Pulling thru Gatlinburg

Thanks Ken56 and everyone else for the tips, really helped for planning our trip.

Dan

I would not try to tow into downtown Gatlinburg. We stayed up East Parkway from Twin Creek Park at Camping In the Smokies twice, came down from Newport both times. Traffic in the whole Pigeon Forge Gatlinburg area is bad, and even affects the trolleys.

Yes, fair assessment of the situation. Tour busses go thru G'burg all the time so pulling thru it you just take the space on the road that you need. You don't go all that fast anyway cuz its just too jammed up to. Foot hills is close to the south end of Pigeon Forge and the by pass and a good central location for everything. Both have trolley stops if you are inclined to take it instead of driving around town. Veterans parkway will get you by most of the traffic on the main drag too but not all. any advantage there is good. If for some unfortunate reason you may need RV service Ricky's RV service is on Veterans Parkway and has a mobile tech and does good work. Look on line for coupons for the area attractions and restaurants.

ken56 wrote:
Hammerboy, the choices for RV parks are numerous here and if you are not heart set on staying at Twin Creek then foothills is a good choice. That's the whole issue, do you want to be close to the action and a trolley stop or would you prefer to be outside of town and have some peace and quiet and a not so urban setting.

The offerings a bit further out of G'burg on 321 are quite nice as RV parks go, the parks in Pigeon Forge are adequate too just not in a wooded setting and a little more in all the activity. It all depends on what you want for an experience. When time is a factor then being right close by everything can be a good thing. If you don't mind driving to the hustle and bustle then outside of town is a more relaxing. I am sure you know what you would like, its narrowing down all the choices is what becomes confusing. Again, any questions just post them here or feel free to PM me.

Yes, there are a lot of rv parks in the area and I'm sure I looked at them all at least twice lol. We'd like to have easier access to the Smokies as we spend more time there but yet close to craziness too. The cabin we rented a couple of summers ago was pretty close to Twin Creek and the Food city grocery store. I really liked that area and that's why Twin creek is my first choice. Foothills I think is a close second as its on the edge of Pigeon forge and a bypass away from the NP. I don't want to camp in the middle of of the action just the edge if that makes sense.

Based on my original question, the answer sounds like Twin Creek might be a little more challenging to get to with telephone poles, tight roads, and a difficult or impossible right turn into The Twin Creek Park off 321, or I take the long but easier way around to the I40/Newport exit. Foothills I'm guessing I could go thru Pigeon Forge via the Veteran pky fairly well. Both places are on the trolley stop as well. Does this sound like an accurate assessment for getting to either rv park?

Hammerboy, the choices for RV parks are numerous here and if you are not heart set on staying at Twin Creek then foothills is a good choice. That's the whole issue, do you want to be close to the action and a trolley stop or would you prefer to be outside of town and have some peace and quiet and a not so urban setting.

The offerings a bit further out of G'burg on 321 are quite nice as RV parks go, the parks in Pigeon Forge are adequate too just not in a wooded setting and a little more in all the activity. It all depends on what you want for an experience. When time is a factor then being right close by everything can be a good thing. If you don't mind driving to the hustle and bustle then outside of town is a more relaxing. I am sure you know what you would like, its narrowing down all the choices is what becomes confusing. Again, any questions just post them here or feel free to PM me.

ken56 wrote:
Former Michigander here, moved to the area 3 yrs ago and haven't looked back. We love it here. If you have never visited the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area before I highly recommend going to exit 435 and come in from the east. Like others have said there is a Wally world there to get what ever you need and the traffic will be sooooo much better. Depending on the time of summer you are coming here I have seen traffic backed up from the exit (407) on I-40 all the way to Pigeon forge and beyond, some 20+ miles and the possibility of it taking you 2 hours to go that distance, again depending on the day of the week too.

There is so much to see and do here and Dollywood is a great park to visit, with kids or not. Lots of dinner shows, Dixie Stampede is a great one, the Titanic Museum is worth while, the aquarium in G'burg is top notch and there are so many great restaurants you can choose from. Should you have any questions just ask, glad to help out.

This does seem like the way to go. We did rent a cabin here two summers ago around the Fourth of July and we loved it there also. At that time I was't really paying attention to the ability to pull a fifth wheel thru there.

The only other thought I had is to stay at Foothills rv park on the south end of Pigeon Forge. It looks like a great small park that is centrally located to either Galinburg or Pigeon Forge. I wouldn't have to travel all the way to exit 435 and I could take the veteran pkwy thru Pigeon Forge.

We use Twin Creeks RV parkand go through Pigeon Forge we don't have to pull thru Gatlinburg which is a pain since the Twin Creeks campground is before you get to town. Good location close to shopping, restaurants and on the trolley line to the shopping loop and town and the Park entrance. Pigeon Forge is a traffic jam but if you go a couple blocks and use the secondary route it helps a lot. the turn into Twin creeks is a little tight but it is a nice well run campground, a little expensive, you might even see a black bear.

Former Michigander here, moved to the area 3 yrs ago and haven't looked back. We love it here. If you have never visited the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area before I highly recommend going to exit 435 and come in from the east. Like others have said there is a Wally world there to get what ever you need and the traffic will be sooooo much better. Depending on the time of summer you are coming here I have seen traffic backed up from the exit (407) on I-40 all the way to Pigeon forge and beyond, some 20+ miles and the possibility of it taking you 2 hours to go that distance, again depending on the day of the week too.

There is so much to see and do here and Dollywood is a great park to visit, with kids or not. Lots of dinner shows, Dixie Stampede is a great one, the Titanic Museum is worth while, the aquarium in G'burg is top notch and there are so many great restaurants you can choose from. Should you have any questions just ask, glad to help out.

Try to avoid weekends starting on Friday evening through Sunday evening. Traffic is a problem all the time but especially on weekends. Veteran's Blvd is a real time saver, used very little!!

No matter which way you go, you should be fine, except for the traffic. These are tourist areas, with thousands of rv's big and small traveling these roads. They're navigable, guaranteed.