Sight · Great Smoky Mountains National Park
A 480-foot dam doubles as an Appalachian Trail crossing.
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The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Great Smoky Mountains audio tourRecorded for this place
Fontana Dam“You're coming up on Fontana Dam, a concrete wall four hundred and eighty feet high holding back Fontana Lake.”
Plays as you drive up to Fontana Dam in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Fontana Dam is a 480-foot concrete hydroelectric dam across the Little Tennessee River in western North Carolina. It forms Fontana Lake and anchors the Smokies’ remote southwest corner. The dam sits just beyond the park boundary, so it makes the most sense if you’re exploring Fontana Lake or the Appalachian Trail; from the park’s northern roads, it’s a long detour.
The Appalachian Trail crosses the dam before entering the park. Parking is available above and below, so take in both sides: the crest gives you the lake and mountain views, while the lower side brings the steep concrete face into view. For a phone photo, let the dam road lead toward the wooded hills and keep some water beside it; that shows the crossing and its setting in one frame.
Fontana Lake covers 10,230 acres and has 238 miles of shoreline. It supports boating and fishing, and its southwest end gives access to remote park routes including Hazel Creek and Eagle Creek.
The dam was built during World War II for hydroelectric power and flood control. A construction village housed about 5,000 workers across three shifts; that former village later became a resort community.
Wildlife
1,569 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
900 sightingsElkMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
13 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
142 sightingsTimber RattlesnakeMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
26 sightingsBobcatMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
42 sightingsRiver OtterMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Great Smoky Mountains. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ChallengingAppalachian Trail71.1 mi · 2 days · At the trailheadA week on the high ridge, with spruce-fir and rocky overlooks.
ChallengingBenton MacKaye Trail93.4 mi · 3.3 days · 0.2 mi awayA 93-mile Smokies crossing from Fontana Dam to Big Creek.
ChallengingShuckstack Fire Tower Trail6.8 mi · 5.5 hr · 0.7 mi awayA steep Appalachian Trail climb ends at a tower above Fontana Lake
ChallengingLost Cove Trail2.7 mi · 2 hr · 2.6 mi awayA steep, shaded descent from the A.T. to Lakeshore Trail.
ChallengingLong Hungry Ridge Trail4.6 mi · 3.5 hr · 2.9 mi awayA backcountry ridge link with several unbridged creek crossings.
ChallengingEagle Creek Trail8.6 mi · 6.5 hr · 3 mi awayA rugged creek-to-ridge traverse ending above Cades Cove.
EasyTwentymile Cascade Trail1.2 mi · 45 min · 4.2 mi awayA short creekside walk ends beside a mossy cascade.
ChallengingTwentymile Trail10.1 mi · 7 hr · 4.2 mi awayA quiet 10-mile climb from Twentymile Creek to the AT.Parkwolf’s Great Smoky Mountains ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
