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Fish for Trout in the Backcountry
For first-timers, the Smoky Mountains fishing experience can be frustrating. Heavy vegetation grows around and over cold streams dotted with slick rocks. Fly fishermen can't find room to back cast. Stream banks are thick with rhododendron. On the flip side, however, fishing in a Smoky Mountain setting is sublime — picture tall yellow birch trees looming over clear water as it flows over mossy boulders into a dark green pool, where a shadowy figure darts up from the deep, attacking your presentation. The best fishing adventures in the Smokies are away from the roads: For rainbows, strike out along Upper Abrams Creek; for browns, try Little River/Fish Camp Prong; for brookies, hike from Clingman's Dome to the headwaters of Hazel Creek.

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Walk the Land of the Giants
The Smokies harbor a treasure in the hidden crooks of their crenellated ridges: swaths of old-growth forest so deep in the mountains they've never been logged. To walk a footpath through undisturbed forest is unforgettable, as far from the feel of your neighborhood woods as Notre Dame is to your local church. And where most forests are relatively monotone as far as tree species go, these sheltered valleys are inhabited by amazingly diverse cove forests. There are Carolina silverbells, stately, smooth-barked beech trees, thickly furrowed eastern hemlocks, tulip trees so big around a large family couldn't hold hands and ring them. Point your boots toward Albright Grove, Buckhorn Gap, or Ramsey Cascade if you want to tread among the big trees.

Explore Pioneer History
You never know what traces of the past you'll find beyond the next thick patch of Smokies mountain laurel. Thousands of pioneers settled this wrinkled, hardscrabble topography in the 19th century. Although these mountain people were displaced when the national park was established, there are reminders everywhere of the lives they eked out in these hills — and not just at beaten-path historic locations like Cades Cove or the Mountain Farm Museum at Oconaluftee. Deep in the backcountry, you may find crumbling chimneys, washtubs, rusty farm implements, and old graveyards — all inspiring wonder at what life must have been like here a century ago.

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Find the Wildflowers
The Smokies boast over 1,500 blooming plants, more than any other national park. The blooming season ranges from hepaticas of late winter to goldenrod of late fall, and in between are blooms of purple-and-white-crested dwarf irises, brilliantly red notch-petaled fire pinks, the Fraser magnolia tree's large creamy-white flowers, and blue phlox. Through most of the warmer months, the sheer number of blooming flowers, bushes, and trees boggles the mind, and any tramp through the backcountry will come with a blaze of color.

	Take a look at GORP's Smoky Mountains National Park Forum for interesting information and tips on getting the most out of the Smokies!

Camp off the Beaten Path
There are 10 campgrounds spread throughout the Smokies, and a few of them allow for a car-camping experience worlds away from the nightmarish refugee-camp-like experience that every outdoorsperson has had at least once in their life. Abrams Creek,on the far western edge of the park, is set in a streamside forest of hemlock and white pine; small and rustic, it's perfectly situated for fishing, hiking, and swimming in the long, lazy pools of Abrams Creek. Cosby is rarely even half full, meaning solitude is guaranteed; waterfalls, overlooks, a restored wood-and-stone fire tower, and old-growth trees are a hike away. Big Creek is an intimate, walk-in, tent-only campground set streamside in thick forest; its sites are widely separated, and active campers have challenging hiking opportunities, fishing, and swimming.

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