3 Best Sights in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NC, North Carolina

Begin this drive near mile marker 458 of the Blue Ridge Parkway, about 11 miles from Cherokee. Travel about 8 miles along the paved Heintooga Ridge Road, a mile-high drive that is lined with evergreens. At this elevation, you’re often literally in the clouds. Near the Heintooga Picnic Area, take the narrow, unpaved 18-mile Balsam Mountain Road, sometimes called Roundbottom Road. Although it's only one lane wide and has many sharp curves, Balsam Mountain Road is well-maintained and does not require a four-wheel-drive vehicle. Travel trailers and other large vehicles are prohibited. The roadside scenery changes from firs and hemlocks as you descend from Balsam Mountain to the lowlands around Cherokee. There is a profusion of flowers along Balsam Mountain Road especially in the spring. If you tire of driving, there are plenty of nearby trails, including the 11-mile Balsam Mountain Trail and 3.3-mile Palmer Creek Trail. Another 12 miles on Big Cove Road, mostly through rural areas outside the park, gets you back to Cherokee.

Newfound Gap Road (U.S. 441) is by far the busiest road on the national park's North Carolina side, with more than a million vehicles making the 16-mile climb from an elevation of 2,000 feet near Cherokee to almost a mile high at Newfound Gap (and then down to Gatlinburg on the Tennessee side). It's the only paved road that goes all the way through the center of the park, so you definitely won't escape from the crowds. Mile markers run backward (as far as North Carolinians are concerned), starting at 31.1 where it intersects with the Blue Ridge Parkway near Cherokee. Among the sights on the road are the Oconaluftee Visitor Center and Mountain Farm Museum (mile marker 30.3); Mingus Mill (mile marker 29.9); Smokemont Campground and Nature Trail (mile marker 27.2); Web Overlook (mile marker 17.7), from which there's a good view almost due west of Clingmans Dome; and Newfound Gap (mile marker 14.7), the start of the seven-mile road to Clingmans Dome. The speed limit on Newfound Gap Road tops out at 45 mph.

Lakeview Drive was originally proposed as a way for local communities to reach their family cemeteries, after being displaced from their homes for the Fontana Dam project in the 1940s. An environmental issue halted the construction of Lakeview Drive, earning it its nickname as the “Road to Nowhere.” Today, the road begins at the park's entrance from Fontana Road in Bryson City, and ends at a tunnel six miles into the park. The drive is quite scenic, with an overlook of Fontana Lake and a few trailheads along the way. A network of hiking trails (including a 3.2-mile loop) begin at the tunnel.  It's surprisingly dark and eerie in the tunnel, especially if you're there alone. If you end a loop hike at the tunnel and don't want to walk through it, there's a bypass trail.