Grotto Falls, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Tennessee, USA: Appalachian Mountains

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Right: A pleasant trail of 2.6 miles round trip takes hikers to and behind Grotto Falls (click to see more), from the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail on the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, at Gatlinburg.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

This page shows images from the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which also spans into North Carolina (click to see more), in southeastern USA. The Great Smokies are part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are part of the larger Appalachians (see map).

Just west of Sugarlands Visitor Center, Little River Road provides pretty views of mountains and fall leaf colors on the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Clingmans Dome


A popular observation tower on Clingman's Dome gives a panoramic view of Great Smoky Mountains National Park of Tennessee and North Carolina, in southeastern USA. Clingmans Dome (6,643 feet or 2,025 meters elevation) is the highest mountain in the Great Smokies, the highest in Tennessee, the highest along the 2,174-mile (3,499 km) Appalachian Trail, and the third-highest mountain in the Appalachian range. A paved road connects it to U.S. Highway 441 (Newfound Gap Road). The summit is coated by a Spruce-fir (or "boreal") forest, common in northern latitudes, but found only in the highest elevations in the southeastern United States. Clingmans Dome, like most of the Great Smokies, consists of a type of lightly metamorphosed sedimentary rock (especially sandstone) that is part of the Ocoee Supergroup formation, created from ancient ocean sediments nearly one billion years ago. The Smoky Mountains are among the oldest in the world, lifted approximately 200-300 million years ago in the Alleghenian orogeny.

Left: A few miles south of Sugarlands Visitor Center, the Newfound Gap Road winds through tunnels of poplar trees turned bright yellow in autumn.
Below: The Great Smoky Mountains recede into the distance beyond the tree snags on Clingman's Dome.


Left: A 1 mile round trip walk takes you to observation tower on Clingman's Dome at 6,643 feet or 2,025 meters elevation, the highest point on the 2,174-mile (3,499 km) Appalachian Trail. Clingmans Dome, the third-highest mountain in the Appalachian range, gives an expansive view of Great Smoky Mountains National Park of Tennessee and North Carolina. The paved Clingmans Dome Road connects to U.S. Highway 441 (Newfound Gap Road). The summit is coated by a Spruce-fir (or "boreal") forest, common in northern latitudes, but found only in the highest elevations in the southeastern United States.

Below: Visitors ascend the ramp to the Clingman's Dome observation tower.


The popular observation tower on Clingman's Dome gives a panoramic view of Great Smoky Mountains National Park of Tennessee and North Carolina, in southeastern USA. (Panorama stitched from 9 images.) Clingmans Dome (6,643 feet or 2,025 meters elevation) is the highest mountain in the Great Smokies, the highest in Tennessee, the highest along the 2,174-mile (3,499 km) Appalachian Trail, and the third-highest mountain in the Appalachians. A paved road connects it to U.S. Highway 441 (Newfound Gap Road). The summit is coated by a Spruce-fir (or "boreal") forest, common in northern latitudes, but found only in the highest elevations in the southeastern United States. Clingmans Dome, like most of the Great Smokies, consists of a type of lightly metamorphosed sedimentary rock (especially sandstone) that is part of the Ocoee Supergroup formation, created from ancient ocean sediments nearly one billion years ago. The Smoky Mountains are among the oldest in the world, lifted approximately 200-300 million years ago in the Alleghenian orogeny.

Little River Road


Little River Road passes through tunnels of yellow poplar leaves in autumn on the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Left: Autumn colors line the Little River, near the picnic area on Little River Road, in the East Tennessee section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Above: Little River Road enters grand forests of poplar leaves turned yellow in autumn on the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Left: Fall leaf colors glow on the Little River, near the picnic area on Little River Road, in the East Tennessee section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Below: Yellow and orange fall colors in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail

Left: The trail takes hikers behind Grotto Falls, which is an easy walk of 2.6 miles round trip from the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, on the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, south from Gatlinburg. The source of Roaring Fork is located nearly 5,000 feet (1,500 m) up along the northern slopes of Mount Le Conte, where several small springs converge. From its source, Roaring Fork drops 2,500 feet (760 m) over just two miles (3 km), spilling over Grotto Falls. The Roaring Fork valley is underlain by Precambrian Class II sandstone of the Ocoee Supergroup, a rock formation formed from ancient ocean sediments nearly a billion years ago, as in most of the Smokies.

Below: Tall evergreen rhododendron trees grow around Grotto Falls. The flower blooms of rhododendrons are attractive in the spring.
Left: The attractive Grotto Falls is a hike of 2.6 miles round trip from the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, on the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Below: This cascade on the Roaring Fork tumbles a short distance below Grotto Falls, on the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. From its source, Roaring Fork drops 2,500 feet (760 m) over just two miles (3 km). The source of Roaring Fork is located nearly 5,000 feet (1,500 m) up along the northern slopes of Mount Le Conte, where several small springs converge. The Roaring Fork valley is underlain by Precambrian Class II sandstone of the Ocoee Supergroup, a rock formation formed from ancient ocean sediments nearly a billion years ago, as in most of the Smokies.


Left: I photographed this woodland stream image from a one-lane bridge (a few miles below Grotto Falls) where the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail crosses Roaring Fork on the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Roaring Fork empties into the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River in Gatlinburg, TN.

Below: Yellow fall leaf colors surround a log cabin built by former settlers, on the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Below: Fall leaf colors glow on Cherokee Orchard Road just south of Gatlinburg, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, on the Tennessee side, in southeastern USA.

Cades Cove

Tipton Place

Left: This replica replaces the original cantilever barn dating from the 1870s at Tipton Place, at Cades Cove, an isolated valley located in the East Tennessee section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

In 1850, Cades Cove was home to 685 members of 137 settler households in an isolated valley which is now located in the East Tennessee section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA. Today, Cades Cove is the most popular destination for visitors to the park, attracting over two million visitors a year, due to its well preserved homesteads, scenic mountain views and abundant display of wildlife. The eleven-mile Cades Cove Loop Road follows many of the grades and turns of the old wagon roads and fording occasional streams. Along the way you are likely to see domestic cattle or horses grazing, wild deer and wild turkey year-round and groundhogs in the summer. Driving the eleven-mile Cades Cove loop can take a surprisingly long time (allow 2 to 6 hours) on a typical summer or fall day, unless you start very early in the morning. The most crowded times are July through August and leaf season which runs through mid October into early November. The Cove entrance is 25 miles from Gatlinburg, TN and 56 miles from Cherokee, North Carolina.

Below: Horses graze to help preserve and keep open the ranch land in Cades Cove, an isolated valley located in the East Tennessee section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA.


Left: Helmets are recommended by this sign for bicycle riders on the paved 11-mile Cades Cove Loop Road.



Below: A modern barn at Cades Cove helps service grazing animals.


Left: This replica replaces the original cantilever barn dating from the 1870s at Tipton Place, at Cades Cove in the East Tennessee section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Below: An old wooden buggy is stored under a barn at Tipton Place in Cades Cove.


Left: Tipton Place was built in the early 1870s, with a smokehouse and a woodshed in the front yard, at Cades Cove, in the East Tennessee section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Below: Yellow and red fall colors in Cades Cove.

Cable Mill Historic Area


Left: The John P. Cable Grist Mill still makes flour at Cable Mill Historic Area, Cades Cove, Tennessee.

Below: The drive-through allows easier loading and unloading of hay, and the overhang in this cantilevered barn provides shelter for animals and farm equipment, at Cable Mill Historic Area, Cades Cove, Tennessee.


Left: Old farm equipment at Cable Mill Historic Area, Cades Cove, Tennessee.

Below: The overhang in cantilever barns provided shelter for animals and farm equipment. Cable Mill Historic Area, Cades Cove, Tennessee.


Left: Old wooden wagon with iron tred, at Cable Mill Historic Area, Cades Cove, Tennessee.




Below: In Cable Mill Historic Area, Cades Cove, Tennessee, this old barn allows driving through the center to more easily transfer hay to the loft. Draft animals and milk cows were fed the hay in the stalls below during winter months.

Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church


Left: Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church was organized June 16, 1827.

Above: The grave stone of William Hamby (1744-1840), a member of the North Carolina Militia in the American Revolutionary War, rests at the graveyard of Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church (organized June 16, 1827), in Cades Cove, Tennessee, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.


Left: The grave stone of Russell Gregory reads "1795-1864; Founder of Gregory's Bald about 1830; murdered by North Carolina Rebels", in the graveyard of Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church (organized June 16, 1827), in the valley of Cades Cove, on the Tennessee side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Gregory supported the Union during the American Civil War (like most Cades Covers) and was murdered by Confederate guerrillas in 1863.  The Civil War shattered Cades Cove. No slave ever worked the Cove and the mountain people shared few cultural ties with the South, but young men still fought for both sides (mostly for the Union). Cades Covers named the local mountain Gregory Bald (4949 feet elevation) in honor of Russell Gregory who lived atop it in the spring and summer to graze cattle. The original Cherokee name for Gregory Bald was "Tsistu'yi," or "Rabbit Place."

John Oliver Cabin

Below: In Cades Cove, John Oliver Cabin was built circa 1822, making it one of the oldest structures in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Oliver fit the log corners with half dovetail notches draining outwards to discourage rot. The cabin roof was fitted with 3,000 handmade shakes (wooden shingles).


Left: Wild deer graze in front of John Oliver Cabin, in Cades Cove, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Below: The grave stone reads "John Oliver 1793-1864 and wife Lurena Frazier Oliver 1795-1888, first permanent white settlers of Cade's Cove 1817-1818", at the graveyard of Cades Cove Primitive Baptist Church (organized June 16, 1827).

USGS Appalachian zones in the USA (United States Geological Survey)

Geology of Cades Cove

Most of the Great Smoky Mountains are underlain by Precambrian Class II sandstone of the Ocoee Supergroup, a rock formation formed from ancient ocean sediments nearly a billion years ago.  Cades Cove is a type of valley known as a "limestone window," created by erosion that removed the older Precambrian sandstone, exposing the younger Paleozoic limestone beneath. The weathering of the limestone produced deep, fertile soil, making Cades Cove attractive to early farmers. More weather-resistant formations, such as the Cades sandstone which comprises Rich Mountain to the north and the Elkmont and Thunderhead sandstones which comprise the Smokies crest to the south have surrounded the cove, leaving it relatively isolated within the Great Smokies.

Appalachians Map

Left: The Appalachians are a vast system of mountains in eastern North America. Definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians. The USGS defines the Appalachian Highlands physiographic division as consisting of thirteen provinces: the Atlantic Coast Uplands, Eastern Newfoundland Atlantic, Maritime Acadian Highlands, Maritime Plain, Notre Dame And Megantic Mountains, Western Newfoundland Mountains, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Valley and Ridge, Saint Lawrence Valley, Appalachian Plateaus, New England province, and the Adirondack provinces. A common variant definition does not include the Adirondack Mountains, which are often said to have more in common with the Canadian Shield than the Appalachians.

Below: The "Valley and Ridge" province of the Appalachian Highlands forms parallel ridges near Kingsport, in northeastern Tennessee. On the lower right are the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains province of the Appalachians. On the lower left center is Cherokee Lake, and Kingsport is at the center right.

Cherokee Lake, Clinch Mountain Lookout


Above: The TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) dammed the Holston River in 1941 to form Cherokee Lake, as seen from Clinch Mountain Lookout, near Bean Station, in the northeast corner of Tennessee. Clinch Mountain is a ridge in the U.S. states of Tennessee and Virginia, lying in the ridge-and-valley section of the Appalachian Mountains. It runs in a general east-northeasterly direction from near Blaine, Tennessee to Garden Mountain near Burke's Garden, Virginia. It separates the Clinch River basin, to the north, and the Holston River basin, to the south. Clinch Mountain is named after the Clinch River, named after an unknown pioneer.  Cherokee Reservoir is named for the tribe of Native Americans who once lived here. The great Indian warpath, once followed by Daniel Boone, crossed the basin now filled by the reservoir.

Tennessee, USA: Appalachian Mountains

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