Congress established the park in 1934, and its importance is now recognized around the world as an International Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site. Bald Above 4,500 feet, Smokies footpaths leave the hardwoods and tunnel-like rhododendron thickets and climb into fragrant Fraser fir and red spruce forests populated by juncos, boreal chickadees, red squirrels, and other creatures usually associated with the Canadian northwoods. For first-timers, the Smoky Mountains fishing experience can be frustrating. Heavy vegetation grows around and over cold streams dotted with slick rocks. Fly fishermen can't find room to back cast.
Stream banks are thick with rhododendron.
On the flip side, however, fishing in a Smoky Mountain setting is sublime picture tall yellow birch trees looming over clear water as it flows over mossy boulders into a dark green pool, where a shadowy figure darts up from the deep, attacking your presentation. To walk a footpath through undisturbed forest is unforgettable, as far from the feel of your neighborhood woods as Notre Dame is to your local church. And where most forests are relatively monotone as far as tree species go, these sheltered valleys are inhabited by amazingly diverse cove forests. There are Carolina silverbells, stately, smooth-barked beech trees, thickly furrowed eastern hemlocks, tulip trees so big around a large family couldn't hold hands and ring them. Point your boots toward Albright Grove, Buckhorn Gap, or Ramsey Cascade if you want to tread among the big trees.