![]() ![]() If you don’t get a bike on the first pass, then you end up waiting for people to return theirs so the wait times stretch to 90 minutes or more. Last time I rented (June 2020), we were in line at 715 am and we got some of the last bikes by the time we got to the front at 8am. The campground store also rent bikes spring- fall and you are going to want to be first in line when they open at 730am on Wednesdays as the bikes are commonly all gone by 830am. These new passes will help pay for some much needed maintenance throughout the park, including at rest areas and campgrounds. ![]() ![]() The GSMNP website has lots of details and FAQ about the new parking passes. They are not transferable either, meaning you will need one for each car you plan on driving into the park. Passes are $5 for the day, $15 for the week, and $40 for a year. Parking passes can be bought online, at all Visitor Centers, and at a few other places, like the Townsend Visitor Center. As of March 2023, you will need a parking pass to park anywhere in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for more than 15 minutes. You are not required to buy a parking tag to park at your campsite but you will need one if you take your car anywhere else in the park. ***Reservations are STRONGLY recommended, especially in summer and fall when the Smokies are extremely busy. It varies from site to site based on driveway length. The max length of the RV/motorhome allowed is listed in the site description on the website where you can reserve sites. RVs and tents are pretty evenly mixed between the 2 loops although usually you will find a bit more tents on C loop because of the prohibition on generators.Īlmost all sites can be used by RVs and tents except for a few tent-only sites scattered throughout the campground due to the driveway configuration for that specific site. (There are 5 A sites in B Loop and “A” stands for accessible.)Ĭ loop forbids generators while B loop allows generators from 8am- 8pm. The campground is split into 2 loops- B loop and C loop. ![]() Plus, the lack of dense forest means you have an unobstructed view of the ridgelines surrounding the cove, making for fantastic panoramic photos. The park service kept the meadow in the center of Cades Cove instead of letting it reforest so you really get a feel for how the place looked in the late 1800s as a farming community. Nowadays you can drive the 11 mile, one way loop and stop at one of the 10 historic sites along the way, all of which are wonderfully preserved and restored early settler structures. (It is Wikipedia so take everything with a grain of salt but it makes for great reading.) It includes descriptions of family feuds, Confederate marauders, and moonshining. The park has a short introduction to the history of Cades Cove on its website and Wikipedia has a far more detailed, and entertaining, entry. The park service preserved some of their cabins, barns, and even the grist mill starting in 1945, so much of it looks just like it did when the people left. Once a thriving community of over 600 people that farmed and raised cattle, Cades Cove residents were bought out by the federal government when the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was formed in the early 1930s. ![]()
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