Roaring Fork Motor Trail

“Some roads are built to get you somewhere. This one was built to help you notice where you are.”

Welcome to the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, a narrow, winding loop tucked into the forest just outside Gatlinburg, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

This digital audio tour is designed to move at the same pace as the road itself. As you drive, your phone uses GPS to automatically play short stories right where they belong — no buttons to press, no screens to watch. Just listen, and look around.

Along this route, you’ll follow rushing mountain streams, pass hand-built log cabins, and travel through hollows where families once farmed, worshiped, and worked the land. You’ll hear how Roaring Fork got its name, why the forest here looks the way it does today, and how nature slowly reclaimed a once-busy mountain community.

This isn’t a tour you rush through. It’s meant for slow driving, open windows, and quiet moments between stories. The commentary is timed to what’s coming up next — a curve in the road, a cabin in the trees, a creek crossing — so you can keep your attention where it belongs.

Whether this is your first visit or a return trip, this tour invites you to see Roaring Fork not just as a scenic drive, but as a living place shaped by water, weather, and the people who once called it home.

Take a breath. Ease forward.

The story of Roaring Fork begins now.