More than any other state east of the Mississippi, and fourth most in the country
When a guide earns the money here
The case for a guide in Tennessee is permits and gates rather than difficulty. North Cumberland requires an off-highway vehicle permit for any vehicle on its trails and sells a separate guide permit to anyone taking clients, so a legitimate operator there is licensed and can prove it.
The other case is timing. Great Smoky Mountains draws around 12 million visitors a year, more than any other national park in the country, and entry is free so nothing throttles the gate. Someone who knows which hours and which roads are clear is worth a day rate.
A guide earns the fee in the places where the map runs out of detail. They know which wash flooded last week, which gate is locked, where the fuel is, and how long the hard section really takes with a group.
A guided trip usually brings
01Route knowledge and current conditions
02Permits and access already arranged
03Recovery skill and equipment
04A pace that suits the group
05The history and natural history of the place
How to choose a guide
Ask the questions a land manager would.
01Ask whether they hold the permits and insurance required to operate commercially on the land they use.
02Ask about group size and the minimum vehicle requirements.
03Ask what is included: meals, camping gear, communications, a support vehicle.
04Ask about first-aid training and the plan for emergencies.
What to tell a guide
Honesty about experience makes for a better trip.
01Your vehicle and what has been done to it
02Your experience off pavement
03Who is coming, including children and dogs
04Your dates, and what you most want to see
Questions people ask
Do I need a guide?
Not for most travel. A guide earns the fee on routes that are remote, technical or hard to get permits for, and on first trips where you would rather learn than guess.
Can I join a guided trip in my own vehicle?
That is how most overland guiding works. The guide leads in their vehicle, you drive yours, and the trip sets minimum requirements for the vehicles that come.
How high is Tennessee?
From Nashville at 555 feet to Kuwohi (Clingmans Dome) at 6,643.
Altitude decides what your engine, your brakes and your lungs have to work with, and how late in the year the passes open.
02,0004,0006,000
Feet above sea level
Towns
Mountain CityJohnson County seat in the far northeast on TN 91 and US 421, within a few miles of both Virginia and North Carolina.2,420 ft
CrossvilleOn I-40 at the top of the Cumberland Plateau, the halfway service stop between Nashville and Knoxville.1,857 ft
DucktownCopper Basin town on TN 68 at the east end of the Ocoee Scenic Byway, near the Georgia and North Carolina lines.1,740 ft
JamestownOn US 127 on the plateau, between Big South Fork and the Obey River country.1,714 ft
ErwinOn I-26 beside the Nolichucky. Start of the Unaka Mountain circle on TN 395 and gravel Forest Road 230.1,669 ft
ElizabethtonCarter County seat on the Watauga River. TN 143 climbs from here through Roan Mountain to Carvers Gap.1,527 ft
OneidaScott County town on US 27 and the eastern approach to Big South Fork and its Bandy Creek side.1,443 ft
WartburgMorgan County seat between the Obed Wild and Scenic River and Frozen Head, on the plateau north of I-40.1,380 ft
GatlinburgNorth gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Newfound Gap Road and the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail both start here.1,290 ft
LaFolletteCampbell County town on US 25W below the Cumberland Mountains, under the Sundquist Unit of the North Cumberland WMA.1,073 ft
TownsendThe Blount County entrance to the park. Cades Cove, Rich Mountain Road and Parson Branch Road are all reached from this side.1,070 ft
KnoxvilleWhere I-40 meets I-75. The last large city before the Smokies, the Cherokee National Forest and the Cumberland Mountains.899 ft
LawrenceburgOn US 43 in the middle of the Tennessee stretch of the Natchez Trace Parkway, and the last real service town for many miles of it.894 ft
Tellico PlainsWest end of the Cherohala Skyway and the turn onto Forest Road 210 up the Tellico River.875 ft
ChattanoogaWhere I-75 meets I-24 at the foot of the Cumberland Plateau. Nearest city to the Ocoee gorge and the Sequatchie Valley.676 ft
NashvilleState capital where I-40, I-65 and I-24 meet. The Natchez Trace Parkway ends just southwest of the city.555 ft
Passes, high roads and summits
Kuwohi (Clingmans Dome)The highest point in Tennessee. A paved seasonal road runs to the parking area below the summit6,643 ft
KuwohiKuwohi Road: Newfound Gap Road to the Kuwohi visitor center and overlook6,643 ft
Mount Le ConteNo road to it. The Park Service says readings above 80 degrees up here are extremely rare6,593 ft
Roan High KnobCarter County, above Carvers Gap. Our own measurement at the USGS point, not an agency figure6,282 ft
Carvers GapTN 143 to Carvers Gap: Roan Mountain up through Roan Mountain State Park to the state line5,512 ft
Unaka Mountain Scenic Drive (Forest Road 230)A circle from Erwin on TN 395, Forest Road 230 and TN 1075,168 ft
Newfound Gap Road (US 441)Gatlinburg to Cherokee, North Carolina5,046 ft
Big Frog MountainPolk County, in the southern Cherokee National Forest. Our own measurement at the USGS point4,210 ft
Rich Mountain RoadCades Cove out to Tuckaleechee Cove and Townsend3,692 ft
Pass, road and summit elevations are the figures published by the agency that manages them. Town elevations are the town’s or county’s own
figure where it publishes an exact one; the rest are from the U.S. Geological Survey (3D Elevation Program at the place’s official coordinates),
retrieved September 18, 2026. Every source is listed at the foot of the page.
