No ‘So So Smoky Mountains' here. What to know about America’s most visited national park.

America’s most visited national park, Great Smoky Mountains, saw more visitors last year than the next two parks combined, the Grand Canyon and Zion.

Part of the reason is the location. Many people drive through the park on the way to another destination. But the park’s appeal can’t be underestimated. The Smokies are truly, well, great.

“I've been here almost 24 years, and I truly understand why it's not called the So So Smoky Mountains,” chuckled park ranger Brad Free. “Really, I think it should be called the Awesome Smoky Mountains.”

Here’s why and what travelers should know about the Great Smoky Mountains, the latest national park in USA TODAY’s yearlong series:

What is special about Great Smoky Mountains National Park?

“It's just so diverse in so many different ways,” Free said, citing the array of plants, animals, geology and human history within the park. “It’s just a beautiful place.”

Along with that beauty is a sense of belonging that many visitors and rangers experience at the park.

“It's like going home to your grandparents,” he said. “This is a great place to come and just say ‘Ah, I want to hug my mountains.’ “

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Where are the Great Smoky Mountains located?

The park stretches across more than 522,000 acres of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.

Its two visitor centers are located near Cherokee, North Carolina, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. 

The closest airport to the park’s Gatlinburg entrance is McGhee-Tyson Airport, which is about 45 miles away, near Knoxville. The closest airport to the Cherokee entrance is Asheville Regional Airport, which is about 60 miles away.

Why are the Smokies called the Smokies?

The name stems from the Cherokee term for the area, which translates to “place of the blue smoke,” according to Free and the Tennessee State Museum. 

Sevier County Tennessee’s tourism website, Visit My Smokies, explains that signature smoke is “actually fog that comes from the area’s vegetation.”

Did the Cherokee live in the Smoky Mountains?

“The Cherokee have been here for thousands of years,” Free said. 

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians still share their rich culture with visitors in Cherokee, North Carolina, a destination unto itself just outside the park. 

Free noted there doesn’t appear to have been any permanent Cherokee villages within the park proper, but they hunted and gathered there, as evidenced by 9,000-year-old arrowheads found in the park. 

“The early European explorers and settlers that came through here learned so much about how to survive in these mountains from the Cherokee that were here,” he said. 

What is the entrance fee for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park?

There are no fees to enter the park. However, parking fees are required for any vehicle parking in the park for longer than 15 minutes. 

Parking passes cost $5 for one day, $15 for seven days and $40 for annual parking.

Can you just drive through Smoky Mountains National Park?

Yes. “A lot of people find us by accident. They don’t even know a national park is here. They’re just driving through,” Free said.

Other visitors come just for a scenic drive, but Free said to really know the park, visitors need to get out and hit the trails.

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Which entrance is best for Great Smoky Mountains National Park?

“It really depends on what you’re looking for,” Free said. 

The busy Gatlinburg entrance is popular among visitors coupling park time with vacationing in Gatlinburg or nearby Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, home of Dollywood. 

The Cherokee entrance is less crowded and very scenic, with numerous streams. “It actually takes you over the mountain and back over to this side over here, which is I think a very pretty drive,” Free said.

A third option is a park entrance near Townsend, Tennessee. 

“It really only takes you into our Cades Cove area of the park, which is probably one of the busiest places in the park,” Free said. 

What is the best month to visit Great Smoky Mountains?

The busiest months in the park are May through October, but Free said, “Each season has something, really a gift for everybody.” 

He cited wildflowers in the spring, greenery in the summer and the rainbow of colors in the fall. He loves the wintertime in the park when crowds fade and the mountains really come into view.

“It’s kind of like if I shave my beard, you see my face. That’s kind of what happens when the leaves fall off,” he said. “You can see the faces of the mountains, you see the heartbeat of the mountains through the wintertime. And walking through the woods with a little fresh fallen snow and nothing else around, there is nothing else like that.”

What should you not miss in the Smoky Mountains?

From Cades Cove to Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the park, there is so much to see at Great Smoky Mountain National Park. No one corner covers it all, but Free said the Alum Cave trail comes close. 

“It's a 5-mile round trip, but that trail there has pretty much everything the park offers on the trail, except for a waterfall,” he said. “It's got streams, got geology, got elevation, got views, got old growth forest … If you do one trail, do that trail.”

How many days do you need at Great Smoky Mountains?

Free recommends at least two days in the park, with one day spent in the higher elevations and another day in the lower elevations.

“But all that's going to do is just get your taste buds ready for something else,” he smiled, adding that five days would provide a better foundation. “I’ve been here a long time, and I still haven't done everything.”