Knoxville to Asheville over the most-visited national park in America
KTYS McGhee Tyson at Knoxville is the Tennessee gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park; the most-visited national park in the country, drawing more than twice the visitation of any other, and free to enter. The Appalachian Trail rides the state-line crest through the park. Seventy-five nautical miles east-southeast sits KAVL Asheville: the Biltmore Estate, the largest private home in America; the Blue Ridge Parkway sweeping past the city; and a four-time "Beer City USA" winner with dozens of breweries for a city its size, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium's East Coast operations among them. The crossing is the payoff; the crest carries Mount LeConte and Kuwohi, at 6,643 feet the park's highest point (Clingmans Dome until its Cherokee name was restored in 2024), off the right wing before the French Broad valley opens up for Asheville.