What makes the Great Smoky Mountains smoky?

The US is home to 63 stunning national parks. But  the most visited one, the Great Smoky Mountains.   The Smokies are amazing, particularly because of  their beautiful landscapes and biodiversity.   I particularly love "Smoky streams,"  which are these cascading, tumbling,   beautiful bits of water. We get a lot of  folks who come here for the leaf season,   but the colors are vibrant all year round, and  we're so fortunate to be in this beautiful   place.

These mountains are widely called  shaconage, which is a Cherokee word meaning  

blue. People often embellish the translation to  say the land of blue smoke or the place of blue   smoke. There's a Dolly Parton song that's  famous that uses that word. But what gives   these mountains their iconic blue hazy effect? And  what is their significance to the Cherokee people?

The Smoky Mountains are located on the borders  of Tennessee and North Carolina. In 1926,    President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill authorizing  the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National   Park. It's over 500,000 acres and home to over  20,000 documented species. The Smokies' location   and landscape contribute to its temperate climate. 

My name is Stephanie Kyriazis and I'm the chief of   resource education here at Great Smoky Mountains  National Park. I think the landscape is much  

more dramatic in person. You get on some of the  ridges or some of the overlooks and there's just   layer after layer of mountains that  you can see. This helps to create the weather   pattern called orographic precipitation or relief  rainfall. It's a temperate rainforest. We do get   a significant amount of precipitation the  difference from the rainforest you may think   about.