Guide Sections
Use Forests's guide sections to understand how this stop fits into the larger park plan.
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Learn About the Park
Eighty percent of Great Smoky Mountain National Park is deciduous forest, and the most diverse of these is the Cove Hardwood Forest, which has 40 to 60 tree and shrub species growing in sheltered valleys. Common species include the Carolina silverbell, basswood, dogwood, and magnolia. The spruce-fir forest at the highest elevations resembles the boreal forests of Canada, full of Fraser fir and red spruce. At middle elevations you'll find classic American hardwood forests dominated by beech and maple trees, stands of hemlock forest, and some pine and oak forests on dry, exposed slopes and ridges.