Mount Cammerer Lookout Tower

The Smokies are home to fire lookouts that rise above already high mountain summits and surrounding trees, thereby offering some of the park's best views. The most storied is Mount Cammerer, which is located on a 0.6-mile spur off the Appalachian Trail near the North Carolina/Tennessee line on the northern edge of the national park.

The most commonly hiked route to Mount Cammerer begins at Cosby Campground, which is one of the park's quietest campgrounds. Hikers follow the Low Gap trail as it climbs 2.9 miles to the Appalachian Trail, then follow it 2.1 miles north to the Mount Cammerer spur trail. That trail ends at the stone fire tower atop a sandstone outcrop. The Civilian Conservation Corps built the tower in the late 30s using native timber and rock. It was named for Arno Cammerer, who was director of the National Park Service when the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was formed.

Technological advances rendered the fire lookout obsolete by the 1960s, and it's no longer staffed. It remains open to visitors, however, who are rewarded with unobstructed views of the Tennessee Valley. You can even see 60 miles to the Cumberland Escarpment. Hikers also get a good look at the surrounding mountains, which offer up clues to the Smokies' geological origins. The peak was created by the Greenbrier Thrust Fault, which bent and pinched the sandstone around it, pressing it into primeval peaks that have been eroding for millions of years.