r/GSMNP

My spouse and I will be visiting in a few weeks, and while we have more than enough hikes earmarked, we were wondering if there was anything else we should check out in the park. Are there any historic sites, visitor centers, views, etc that are worth checking out when we're not hiking?

Hey all, apologies if this has been answered before, but can you park overnight at Abrams Falls Trailhead (with a valid parking tag of course)? Alternatively, can you park overnight at Wet Bottom Trailhead or Cooper Road Trailhead? (I am aware that Cades Cove is closed to cars on Wednesdays, so it wouldn't overlap with that)

I'm looking to do a backpacking trip and would like to start from one of those three trailheads, but I can't find whether overnight parking is allowed there or not. Thanks so much for any help.

Hey all!

Taking a trip the last weekend of September to see a friend in TN in my van. It will be 2 of us & my aussie [edit: I see not very dog friendly... I can leave him home with a sitter]. My hope is to get some good tips, advice & location suggestions! Neither of us have been.

Camping: We are open to campgrounds or off grid [17 foot 9.5 feet tall winnie solis pocket]

Locations: Would like to be near a mountain town. Would like to lean towards an artsy, historical, liberal experience, pet friendly. Was looking at Blowing Rock or Boone?

When: Fall; last weekend in Sept. We will only be in the area for a few days & most likely during the week like Sunday - Wednesday.

Hiking/attractions: Interested in good trail recommendations & suggestions if you recommend an area toss in things to do & or food. We are super open to checking out hikes paired with the culture/town.

I have a couple e-scooters we could bring as well if thats something people think we should do :)

Thanks!

My spouse and I are visiting the first week of September (we'll be in the park only on weekdays), and I've repeatedly heard about how congested parking usually is at the park. Is September usually still pretty busy? Are there certain parking lots that fill up earlier than others?

We're willing and able to get up and going early in the morning to try to beat traffic: is there a certain time we should aim to be parking in order to have a good shot at getting a spot? Are there any less popular parking areas that still have access to good trails, so we can just avoid the congestion altogether?

I am planning a backpacking trip this weekend and would like one of those nights to be on Mount Leconte. I keep running into the issue of finding a 2nd spot to camp, most feasible would be icewater spring shelter but I would like at least 1 night in my tent instead of a shelter.

Any ideas for an alternative route?

I dont necessarily care where I come in the park and I think 8-10 miles per day would be doable. I would prefer to have the Mount Leconte summit on day 2 then exit through alum cave trail. I would appreciate any tips/ideas, I have like 10 different tabs open of reddit and multiple maps and Im stumped.

Hi, I'm going to be visiting for the firs time with someone who can do light hikes (<2 miles) (and doesn't like camping), but the bulk of our moving around and activities would preferably be by car with occasional stops to explore. I don't like the idea of crowds and being stuck in a car for hours, so we're looking to visit in September.

Some questions:

1. I see that October is the busiest for fall foliage, but some sites either say that September also has "early fall color at higher elevations" or group together September, November, and October into one big autumn leaf pile. nps.gov also says that fall foliage can start to appear in mid-September, though I assume this refers to these "higher elevations."

Where, specifically, are these "higher elevations" where we might see fall foliage in September? Are they easily accessible by car?

2. Is early, mid, or late September best? I thought late might give me the best chance for more leaves, but I don't know if maybe crowds start to reach October levels toward the end of September. Or maybe there's no meaningful difference?

3. For lunch, do people typically eat outside the park and then come back in? Or do they buy food from outside the park earlier in the day and bring it in to eat inside? I figured we could eat breakfast and dinner in Townsend (which I read on here was a good place to stay), but the park looks too big to drive in and out of just for lunch...maybe I'm mistaken?

My husband and I will be staying in Gatlinburg for a few days and we had intended to do two days of hiking. We are relatively fit and so originally I had planned for us to hike Alumm Cave Trail to Mount LeConte. I saw that this was not going to be accessible next week. I pivoted and started exploring the option of hiking along the AT to Charlie's Bunion and it seems that is also not accessible. First, is this accurate that neither of these trails will be an option when traveling from Gatlinburg? And if not, what are some other good recommendations that will be available to us that will take up a good portion of the day and offer nice views. On day two, we were going to do a few of the waterfall hikes (Grotto, Rainbow and/or Baskin Creek) so I was looking for something different on day one. Would Chimney Top be a good option? An others?