Tennessee

Alum Cave Trail is a Great Smoky Mountains favorite, and Fall Creek Falls delivers a major waterfall payoff. Go early because the Smokies are the country's…

Alum Cave Trail is a Great Smoky Mountains favorite, and Fall Creek Falls delivers a major waterfall payoff. Go early because the Smokies are the country's most-visited national park.

Why Tennessee's waterfalls and Smokies trails deliver so much

Tennessee gives hikers a powerful one-two punch. On its eastern edge, Great Smoky Mountains National Park serves up classic forest climbs like the Alum Cave Trail, with its arching rock features and ever-widening views. Further west, Fall Creek Falls proves you do not need a national park for drama, dropping into a gorge that feels far bigger than the state park around it. The trade-off is popularity: the Smokies are the country's most-visited national park, so planning timing and parking carefully gets you a better day.

What to do, step by step

1. Choose your headline hike: Alum Cave for a Smokies mountain experience, or Fall Creek Falls for a major waterfall payoff.
2. Check park alerts, trail conditions, and - for the Smokies - parking requirements before you set off.
3. Go early, ideally on a weekday. Trailheads for both favorites fill quickly, especially in fall color season.
4. Carry plenty of water, layers for changing mountain weather, and shoes with real grip for wet rock near falls and caves.
5. Leave no trace: stay on trail at overlooks and waterfall bases, and pack out everything you carried in.