100 free Great Smoky Mountains National Park trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Great Smoky Mountains National Park trivia quiz covers the most visited national park in the United States, straddling the Tennessee-North Carolina line along the crest of the Appalachians. Questions range across the peaks (Kuwohi, Mount Le Conte, Mount Guyot), Cades Cove, Newfound Gap, the Appalachian Trail, the waterfalls and the extraordinary biodiversity: 1,900 black bears, 30-odd salamander species, 1,500 flowering plants and the synchronous fireflies of Elkmont. There is plenty of history too: the Cherokee name for the range, the loggers who took two-thirds of the virgin forest, the Knoxville woman whose Yellowstone trip started the park movement, John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s $5 million, the families evicted from Cades Cove, Franklin Roosevelt's 1940 dedication and the 2016 wildfires. There are also a few practical questions on entrances, roads and the parking tag. Difficulty runs from easy to expert and is marked on every question, so it works for a car game on Newfound Gap Road or a serious park-nerd challenge. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia or National Park Service pages and each question carries its citation. If you enjoy it, try our US National Parks and Yellowstone quizzes next.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles the border between which two states?
Tennessee and North Carolina
The state line runs northeast to southwest right through the middle, and the park is split roughly evenly between the two.
Q 02Among US national parks, the Great Smoky Mountains holds which record?
Most visited
It drew over 11 million visitors in 2025 and has topped the visitation table for years, helped by being free of an entrance fee and within a day's drive of much of the eastern US.
Q 03What is the highest peak in the park, at 6,643 feet?
Kuwohi
Formerly Clingmans Dome, it is also the highest point in Tennessee and on the whole Appalachian Trail; a 45-foot concrete tower with a spiral ramp tops it.
Q 04The park's highest peak officially got its Cherokee name back in which year?
2024
The Cherokee name means mulberry place; the tribe led the application and the Park Service strongly supported it.
Q 05The name Clingmans Dome honoured Thomas Clingman, who later became what?
A Confederate general
Geographer Arnold Guyot named it for him in 1859 after Clingman's feud with Elisha Mitchell over which peak was the region's highest.
Q 06Mount Le Conte rises 5,301 feet from its foot to its top, which earns it what title?
Tallest east of the Rockies, base to summit
Five trails climb it, and its summit lodge, reached only on foot, is the highest inn in the eastern United States.
Q 07How are supplies carried up to LeConte Lodge, which has no road access?
By llama pack trains and helicopter
The lodge dates from 1925, when hiker Paul Adams pitched a big tent on the summit to entertain visiting dignitaries from Washington.
Q 08Which Cherokee word for the range means place of blue smoke?
Shaconage
The haze that gave the Smokies their name is largely natural: plants release volatile compounds that scatter blue light.
Q 09How many of the world's nine salamander families live in the park known as the Salamander Capital of the World?
Five
Up to 31 species live in the park; the red-cheeked salamander is found nowhere else, and the hellbender can reach 29 inches long.
Q 10Roughly how many black bears live in the park?
1,900
That is the densest black bear population east of the Mississippi; most adults weigh 100 to 300 pounds, though 600-pounders have been recorded.
Q 11Which insect near Elkmont draws crowds each June for its synchronized light show?
Synchronous firefly
Photinus carolinus is the only species in America whose individuals synchronize their flashes; waves of light and dark roll across the forest.
Q 12The scientific name of the park's famous firefly, Photinus carolinus, refers to which state?
North Carolina
Adults measure 11 to 15 millimetres; the species spends most of its life as a glowing larva underground eating snails and worms.
Q 13What is the busiest destination in the park, a broad valley ringed by an 11-mile one-way loop road?
Cades Cove
Q 21The Smokies were the first national park to have what?
Land bought partly with federal money
Earlier parks were carved from federal land or paid for by states and private donors; here two states, citizens and Rockefeller bought out farms and timber rights.
Q 22Roughly what fraction of the Smokies' virgin forest had loggers removed by the 1930s?
Two-thirds
Even so, 20 to 25 percent of today's park is old growth, one of the largest such blocks in eastern North America.
Q 23What was the largest logging operation in the Smokies, working Elkmont and Tremont from 1901 to 1939?
Little River Lumber Company
Its preserved cabins, barns and churches show old-time Appalachian life; bikes can be rented and the loop is closed to cars on some mornings.
Q 14The park's busiest valley was named after which figure?
A Cherokee leader called Chief Kade
Abrams Creek in the cove was named for another chief, Abraham of Chilhowee; a theory that Kate, Abraham's wife, gave the cove its name has been discredited.
Q 15Who were the first permanent European settlers in the park's busiest valley, arriving in 1818?
John and Lucretia Oliver
They survived the first winter on dried pumpkin given to them by friendly Cherokees.
Q 16Where did Franklin D. Roosevelt formally dedicate the park in September 1940?
Newfound Gap
He spoke from the Rockefeller Memorial on the state line to a crowd of about 10,000.
Q 17How much did John D. Rockefeller Jr. donate in 1928 to rescue the land-buying campaign for the park?
$5 million
The two states had put up $3.5 million and private citizens about $1 million, but the drive was stalling before his gift.
Q 18Which Knoxville woman first proposed a Smokies national park in 1923 after a trip to Yellowstone?
Anne May Davis
Her husband W. P. Davis carried the idea to the Interior Secretary, and by year's end they had founded the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association.
Q 19Which travel writer, author of Our Southern Highlanders, was a key champion of the park?
Horace Kephart
A former St. Louis librarian who reinvented himself in the Hazel Creek backwoods, he also wrote the classic guide Camping and Woodcraft; a park peak carries his name.
Q 20In which year did Congress officially establish Great Smoky Mountains National Park?
1934
Coolidge had authorised it in 1926, but the land had to be bought from thousands of farmers and logging firms first; FDR dedicated it in 1940.
Its railroad hauled timber out and it built the company towns of Townsend, Elkmont and Tremont; its boss later promoted Elkmont as a resort.
Q 24How many miles of the Appalachian Trail run through the park?
About 72
It enters atop Fontana Dam and follows the crest and the state line, rarely dipping below 5,000 feet, with 12 trail shelters along the way.
Q 25What is the tallest waterfall in the park, dropping 100 feet near the base of its second-highest peak?
Ramsey Cascades
Rainbow Falls, at 80 feet, is the tallest single-drop fall; the park has more than 100 notable waterfalls in all.
Q 26Which US highway crosses the park between its gateway towns via a 5,048-foot gap?
US 441
The gap is the lowest pass over the crest and sits halfway between the two towns; the road closes often in winter snow.
Q 27A section of US 129 along the park's western edge is nicknamed what for its extreme curves?
Tail of the Dragon
It is a magnet for motorcyclists and sports-car drivers; the park's other famous drive is the never-finished Foothills Parkway.
Q 28Which Tennessee county, home to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, anchors tourism around the park?
Sevier
Its attractions include a famous country-music theme park, Ober Gatlinburg and Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, and park tourism is worth an estimated $2.5 billion a year to the local economy.
Q 29Which Dolly Parton-co-founded park is Tennessee's second-biggest attraction?
Dollywood
Parton grew up in nearby Pittman Center; she performed at the park's 75th anniversary rededication in 2009.
Q 30The park borders the Qualla Boundary, home to which federally recognized tribe?
Eastern Band of Cherokee
They descend from Cherokee who evaded the 1838 Trail of Tears, largely through the efforts of William Holland Thomas.