Photographers Love the Smoky Mountains for their Mystical Beauty

With so many national parks to choose from, you might be surprised to find that the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the most popular with both amateur and professional photographers alike. Make sure you bring your camera, along with plenty of batteries and memory cards when you’re here. There are so many different places to take photographs, it can be hard to know where to go first. Here are a few of the hottest places for you and your camera to visit.

Cades Cove

Cades Cove is one of the most popular places in the entire park to visit. Be sure your camera is ready to go from the minute you start along the 11-mile loop. As you cruise along the loop, you are likely to encounter white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, raccoons, groundhogs, and of course, black bears. Do be sure to use the many pull-offs to stop and take your pictures. If you do run across a bear, be sure to leave it alone and walk slowly away from it, after you get your pictures of course (only if it is safe to do so).

Clingmans Dome

Clingmans Dome is the tallest point in the park; you simply can’t visit the park without bringing your camera here. While standing here, you have access to some of the most incredible scenery in the entire mountain range. Although some of the other mountains in the park (the shorter ones) can be pretty tough to climb all the way to the top, Clingmans Dome is not hard to reach. There is a seven-mile-long road that you can use to drive to the trail that leads to the observation tower. The trek up to the top of the tower is quite steep in nature, but you will find the effort well worthwhile as the scenery opens up before you on every side.

Mount LeConte

Mount LeConte is the third highest peak in the Smoky Mountains range and offers some excellent hiking trails. There are several trails leading to the mountain peak; of these, the Alum Cave trail is one of the best for taking pictures. The trail winds its way to the top as it covers 5 miles and passes an eponymous cave. You will cross a concave bluff that runs for 80 feet and is 24 feet high. As you reach the peak of your journey, you will come across the LeConte Lodge, reputed to be the highest guest lodge in the country. You can stay here and enjoy a night in the lodge or continue winding your way along the trail enjoying some of the most spectacular Smoky Mountains scenery to be found anywhere.

Chimney Tops

If you are up for something a little more challenging, there is the Chimney Tops Trail. The trail climbs 1,400 feet in only 2 miles. The climb is quite steep and crosses a number of busy streams before the final scramble to the top where the “Chimney Top” gets its name — from the rocky peak waiting for you at the end of the trail. It’s a tough hike, but the view from here is nothing short of spectacular and the perfect place to take photos of Mount LeConte and the entire range.