Spring in the Smoky Mountains
Hello All Looking for a few tips here. We are planning a spring camping trip to the Smoky Mountains in May. We are travelling from Ontario, and will have approx 12 days for the little trip. We fig...
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alot of Wildlife and Bikers also use the parkway. Some are hard to see at times so keep an eye out for them...
Like others have said there is no hookups at the camp grounds on the Parkway. There is a camp site abut every 50 miles down the parkway which were originally designed for tent camping. You do see small trailers at them now. There is also limited gasoline facilities. Maybe just three for the whole 450 miles of it... Speed limits is max at 45MPH but alot of 15MPH and 20MPH curves. There are some tunnels and they are built with the high point in the middle so sometimes you may want to hog the center line to keep from dragging the sides. The tunnels are short length for the most part...
Access except at the main highways that cross over the parkway can be real steep and winding roads just before you get on the parkway. Always plan to get on and off at the major road exits...
We have driven the whole 450 miles from VA to NC a couple of times mainly TENT CAMPING. I have gone to several of the camp grounds and camped with my OFF-ROAD POPUP of late... We will camp in Pigeon Forge TN with hookups sometimes and drive up and down the Smoky Mtn park roads and then maybe run the parkway back to Ashville and bring I40 back to Pigeon Forge. Seems like most of our trips all go Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge... This is magic place for us since back in the 70s...
One of my favorite camp ground is on SKYLINE DRIVE at LOFT MTN that connects to the Blue Ridge Parkway at I64/Afton Mtn. We usually go there two or three times a year. Another very great camping site is Serando Lake just off the parkway near Afton Mtn.
Some camp grounds have a close by way-station with a restaurant and some supplies. Most camp grounds will have a central toilet house and water to haul to your trailer - maybe some camping supplies. Some places get crowded at times as well... Generators are allowed in certain sections of course have generator run time restrictions. We can re-charge our battery banks in a short three hour generator run time during the day using smart mode charging techniques with no problems.
enjoy the parkway...
Roy Ken
Like others have said there is no hookups at the camp grounds on the Parkway. There is a camp site abut every 50 miles down the parkway which were originally designed for tent camping. You do see small trailers at them now. There is also limited gasoline facilities. Maybe just three for the whole 450 miles of it... Speed limits is max at 45MPH but alot of 15MPH and 20MPH curves. There are some tunnels and they are built with the high point in the middle so sometimes you may want to hog the center line to keep from dragging the sides. The tunnels are short length for the most part...
Access except at the main highways that cross over the parkway can be real steep and winding roads just before you get on the parkway. Always plan to get on and off at the major road exits...
We have driven the whole 450 miles from VA to NC a couple of times mainly TENT CAMPING. I have gone to several of the camp grounds and camped with my OFF-ROAD POPUP of late... We will camp in Pigeon Forge TN with hookups sometimes and drive up and down the Smoky Mtn park roads and then maybe run the parkway back to Ashville and bring I40 back to Pigeon Forge. Seems like most of our trips all go Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge... This is magic place for us since back in the 70s...
One of my favorite camp ground is on SKYLINE DRIVE at LOFT MTN that connects to the Blue Ridge Parkway at I64/Afton Mtn. We usually go there two or three times a year. Another very great camping site is Serando Lake just off the parkway near Afton Mtn.
Some camp grounds have a close by way-station with a restaurant and some supplies. Most camp grounds will have a central toilet house and water to haul to your trailer - maybe some camping supplies. Some places get crowded at times as well... Generators are allowed in certain sections of course have generator run time restrictions. We can re-charge our battery banks in a short three hour generator run time during the day using smart mode charging techniques with no problems.
enjoy the parkway...
Roy Ken
