Great Smoky Mountains National Park — America's Most Visited Park

Founded in 1940, for "the permanent enjoyment of the people", the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is America's most visited park. (Who knew?) With over 9 million visitors per year (the Grand Canyon has about 5 million) it seems were are indeed enjoying it!

Encompassing over half-million acres of land along the North Carolina/Tennessee border, the park has a lot to offer...including over 850 miles of trails! We opted to stay pretty close to Asheville, spending time in and around the Cosby Campground. This campground has seven hiking trails that lead right into it, some of which link to the Appalachian Trail, making it the most convenient campground we've ever stayed at! (It's reportedly also almost never crowded at the campground, which is odd, because is was really nice!)

There are many creek crossings around the campground, and actually throughout the park. (They offer a creek crossing listing on the trail map.) It's been pretty dry in the area, and hot too, it was 80 degrees when we visited in mid-October. So, water in the creeks and waterfalls was sparse.

The flow on the Hen Wallow Falls can spread to 20 ft at the base, but was pretty meager when we visited.

The trail to Hen Wallows was home to tons of mushrooms!

The trees were old, tall and dense, but we managed to peek out a bit.

Everyone was enjoying the 80 degree weather...except, maybe, Rufus.

Before it was a national park, the Gunter family lived on the land by the campground. Their family cemetery is still along the entrance road. Most of the gravestones are illegible, but we did make out a few with dates in the late 19th century.

We took the scenic route home, opting to drive along the Foothills Parkway for about 6 miles and then taking 25 back to Asheville, rather than 40. It was slower going, but provided a better view of the fall foliage and a glimpse of rural life.