|
Great Smoky Mountain National Park is an
oblong-shaped park, running southwest to northeast with the North
Carolina / Tennessee border running right down its spine.
Traversing the park it the Newfound Gap Road. The 34 mile road
starts at 2,017 feet ASL at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in North
Carolina and runs up and over the park to the Sugarlands Visitor
Center in Tennessee at 1,468 feet. At it's peak (and nearly
the halfway point) the road reaches Newfound Gap at 5,046 feet
elevation. The road is one of
the great National Park drives and is the only way to cross the park
through the middle. In my opinion
Newfound Gap ranks right up there with Going-to-the-Sun Road in
Glacier NP and Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain NP. |
