Great Smoky Mountains National Park

This 800-square-mile preserve in the Southern Appalachians, America's most-visited national park, offers a stunning peek into some of the most intensely biodiverse land in all of North America. Saved from logging companies in the 1930s by a coalition of dedicated Tennessee and North Carolina conservationists, landowners who donated their land – and, surprisingly, motorists organized by the American Auto Club (AAA) – the park offers a beloved escape for city dwellers and a critical habitat for thousands of plant and animal species.  Go there...