Kuwohi

TLDR: Warmer weather (fall, summer) = good, aggressive vertical hike, 1mile with benches. Winter/Spring = advanced hiking, wear spikes, bad but fun, ice, windy, closed road 16miles top and back. I’ve been here around 7 times. In the fall I went by driving up Kuwohi road. I recommend going on a weekday since the weekends are usually packed and you won’t get that scenic time because of all the people. The times that I’ve gone I haven’t really figured out when the ideal time is but definitely before the leaves change. I noticed twice fold the amount of people there after the leaves change. Make sure to buy the parking ticket! 5$ for the day is extremely low and helps out the parks. Also makes a cool little scrapbook item. The hike up to cling man’s dome starts by the tourist shop. It’s roughly about a mile to the top. It starts out with a very aggressive vertical hike on pavement. There are benches periodically placed throughout the paved hiked. Make sure to look around at the views! Towards the top it will level out a bit and lead you towards Cling man’s Dome. Take the paved area up there and enjoy the panoramic view! In the Winter to spring season is a different story. Winter time the roads can be sporadic so make sure to view the GSM NPS to see if Newfound gap is open. If so, we parked there and made the hike up Kuwohi road. (We tried the App trail, way longer and more aggressive.) Start early, took us around 3.5hrs up and 2hrs down. Highly recommend traction spikes or crampons or snow shoes. Very deep snow (6in) with ice mixture at lower elevation.

Breathtaking place to see on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina. I visited November 2nd. There was no problem finding a parking spot. Weather was cold and freezing on top. Good to see 360 degree view of mountains. Climb is ok. Not too hard. Better to walk slowly to observation tower. Because it gets cold and windy up there. Seeing snow covered trees was spectacular.

A must visit place. The views are incredible. Took some amazing pictures. The trail is paved and easy to walk on. However, it is steep and requires some effort.

This major landmark just over state line of Tennessee from North Carolina located in the Great Smoky mountains national Park is a 360° concrete Tower on the pic of the highest point in the area there is a half mile trail and curving concrete ramp up to the tower from the parking lot this is not a very accessible walk for elderly people or people with health conditions such as long or heart ailments however the views from the parking lot at the base of the ramp up to the tower or spectacular and are worth the drive and the weight even if you don't make it up to the tower also there are very many overlooks on the way up to the parking lot from the entrance to the national Park that offer amazing views also

Great place to visit! If you are able, then do the hike from New Found Gap! Camp along the AT then walk back! But if not then plan to spend an extra hr! I promise with traffic and parking it will add an hr to your trip!

This is a must see if you are visiting Smoky mountain. Once at the top there are plenty of parking spaces available. After parking there is a decent hike up a paved path up to the Kuwohi observation tower which was known as clingmans dome in the past. It's a steep 10-15 min hike. You can stop and sit many times if hike is an issue. Once at the top the view is amazing. Once you hike down there are 5 restrooms available. Once at the top there may not be data but they have a tower to make emergency phone calls.

Awesome view. We'll worth negotiating the windy road leading to it and the 1/2 mile uphill trek up to the tower.

It's a surprisingly steep walk up an asphalt path to get to the overlook, with multiple benches along the way if you need to rest. Great 360 degree views all around. There were plenty of parking spaces at 10:00 on a Saturday when I was there.