Nature trails, parks and scenic roadways abound in Western NC. Walk the Appalachian Trail; explore the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, Nantahala National Forest, or Pisgah National Forest; or drive the Blue Ridge Parkway, Cherohala Skyway, or Mountain Waters Scenic Byway. There is fun for everyone in Western NC.

• Appalachian Trail is a 2,160-mile foot trail along the ridge crests and across the major valleys of the Appalachian Mountains from Katahdin in the central Maine wilderness to Springer Mountain in a designated wilderness area in north Georgia.

• The Blue Ridge Parkway is 469 miles of senic roadway that connects the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee.

• Clingmans Dome elevation 6,643 feet is the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains and offers a great views of the mountains and surrounding states on a clear day.

• Cherohala Skyway crossing through the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests, from which it gets it's name, this National Scenic Byway connects Robbinsville in North Carolina to Tellico Plains in Southeast Tennessee.

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park, established in 1934, covers 520,408 acres of land with heights ranging from 840 feet at Abrams Creek to 6,643 feet at Clingmans Dome.

• Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest is a tribute to a hero whose poem "Trees" inspired millions. The Forest Service inauguarated the Little Santeelah as the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest in 1935.

• Mountain Waters Scenic Byway begins in Highlands traveling approximately 61 miles winding through southern Appalachian hardwood forests, by numerous waterfalls and lakes and through two river gorges.

• Nantahala National Forest lies in the mountains and valleys of western North Carolina with elevations as high as 5,800 feet at Lone Bald in Jackson County, to a low 1,200 feet in Cherokee County along the Tusquitee River.

• Pisgah National Forest consists of over half a million acres of forest surrounding Mt. Pisgah. James Hall, a Presbyterian minister, named Mt. Pisgah for the mountain Moses saw the promised land from after wondering forty years in the wilderness.