We are planning a trip in the fall to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and I am looking for any suggestions/feedback on what the best campground/campsites are in the park. Any information would be much appreciated!
Smokemont on the NC side of the park is nice too. If you have time, why not stay a few nights at a couple of different campgrounds? Beautiful national park!
What alot of folks do is camp just outside the Natl Park Entrance at TOWNSEND TN which is full hookups and also has the same creek that runs from the Natl park. It is not your Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge hustle bustle scene in Townsend.
Then you can go into the Natl Park during the day for the hiking and Cades Cove in early afternoon and check out the Clingmans Dome at 6600 feet up.. Now I wanna go hehe...
My pick of the Natl Park sites would be ELKMONT probably because this is where I have been going since the early 60's None of the Smokey Natl Park sites have hookups but do have nice rest rooms and water available.
Me camping at Elkmont...
photos from google images
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My Posts are IMHO based on my experiences - PM me Roy and Carolyn
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They all are nice and all have their own ambiance. Cataloochee is not rarely used. It is the only CG that you have to have reservations period, no drive ups. I have been in most the CG's and the one that has the least use and least amenities is Cosby. They are very seldom at capacity. If you like to fish and hike that is one to consider. The CG is hilly and the sites are on the small side over all.
Elkmont is great, but the NPS cg's don't have FHU. We are wimps and really appreciate the "finer things in life" like electric, water and sewer. We have found several campgrounds that we like in the area. Misty River RV Park, which is outside of Townsend, TN on the Cade's Cove side of the mtn is nice, has great bathhouse facilities, and is FHU. The owners are great.
Pine Mtn RV Park in Pigeon Forge is our favorite in PF. It is FHU, new, has several pools, and is the center of EVERYTHING in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area.
Smoky Bear in Cosby is nice, also has great on-site owners. The place is kept clean, but sites are small (like most of the area RV Parks).
As stated above, ELkmont is a great campground and we do go see the fireflies there every other year, but we get a tent site there and leave our chairs, tubes for floating and our tent; but, we get a FHU site down in Pigeon Forge to stay in. DUring the day, we float the river, hang out, then see the fireflies and THEN we head off the mountain to our place with air conditioning and showers. It's the best of both worlds.
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