The Appalachian trail threads nearly the length of Great Smoky Mountains National Park (some 70 miles) along the Smokies' crest and the Tennessee-North Carolina Border.  It is a national scenic trail you can take north to Maine's Mount Katahdin or south to Georgia's Springer Mountain.  Volunteers coordinated by the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conference maintain it.  On the two-mile stretch between Newfound and Indian gaps, accessible near the Newfound Gap parking lot, you can see wildflowers in spring or look down at colorful foliage in fall.  And then you can say:  "I walked a part of the 2,167-mile-long Appalachian Trail."

Appalachian Trail Sign at Newfound Gap Road

Appalachian Trail Sign at Sweat Heifer Creek Trail

Appalachian Trail between Newfound Gap and Icewater Spring Shelter

Appalachian Trail between Newfound Gap and Icewater Spring Shelter

View from the Appalachian Trail

View from the Appalachian Trail

Icewater Spring Shelter

Icewater Spring Shelter