Community Forums

lshew · 08-17-2013, 08:28 PM

We are headed to the Great Smoky Mountains. We have 40' MH and are wondering if anyone has been into Smokmont or Cades Cove camp sites? Our obvious concerns are access roads and suitability for larger MH.
Thanks

HHg · 08-17-2013, 08:43 PM

We stayed at Cove Mountain RV and it was wonderful. Very quiet, great views and extremely large sites with full hook ups. You won't regret staying there. One of my top 2 or 3 parks we've ever stayed at.

Hhg

MN_Traveler · 08-17-2013, 10:33 PM

We were just there and stayed at the tremont resort. Nice place (quiet!) ... Especially if you can score a site next to the river

TheLoveCoach · 08-18-2013, 05:59 AM

We stayed at the KOA in Townsend, right at the entrance to the park. The road up to Cade's Cove is a small, curvy two lane. I remember us commenting we were glad we didn't try to bring the rig up there. If I remember right, there are no hookups in Cade's Cove. Most people were small campers, trailers, and tents. Since we were staying a week, they probably wouldn't appreciate us running a generator. We would stay at that KOA again.

Chillbilly · 08-18-2013, 07:07 AM

The "Bible", if you're visiting that area is, "Campgrounds In And Around The Great Smoky Mountains National Park", by Grueen Huffman. It describes each site, length, width, terrain, etc., complete with pictures, in every campground within an hours drive of the park. It is available on Amazon.

rexabbot · 08-18-2013, 08:24 AM

No one seems to have read your post.

Yes you can get into Cades Cove.

Melmoses · 08-18-2013, 08:48 AM

But would you want to do it? I wouldn't - the access roads are tight for a 40' in my opinion. I suggest that maybe you look at the campground and access using Google or Bing maps. Then decide if you want to attempt it.

tstep · 08-18-2013, 09:55 AM

I have spent the last 2 months here in Pigeon Forge and we have seen all sizes rigs in the campground there. Yes, a lot of people do run their gen. but I believe they have a quiet hour. If you bike be sure to bring yours. They currently have a bike or walking only on Wed. and Sat. morning till 10:am. We have had a tremendous amount of rain this year and the park and especially Cade's Cove is beautiful.

pddgm · 08-18-2013, 02:45 PM

We recently took a car trip thru the park to check out the campgrounds, the lady at the visitors center told us that most rigs over 35 ft had problems, especially if you are towing anything. After I drove down into some of them, I wouldn't take my 33 with a tow dolly and car behind it down in there. Also was told you can run your generator 2-3 hrs a day and they do enforce the quiet time. There is no rule about not running your gen for 8 hrs a day, just if there are complaints you are going to be asked to turn it off. Also, the rates aren't that great and some area campgrounds are about the same rates with full hookups. Only elec in available, at least in the area we checked out..

joe

lofton3786 · 08-18-2013, 02:55 PM

If you are towing an auto, Cove Creek Campground in Wears Valley is a great midpoint for Cades Cove, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge. Easy access to any of these areas, Great mountain views from the campground.
Personally I would not take anything over 35ft up that road. There are some mountain tunnels on the road going to Cades Cove also and not sure of the clearance.
Several great campgrounds in the area!!!!!!!!!

jzick · 08-18-2013, 03:03 PM

Quote:

We recently took a car trip thru the park to check out the campgrounds, the lady at the visitors center told us that most rigs over 35 ft had problems, especially if you are towing anything.

We did the same thing last summer, and decided we did not want to take our 35' motorhome and towd into Cades Cove. We maybe could have made it, but it did not seem worth the effort to us. We do day trips into the park when visiting the area.

palehorse89 · 08-18-2013, 03:16 PM

This resort is a little pricey Two Rivers Landing RV Resort Near Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee but is super quite, mostly set up for the adult crowd, the photo page will speak for it self. The photo's were from when the resort was built, the landscaping between the lots are high enough that you don't see the lot next to you.

Savannahdan · 08-18-2013, 03:43 PM

We just returned from Cades Cove. We have a 36 foot MH and have a Toyota Highlander on a tow dolly. The roads are tight and I was by far the largest camper there. A few times I took a little more than my share of the road. There are tunnels as well so be sure you avoid them such as Mary's Rock Tunnel. There is no hook ups and generator use is restricted to two hours in the am and two hours in the pm, which for us was not enough time to fully charge our batteries. Some areas are generator free as well. The sites are not level at all and we had to park our car at our friends site. We love camping in state and national parks but when we return to GSMNP we'll stay somewhere outside of the park. Cades Cove really is a great campground though with lots to do. The GSM's is definitely on of my favorite national parks.

lshew · 08-19-2013, 07:42 PM

Thank you all for your information concerning Smokmont or Cades Cove camp sites. From the comments we are going to a private campground and just drive into the park each day.