09/16/2026
One of the best slow drives in the Smokies barely asks you to leave your car. The Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail is a 5.5-mile one-way loop just past traffic light 8 in Gatlinburg, winding past glimpses of old-growth forest, preserved log cabins and gristmills, and a rock face called the Place of a Thousand Drips that trickles right beside the road. It's narrow and slow by design, so buses, trailers and motor homes aren't permitted, which is a big part of why it stays so peaceful. Go after a good rain, when the creek the road is named for really does roar.