Smokies Two Days: Alum Cave, Cades Cove & Abrams Falls

Two days in Great Smoky Mountains National Park covers the best of both sides of the park — the high-elevation geology of the Alum Cave trail and the pastoral history and wildlife of Cades Cove on the western end. Alum Cave Trail on the first morning is one of the most interesting hikes in the Smokies: an ascent through an arch formation in the ridge and out onto a concave cliff face at 4,400 feet. Afternoon Chimney Tops overlook and Gatlinburg settle the evening. Cades Cove on the second day is an entirely different landscape — an open valley floor surrounded by mountains, settled by European-American families in the early 19th century and now preserved as a 4,500-acre clearing visible only because the National Park Service chose to maintain the open farmland. The 11-mile one-way loop road through the cove passes working grist mills, white-painted churches, and frequent wildlife; Abrams Falls at the end adds a 5-mile round-trip hike to a 20-foot wide waterfall on Abrams Creek.