Great Smoky Mountain Railroad - Winter Excursions

Unless you have taken the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad December Polar Express trip, you might find a train ride an odd suggestion for the winter months. Yet the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad takes riders right into the Smoky Mountains for an up-close look at nature's beauty. Taking the train while the leaves are absent and the mountains deceptively dormant-seeming allows riders to appreciate the foundation of spring, summer and fall's loveliness.

And when the mountain is revealed without its cloak of many colors, we see the shape and texture of the land, the craggy rocks, the forest floor carpeted by years and layers of decaying leaves feeding the generations to come.

The January excursion is a four-hour trip from Bryson City to the Nantahala Gorge with a 30-minute layover. Only available on Saturdays, the trip has an 11 a.m. departure time. In March, the expanded schedule begins again. Also in March, the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad will start offering first-class seating, a new perk.
 
Great Smoky Mountain Railroad, Bryson City, (800) 872-4681.



From the Winston Journal