Tour Cades Cove in a mini bus with Heritage Tours

Want to enjoy the scenery in Cades Cove one of the most beautiful places east of the Mississippi and sit back in comfort while someone else does the driving?

Well now you can do this while getting an informative and historically accurate tour of the historic buildings in Cades Cove, the natural beauty of the mountains and the bounty of wildlife that inhabits the valley.

Because Cades Cove is so beautiful year round, million of visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains national park find themselves here.

While may prefer to bike the 11 mile Cades Cove Loop or even hike it, thousands and thousands of cars drive on this narrow 1 way road which can lead real congestion in peak seasons. Add in a bear jam or deer jam and driver can become very frustrated.

Now in an effort to elevate traffic congestion in Cades Cove and to educate the public on the fantastic history and preservation the natural resources of the Great Smoky Mountains national park, the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center in Townsend now offer bus tours of Cades Cove.

This tour has only a few stops in Cades Cove and depending on the crowds on the road and the people in the tour, stops may be added or taken off the schedule.

Count on driving around the whole loop with a break at the Cades Cove Visitor Center in the back of the loop where there are accessible rest facilities, down a short drive on Forge Creek Road and generally a stop at the Dan Lawson Place by Hyatt Lane.

The Cades Cove guided tour takes around 3-1/2 hours and the bus holds 19 people in real comfort. Oversize windows allow you to see the beautiful views and wildlife without obstructions, a LCD TV playing and introduction video to the Great Smoky Mountains national park, climate control, comfortable seating and ramp for easy access set the stage for a fantastic tour of the Smokies.

While you can go along on the scheduled tours, you can also arrange a group tour of Cades Cove. To take the tour you need to go to the historic cabin in front the Smoky Mountains Heritage Center on 321 at 123 Cromwell Drive in Townsend.

Members of the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center get a discount and visitors to the museum can get a discounted combo ticket. The Heritage Museum is actually a fantastic way to start your historical and cultural tour of the Great Smoky Mountains.

You must call (865) 448-8838 ahead of time to make a reservation for the tour right now but this may change. You can also visit the Cades Cove Heritage Tour web site.

The Cades Cove Heritage tour is a non profit organization with no affiliation with the Great Smoky Mountains national park service.

Now that you saw how primitive log cabins used to be in the Great Smoky Mountains on this tour, you want to come back home to a start of the art, super comfortable and roomy cabin rental for your Smokies vacation. American Mountain Rentals has more than 150 to choose from!

Fall colors Smoky Mountains road tour: Tail of the Dragon

There are many great roads to tour the Smokies in the fall but none have as unique a character or such stunning views as the south end of the Great Smoky Mountains national park where you can ride on US 129 - the famous Tail of the Dragon.

What makes this auto tour to see the fall colors in the Smoky Mountains so special? How about 318 curves in only 11 miles of deeply wooded areas or where you are looking out over stunning water and mountain scenery!

Even though we are way past peak fall colors in most of North Carolina there is still some great color to be found along the Tail of the Dragon and all of the vistas this stunning winding road looks out on.

Though the Tail of the Dragon is heavily traveled in the spring, summer and early fall, by now most of the riders are gone and you can find stretches of this magnificent road to enjoy the fall colors and the thrill of driving the Dragon all to yourself.

This road is challenging to driver so you will find motorcycle riders and drivers of high performance cars from around the country who come here. Do not exceed the speed limit ask the road is unsafe at high speed and there is heavy speed enforcement on the Tail of the Dragon.

This road is open year round but can get very rough in snow and ice and if there has been a recent storm and you are one of the first on this road take your time in case there are any downed trees or branches.

One of the best ways to get to the Tail of the Dragon from Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg or Sevierville is to take the Foothills Parkway west until it hits US 129 and then turn left.

Right away the scenery is amazing with sheer rock faces and woods on the left and water on the right.

One of the first big pulls off on one side looks down to water, mountains and a dam pictured above and on the other side you have the mountains of the Great Smoky Mountains national park aflame in reds and oranges contrasting with deep green color.

Further on down the road enjoy all the fall colors while you follow the signs to the Fontana dam. Though the visitor center at the Fontana dam is closed this is a great detour off the main road to check out the fall colors and one of a kind Smoky Mountains views.

At the Fontana dam you will find a picnic area, overlooks, parking areas and at the other end of the dam a trail head for the Appalachian Trail and another hiking trail that will take you deep into the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

The Fontana dam is the largest dams east of the Mississippi and Harrison Ford made his famous jump here in the movie The Fugitive. In the movie the railroad derailment took place here too!

The picture above was just taken at the dam and it shows how low the water is in Lake Fontana but also how much color is still in the mountains.

Get back on the road and head toward Bryson City NC so you can loop back to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge through the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

Now that the Tennessee River is to the left of you make sure to check out all of the pull offs to the left for some more stunning fall mountains and river views such as the picture above.

This is still plenty of color in the woods along the roadway and when the road turns into agricultural areas and even rural residential the colors and the scenery is still very nice.

To continue the large loop on the best fall colors motor drive follow the signs to the National Park and take Newfound Gap Road back to Gatlinburg where you will still find beautiful fall colors once you are just past the Chimneys Trailhead parking area.