was a place called the sinks it was right off of the main highway just between the towns of townsend and gatlinburg and that section of the national park but the waterfall was beautiful there and we found this to be the perfect point to stop and do a lunch slash snack break these last five stops would all be in our top five so we highly recommend every one of them starting with klingman's dome and it looks like an easy trail right 0.5 miles but this is a very steep trail up to the top so just keep that in mind i would say it was pretty strenuous actually and then at the top i would say it's very windy so just keep that in mind it surprised us a little bit we'll try to help you capture that you'll also see the signage right here for the appalachian trail so it's kind of fun to walk out there and just be a part of that trail for just a few but this is absolutely something you need to take in on your trip to great smoky mountains national park [Music] [Music] to [Music] justice the appalachian trail stretches from georgia all the way to maine and it was pretty cool to learn that right here at clingman's dome this is the highest point on the appalachian trail so really neat well our next stop was grotto falls this was a beautiful waterfall but an excellent hiking trip and this was an excellent opportunity to see bears wait till you see this one [Music] my [Music] while we did spend almost all of our time in the national park we definitely recommend just going in at least for an afternoon to gatlinburg to check out the sky bridge this is the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in north america it's 680 feet long it's 150 feet off the ground and these are just the most amazing views of the town of gatlinburg that you can take in [Music] oh the swaying on that sky bridge was just a little bit more than we expected and it made it uh a bit scarier than we thought it would be the next stop on our trip was the roaring fork motor nature trail and this was awesome the drive alone is the treat there are plenty of places to pull over and explore and we'll show you that here but the drive is one of the most scenic that we saw in all of great smoky mountains national park [Music] [Music] so [Music] it was pretty cool to see a cave that you could climb up into there right off the roaring fork motor nature trail we enjoyed this trail so much we did it twice and if i didn't mention it is a one-way trail and it's just a loop that takes you around and so it's easy to hit a couple times if you want to next on our list was spruce flats falls and this was the most beautiful waterfall within the national park that we saw and we really enjoyed it [Music] this looks a little trickier than you would think way cool [Music] [Music] i'll mention again that we have full length videos of all of the hikes and waterfalls that we saw there at great smoky mountains national park and we will put those links down in the description for you to check out well our last stop at great smoky mountains national park was our favorite it was the alum cave trail and it was just beautiful it was the best hike we did with the most views and the payoff at the top at alum cave [Music] spectacular [Music] oh the trick is coming down this thing it's so steep oh it's amazing [Music] it is really hard to see everything there is to see in one trip to great smoky mountains national park but if you have any questions about your planning that we might be able to help you with please leave those in the comments down below and if this video was helpful to you please give us a thumbs up and let us know that you enjoyed it and more importantly we would love it if you subscribe to our channel and came along with us on all of these adventures and until next time get out there and camp travel and explore [Music]

Channel: CampTravelExplore

Views: 108,898

Rating: 4.9623723 out of 5

Keywords: great smoky mountains national park, things to see at great smoky mountains national park, best of great smoky mountains national park, best of the smoky mountains, best places at great smoky mountains national park, smoky mountains, clingmans dome, great smoky mountains, smoky mountains national park, smokey mountains, smokies, things to do in great smoky mountains, great smokey mountains, smoky mountain national park, great smoky mountains national park hiking, alum cave trail

Id: 4aLzFMVGzYI

Length: 16min 41sec (1001 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 27 2021