Has anyone spent time in Smokey Mountain National Park?
Discussion
6 replies
Posted by Jon Leibowitz on April 13, 2007 at 9:40 PM
I will be driving through the park and surrounding areas on my way to Vermont next week. I plan on spending at least 4 or 5 days in the park. Unfortunately, the regional forum here for the mid atlantic is DEAD. Has anyone spent time there? I'm looking for at least 1 overnight hike that loops back to the car, and then some good day hikes. Preferably with waterfalls and sunset locations. No idea if anyone here has spent ANY time there, let alone know anything about it, but if you get some advice...send it my way.
I bought the topo map from NatGeo and it has all the trails marked, but no information on them. So a name drop will be good, then I can mark it on my map.
Also...should I be worried about solo hiking with the amount of bears in the area? I will take normal precautions: bear bell, bear box for food, hanging my food in a tree..yada yada.
Posted by Bruce Painter on April 13, 2007 at 10:41 PM
Jon,
I get up there a few times a year. I spend most of my time in the Cades Cove, area near Townsend TN, because of the wildlife. There are a lot of good scenic locations also in and around the cove. Close by, on the Foothills parkway with access between Townsend and Maryville, there are a couple of good pullouts for sunrise. I met Willard Clay at the first pullout last fall and just missed NPN's Lori Kincaid, as she was one of Mr. Clay's instructors for the weekend. River scenes in the Tremount is or was nice with some small falls and cascades but I have not been since a big storm brought down a lot of trees in that area last fall. Little River road is also great. Morton overlook on Newfound Gap road is a standard for sunsets but there are also other pullouts near Morton OL. Not knocking the mid-atlantic forum but for the Smokies go to the Southeast regional forum and post. There are folks there with a lot more knowledge of the Smokey mountains than me. Some of which will be photographing in that area at least once a week. They can inform you as to the most recent conditions and other areas that I have not mentioned.
I am not very familiar with many of the hiking trails but someone on the Southeast forum I'm sure could help. Oh, and from what I have experenced the bears are not really something to be worried about. While they can be dangerous (there was a fatal attack in TN south of the Smokey mountain National Park last year) that is the exception.
I'm certainly no expert on GSMNP but I have hiked a few trails in the area and spent a couple weeks camping there. I would say that bear bells are overkill. There are lots of bears and if you take normal precautions while camping you shouldn't have any trouble.
As for suggestions, the hike to Ramsey Falls was one of the prettiest we did while there. Rainbow Falls and Grotto Falls are very pretty, too.
I recommend you order or pick up Nye Simmons book, "The Smoky Mountains Photographers Guide". Tons of great info, lots of killer photos and it's very inexpensive. You can see more about it here: http://simmonsphotoarts.com/Book/book.htm. No, I don't earn a commission on it!
Yeah, you can nix the bear bells Jon. The black bears are pretty mild just watch for cubs and mommas! Precautions at night are justified though.
Where are you coming from that the Smokies are on your way to Vermont? (They're probably 15 hrs. away from each other minimum). Bret mentioned Ramsey Cascade which is in the Greenbrier section of the park which has lots of nice stream shots and possibly nice flowers along the Porter's Creek trail. I haven't backpacked there, but you might be able to find a loop using the Appalachian trail for a leg.
Posted by Jon Leibowitz on April 14, 2007 at 4:15 AM
yeh, ill be coming from the carolina side (florida to vermont). I'll look into the places you have all mentioned, thanks!
Posted by Jody Grigg on April 14, 2007 at 10:31 AM
Jon,
You need to post the question in the SENP forum. For waterfalls you want to checkout ncwaterfalls.com, the best area for water falls in NC is Transylvania County, it is called the “Land of Waterfalls” due to the 250 waterfalls located throughout the county. You could stay in the Brevard area. Sunrise in GSMNP Clingmans Dome, Sunset Mortens Overlook. That's my 2 cents. I will be back in the smokies in about 3 weeks myself.
I made a quick visit there a cople years ago. Here's one more recommendation for Campbell and Simmons book, The Smoky Mountains Photographer's Guide (ISBN 0-9745526-0-7), which you will probably find in local bookstores in the area. It pretty much covers all the hot spots with hiking/trail information. Good time of the year to go!
Discussion
6 repliesI bought the topo map from NatGeo and it has all the trails marked, but no information on them. So a name drop will be good, then I can mark it on my map.
Also...should I be worried about solo hiking with the amount of bears in the area? I will take normal precautions: bear bell, bear box for food, hanging my food in a tree..yada yada.
I get up there a few times a year. I spend most of my time in the Cades Cove, area near Townsend TN, because of the wildlife. There are a lot of good scenic locations also in and around the cove. Close by, on the Foothills parkway with access between Townsend and Maryville, there are a couple of good pullouts for sunrise. I met Willard Clay at the first pullout last fall and just missed NPN's Lori Kincaid, as she was one of Mr. Clay's instructors for the weekend. River scenes in the Tremount is or was nice with some small falls and cascades but I have not been since a big storm brought down a lot of trees in that area last fall. Little River road is also great. Morton overlook on Newfound Gap road is a standard for sunsets but there are also other pullouts near Morton OL. Not knocking the mid-atlantic forum but for the Smokies go to the Southeast regional forum and post. There are folks there with a lot more knowledge of the Smokey mountains than me. Some of which will be photographing in that area at least once a week. They can inform you as to the most recent conditions and other areas that I have not mentioned.
I am not very familiar with many of the hiking trails but someone on the Southeast forum I'm sure could help. Oh, and from what I have experenced the bears are not really something to be worried about. While they can be dangerous (there was a fatal attack in TN south of the Smokey mountain National Park last year) that is the exception.
Bruce
I'm certainly no expert on GSMNP but I have hiked a few trails in the area and spent a couple weeks camping there. I would say that bear bells are overkill. There are lots of bears and if you take normal precautions while camping you shouldn't have any trouble.
As for suggestions, the hike to Ramsey Falls was one of the prettiest we did while there. Rainbow Falls and Grotto Falls are very pretty, too.
I recommend you order or pick up Nye Simmons book, "The Smoky Mountains Photographers Guide". Tons of great info, lots of killer photos and it's very inexpensive. You can see more about it here: http://simmonsphotoarts.com/Book/book.htm. No, I don't earn a commission on it!
Hope you have a great time!
Where are you coming from that the Smokies are on your way to Vermont? (They're probably 15 hrs. away from each other minimum). Bret mentioned Ramsey Cascade which is in the Greenbrier section of the park which has lots of nice stream shots and possibly nice flowers along the Porter's Creek trail. I haven't backpacked there, but you might be able to find a loop using the Appalachian trail for a leg.
You need to post the question in the SENP forum. For waterfalls you want to checkout ncwaterfalls.com, the best area for water falls in NC is Transylvania County, it is called the “Land of Waterfalls” due to the 250 waterfalls located throughout the county. You could stay in the Brevard area. Sunrise in GSMNP Clingmans Dome, Sunset Mortens Overlook. That's my 2 cents. I will be back in the smokies in about 3 weeks myself.
Ken