Skip to content

Smoke gets in our Eyes

Smoky mountain views

Why are these mountains called the Smoky Mountains

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is home to millions of plants. Through a process called Transpiration, where these plants exhale more than 90% of the water they bring up through their roots. As the water vapors touch the atmosphere, this process cools the ambient air around it creating the iconic wisps of smoke we see in our mountains. The Cherokee called this place, Shaconage (Sha kon a hey), land of blue mist like smoke.

Leave a Reply