At Cherokee’s Island Park, the shoals of the Oconaluftee River are as popular with the wild ducks and geese as they are with visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains. Above, South Carolina visitors Sherri and Mitchell McCutcheon enjoy the geese on an early Fall afternoon.

At 6643 feet, Clingmans Dome is the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Located in the northernmost part of Swain County along the North Carolina–Tennessee border, the temperatures at Clingmans Dome are often 10 to 20 degrees cooler than Bryson City’s. On a clear day, take the (steep) half-mile walk from the parking lot to the observation tower, and you’ll be rewarded with a stunning 360-degree view of the Smokies and beyond. The seven-mile road from US 441 to Clingmans Dome is open Aprll thru November. Photo by J.R. vanLienden, Masterpiece Portraits.

A hundred years ago, Proctor, NC was a bustling lumber town on Hazel Creek with more than 1,000 residents. Except for the ruins of the Ritter Lumber Company’s kiln (above), the cemetery and one house used by the Park Service, nature has reclaimed Proctor and left few visible reminders of its fascinating history. And with the building of Fontana Dam and Lake in 1944, the remote Hazel Creek area became virtually isolated and only accessible by boat.

This summer, there’s a unique opportunity to visit Proctor when historian and author Lance Holland conducts guided tours of the abandoned lumber town.