Gatlinburg, Tennessee fall foliage

Gatlinburg sits at the edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where the color starts high on the peaks and works its way down toward town over several weeks. Just outside town, the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail is a narrow, one-way loop of about 5.5 miles that follows a rushing mountain stream past old homesteads and log cabins, with trailheads to waterfalls such as Grotto Falls, where the trail passes behind the falling water. After rain, the Place of a Thousand Drips spills down the rocks right beside the road. Black bears are common in the park, so enjoy them from a distance.

Newfound Gap Road (US 441) climbs from Gatlinburg across the Smokies, passing Campbell Overlook, with its view of Mount Le Conte, on the way to Newfound Gap at about 5,000 feet. The Rockefeller Memorial at the gap marks where the park was dedicated, and the Appalachian Trail crosses there. From near the gap, a side road leads toward Kuwohi (Clingmans Dome), the highest point in the park. The drive climbs through several bands of color, from the lower slopes near town to the high ridges.