Cycling the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

#1
Clingmans Dome
USA, TN
#2
Blue Ridge Parkway to Waterrock Knob from Hwy 19
USA, NC
#3
Fie Top Road
USA, NC
#4
Blue Ridge Parkway - Cherokee Hill
USA, NC
#5
Cherohala Skyway (North Carolina)
USA, NC
#6
Clingmans Dome (North Carolina)
USA, NC
#20
Tail of the Dragon (from the head)
USA, NC
#21
Tail of the Dragon
USA, TN
#22
Foothills Parkway Ride (Full Out and Back)
USA, TN
#23
Foothills Parkway Ride (North)
USA, TN

Climb List: Great Smoky Mountains National Park
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Total Climbs: 23
Top 100 World: 0
Avg. FIETS (Top 5): 6.5

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Smoky Mountain National Park
United States (NC,TN)
17 ROUTES
31 POIs
ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)
181.8
mi
DISTANCE
34,253
ft
ELEV. GAIN
The Blue Ridge Parkway (North)
United States (NC,TN,VA)
38 ROUTES
70 POIs
ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)
716.5
mi
DISTANCE
75,697
ft
ELEV. GAIN
The Blue Ridge Parkway (South)
United States (NC,TN,VA)
30 ROUTES
63 POIs
ROUTE STATS (TOTAL)
690.7
mi
DISTANCE
74,180
ft
ELEV. GAIN

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FULL SUMMARY

Cycling Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee - bike with blue and white PJAMM Cycling jersey draped over it leaning against NPS sign for Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Cycling Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee.

Gatlinburg entrance to the park.

Cycling Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee - photo collage, PJAMM cycling logo in corner, bike parked next to NPS Sign for Great Smoky Mountains National Park, PJAMM Cycling jerseys draped over railing near lookout point, John Johnson standing with bike next to sign for Clingmans Dome, sign for Appalachian Trail, bike parked next to sign for North Carolina and Tennessee State Line

This national park is located in both North Carolina and Tennessee, and straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains which are part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a division of the Appalachian Mountain chain.  The park was established in 1934 and consists of 522,419 acres.  This is the most visited park in the United States (12,547,743 visitors in 2019).  This is one of the few national parks to charge no admittance fee (as of 2020):

“The reasons for free entry to the national park date back at least to the 1930s. The land that is today Great Smoky Mountains National Park was once privately owned. The states of Tennessee and North Carolina, as well as local communities, paid to construct Newfound Gap Road (US-441). When the state of Tennessee transferred ownership of Newfound Gap Road to the federal government, it stipulated that "no toll or license fee shall ever be imposed…" to travel the road” (National Parks Service).

There are three main entrances to The Great Smoky Mountains National Park:  Gatlinburg, TN (north), Townsend, TN (east) and Cherokee, NC (south).  Our route begins in Gatlinburg and travels to Clingman’s Dome. Visiting Clingmans Dome is one of the top attractions in this national park.  Beware that the traffic for the first 13 miles on US 441 is very heavy and while it travels slowly and is within the park, it still travels very close to the cyclists as there is not a wide shoulder for this part of the ride.  The last seven miles on Clingmans Dome Road are very calm and with much less traffic than on Highway 441.

Cycling Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee - photo collage of views at Clingmans Dome Tower, PJAMM Cycling logo in corner

Clingmans Dome Tower.

We have researched and documented for this page the 30 hardest and most difficult bike climbs ever included in the Tour de France. 

The all-time hardest bike climbs of the Tour de France can be viewed on this page via the map (zoom in to view climbs in particular areas), by Climb Cards (photo and stats) or by a detailed list of the climbs that can be arranged in metric or imperial units by difficulty, distance (longest climbs in the area), altitude gained, highest elevation (highest summit), average grade (sort the grades by varying distances), lowest start point, etc. Click on "Climb Page" to jump to the detail page for that particular bike climb. We feel this page provides a good summary of the top, hardest and best bicycling climbs of the Tour de France.

The 10 hardest bike climbs ever to appear in the Tour de France are %TOP10 

Also visit our 2023 Tour de France Home Page for all the stages, climbs, details of the 2023 Tour de France as well as all the historical data for the Grand Tour.