Great Smoky Mountains National Park A s its name implies Great Smoky Mountains National Park is in deed mountainous as it is located along the spine of the Appalachian range This range is very different from the sharp craggy mountains of the Rockies Cascades or Sierras in the western U S The main difference is that the Appalachian Mountains are many times older than those western ranges Scientists believe the rock foundation of the Appalachians is about a billion years old Unlike western mountain ranges that were formed relatively quickly by way of volcanic activity or shifting faults the Appalachians took shape as a result of continental drift when tectonic plates collided Some 300 million years ago the landmasses that are now North America and Africa were very close together and drifting ever closer While this drifting and inevitable collision was extremely slow the enormous mass of the plates created so much force that the edge of the North American plate crumpled up The effect was similar to the way the hood of a car might buckle upward during a collision only on an incredibly huge scale By the time the force of the colliding plates was finally redirected the Appalachian range had risen thousands of feet above sea level and extended nearly the entire length of what is now America’s eastern coast mountain range on Earth the Himalayas of south-central Asia And although no one knows for sure the Appalachians were quite possibly once taller than any mountain range that exists in the U S today However in the millions of years that have passed since the formation of The process of continental drift was also responsible for the tallest Great Smoky Mountains National Park is split between two states Tennessee makes up the top half and North Carolina the bottom 10
Preserving America For the best views across the mountains many visitors climb to the observation tower at the summit of Clingmans Dome The Great Smoky Mountains represent a small portion of the the Appalachians wind rain prying tree roots and alternating freezing and thawing temperatures have gradually eroded the mountains to a fraction of their former size and worn the sharp points and edges off their peaks 1,500-mile-long 2,414 km Appalachians but exhibit many of the same characteristics as the rest of this ancient range Today the highest point in the Smokies is Clingmans Dome which rises 6,643 feet 2,025 m above sea level Even this peak is low enough to be covered by Fraser firs red spruce and other conifers In fact evergreen forests almost completely blanket the higher elevations of the region Perhaps no sight epitomizes the Great Smoky Mountains better than that of blunt tree-covered peaks extending as far as the eye can see As the layers extend toward the horizon they fade in color from deep green to muted blue to ghostly gray
