Acreage
Great Smoky Mountains National Park covers 521,085.66 acres. Of this total, 276,343.88 acres are in North Carolina and 244,741.78 acres are in Tennessee.
Visitation
More than 9 million recreational visits in 2006, which is the highest visitation of any of the 57 national parks. The second most heavily visited national park is Grand Canyon with 4.4 million visits, third is Yosemite with 3.3 million, fourth is Olympic with 3.1 million, followed by Yellowstone at 2.8 million visits.
Additional information Economic Impact
The park provides an economic hub generating over $1 billion a year for surrounding tourist communities.
Annual Budget
$16.9 million base budget in Fiscal Year 2006.
Developed Campgrounds
10 campgrounds with a total of 1000 sites, recording more than 350,000 camper nights annually.
Picnic Areas
11 picnic areas, totaling 1050 sites.
Backcountry Campsites
More than 100 sites, including shelters. More than 77,000 overnight visits per year.
Backcountry Trails
800+ miles with over 400,000 hikers annually. Approximately 70 miles of the Appalachian Trail run through the park.
Roads
384 miles total —238 are paved and 146 are unpaved.
Buildings
342 structures are maintained in the park. This number includes 78 historic structures located in five historic districts.
Mountains
Elevations range from 840 feet to 6,643 feet in the park. Sixteen mountains peaks exceed 6,000 feet in elevation.
Streams
2,115 miles of streams.
Park Designations International Biosphere Reserve (designated October 26, 1976) and World Heritage Site (designated December 6, 1983).
Personnel
Approximately 250 permanent and more than 100 seasonal.
Volunteers
2,439 volunteers donated 114,364 hours in Fiscal Year 2007.