Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most-visited national park in the United States and spans across portions of North Carolina and Tennessee.
While there isn't an entrance fee, you will need a parking permit if you plan to park somewhere within the national park for longer than 15 minutes. You can purchase a pass for either a day ($5), a week ($15), or 1 year ($40). The park does honor the Free Entrance Days and does not require a parking pass on those dates. You can purchase passes in person at select locations, from kiosks (daily/weekly only), or online (to print - daily/weekly - or to ship - annual).
Before I enter a park, I do a few different things while I still have WiFi. Most parks have little to no cell service, so I like to download offline content. I download offline maps on Google Maps — to do this, open the app and click on your photo in the top right-hand corner. Navigate to offline maps, click on select your own map. Use your fingers to zone in on the national park and click download. I also have the official National Park Service app downloaded on my phone. You can search for the parks you’re visiting, favorite them, and download the relevant park for offline use.
I also use AllTrails. I did pay for AllTrails+ ($35.99/year) this year since my husband and I have been doing a lot of hiking. You can create different lists and then save specific hikes underneath the relevant list. You can also download offline content for specific trails in this app. I always have a few different trails scoped out and the offline content downloaded for each trail I am considering doing.
We recently moved to Knoxville, which means we're roughly an hour from the park. What a dream come true! We've already been 3 times, and I foresee many more visits in our future. We have been getting daily passes from the Great Smokies Welcome Center in Townsend, TN when we head into the park. I think we'll be getting an annual pass shortly - We just weren't quite sure how often we'd be visiting the park when we first moved out here.
The first time we visited (10/5/24), we set out to hike the Laurel Falls Trail. The trailhead is off of Fighting Creek Gap Road in Sevierville, and it is a really popular trail. We actually had to park a ways away and walk a decent distance to the trailhead because the parking lot at the trailhead was full. There were a lot of people out hiking, but it was still quite enjoyable, and the trail dead-ends at the beautiful 80-foot Laurel Falls. The waterfall is divided in between the upper and lower falls, and the trail will lead you to a cross-bridge at the base of the upper falls. It was early October, and the leaves were ever so slightly beginning to change colors. It was still warm outside, but the trail was very shaded, so I never got too hot. There are no bathrooms at this trailhead (or anywhere nearby), so plan ahead for that.
Distance: 2.4 miles
Trail Type: out-and-back
Difficulty: easy to moderate
The second time we visited (10/27/24), we set out to hike Buckeye Trail to Spruce Flats Falls. The fall foliage was near peak, the trail was not crowded at all, and it was STUNNING. This was one of my favorite waterfall trails I've done, and I found out about it from a super nice barista at Sunago Coffee in Knoxville who'd overheard me mention that I'd just moved to the area and loved hiking. He gave me a few other trail recommendations that I am hoping to check out in the future. The falls are around 30-feet tall, so I was thinking they might be more on the unimpressive side because I've seen some much larger waterfalls this year. I was so wrong - I was blown away, and I would definitely hike this trail again.
The trail to the falls is not on the official park map, so I would classify this as a hidden gem! From the Townsend Entrance Road, take Laurel Creek Road towards Cades Cove, and turn onto Tremont Road. From there, you'll take a left on GRSM Institute Bridge/Tremont Environmental Education Center Rd. Park at Tremont Visitor Center to access the trailhead. When you're ready to start your hike, you'll look for a wooden sign that says Lumber Ridge Trail. Below it, a paper sign was attached marked with an arrow guiding you to Spruce Flats Falls. There were a few other paper signs marked with directions to Spruce Flats Falls along the trail, so we didn't have any trouble finding our way.
Distance: I'm seeing some differing information when I look up the trail length online. I think I did a great job of starting and ending this hike at the right times in my AllTrails app. The stats it gave me were 1.8 miles (though AllTrails has it marked as 1.6 miles). I think the additional 0.2 miles might come from starting along the Lumber Ridge Trail until you get to Buckeye Trail Junction.
Trail Type: out-and-back
Difficulty: easy to moderate
During this visit, we also just drove around some when we finished our hike. We stopped at the Sinks and walked around to take a few photos. The Sinks are located off of the Little River Road scenic drive. In this area, you'll also find the trailhead for Meigs Creek Trail (roughly 7 miles, classified as difficult, with a lot of creek crossings).
Note: If you're visiting during warmer months and you want to swim, the strong currents of the Sinks and the undertow are quite dangerous. The park advises against swimming here because of multiple drownings or serious injury accidents that have occurred.
The park has an abundance of pullouts on the side of the roads for you to stop and get out, stretch your legs, snap a few photos, etc. We stopped at one or two during our second visit.
Our third visit on Sunday, November 10, 2024 was just to drive the 11-mile Cades Cove scenic loop. South of Townsend, you'll find an enchanting area of the park called Cades Cove. It's a valley in the park that is surrounded by mountainous views on all sides. The scenic loop is free to drive, and it's a one-way road. If you're wanting to do any of the hikes in Cades Cove, or if you plan to park for an extended period of time, you'll need to get your parking pass before you start the loop. We didn't park anywhere long enough to need the parking pass, but there's a kiosk location for parking tags right before you begin the scenic loop at Cades Cove Orientation Shelter.
If you plan to do this, allow yourself several hours. Try to be courteous to others enjoying the park and utilize the pullouts if you're wanting to take pictures or view wildlife. If you stop for an extended period of time in the middle of the road, other cars cannot get around you, and you're suddenly creating or contributing to a traffic jam. It took us forever to complete the loop because people would stop for several minutes for what seemed like no reason. It was still very enjoyable and beautiful though! The leaves were past peak fall foliage during this visit, and it was very cloudy. I think this is something I will want to do again at another time, and I am dying to hike to Abrams Falls.
From what I read, the best time to see black bears is between 6 and 9 am or 5 and 7 pm. We did see one from a distance. If you do encounter any wildlife, please view them from a safe distance of at least 50 yards away. They are wild animals, & you are in their territory and their home. We did also see several wild turkeys!
Cades Cove was one of my best friend's father's favorite places. I thought of him when we were driving the loop, and if you find yourself there, I hope you stop for a moment and think of a kind man and loving father named James who left this Earth too soon.
Cades Cove Hours: open from sunrise to sunset
Note: Closed to vehicles every Wednesday (May to September)
Comments