I spend one day in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, visiting Cades Cove and Clingman’s Dome and camping at Cades Cove campground.
Waking Up in Cades Cove
It’s a brisk, bright Sunday morning and the dew on the window of my van obfuscates the details of my surroundings. Through my vent, I can hear a generator powering up in the site behind me as the sleepy little campground at Cades Cove in Great Smoky Mountains National Park starts to wake up.
The thought of a hot, steaming cup of coffee, along with the smell of bacon wafting through the campground, is all too alluring and I quickly slide out of bed and into a fleece. My thoughts are on breakfast already and as the coffee brews, I chop potatoes and some of my own bacon and start the camp stove.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles the rugged North Carolina-Tennessee border and is America’s most visited national park. It is one of the most diverse biospheres in the world: if you drive from the bottom of the park along the Pigeon River to the top of the park at Clingman’s Dome, you pass through enough different climate zones to simulate driving from Georgia to Maine. Access to Great Smoky Mountains is possible at several different locations, but the main entrance and main visitors center (Sugarlands) are located just east of Gatlinburg, Tennessee on US 441. US 441 runs through the park between the Gatlinburg entrance at Sugarlands and the Cherokee, NC entrance at Occonoluftee.
With breakfast out of the way and the dishes done, I wander over to the map planted at the entrance to the campground and start to plan my day. Staying in Cades Cove gives easy access to one of Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s main attractions and that’s where I decide to start my day.
Driving the Cades Cove Loop
Driving the Cades Cove Loop is one thing you should not miss when you visit the Smokies. The 11-mile loop takes 1-2 hours to drive as the traffic is steady and slow moving and the road narrow and winding. Taking time to stop at different overlooks, historic buildings, and exhibits will add on time. I believe my drive took about 3 hours with several stops to see churches, hear music, and take advantage of the many photo opps along the way.
Feeling adventurous, we take a left onto a gravel road off the main Cades Cove loop and discover a 19th century Baptist church with a unique musician inside. The musician, a local man who simply likes to spend his Sunday afternoons playing in the church, carries two psalters, stringed instruments similar to a bowed dulcimer. The acoustics are better here because the walls aren’t painted, he explains simply, gesturing around the room. It’s the only church in Cades Cove that isn’t painted inside and the natural surface of the wood creates a better resonance in the room. Then, as if to let me in on a little secret, he gestures to the ceiling. Handprints. He tells me that, when the church was being built, children often held the beams in place for the men to secure. To avoid splinters, the children smeared their hands with bear grease, leaving behind greasy handprints that are still visible. Then, just to emphasize where I am, he sits down and breaks into Dixie on his psalter.
Back on the main loop road, we follow the line as it snakes through glens and dells, over knolls and streams, creeping deeper into the cove. From the hilly valley sides to the swampy bottoms in the middle and on across the cove for what seems like miles, the grass that covers the valley floor waves in the wind, harkening back to the peaceful, agrarian lifestyle of the cove’s former inhabitants.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is BIG!
Exiting Cades Cove, you are in the farthest western reaches of the park and repositioning back to Sugarlands or up to Clingman’s Dome takes longer than the distance implies. My drive from Cades Cove to Clingman’s Dome takes about an hour and 20 minutes. The drive through the park is absolutely gorgeous however, as the first 40 minutes will have you following the Pigeon River through the mountains. The road splits from the river at Sugarlands and you start to climb towards Newfound Gap. As you drive, you’ll pass the Chimneys, which is one of the more well-known hikes in the park. You’ll also pass the parking area for the Mt. LeConte and Alum Cave trailheads on your way to Clingman’s Dome. The hike to LeConte is over 10 miles round trip and takes up the better part of the day, so most visitors just hike to the Alum Cave before turning around.
Clingman’s Dome
Clingman’s Dome stands at 6,644 feet above sea level, a mere 40 feet short of being the highest point on the East coast. The ¾ mile long hike to the top is rather steep but is paved all the way. It’s not considered wheelchair accessible, though I heard rumors they may be adding an elevator to the top eventually.
As I arrive to the top of the climb, huffing and puffing, I quickly realize that there will be no view today. While the observation tower offers 360 degree views of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the clouds have surrounded the mountaintop and ruined any chance of enjoying the scenery. Along with a biting cold wind, the clouds make the observation tower a less than ideal place to linger and we head back down the mountain. Despite the lack of a view on that day, Clingman’s Dome is absolutely worth a stop. The views from slightly farther down the slope of Clingman’s Dome are spectacular and worth the drive in and of themselves.
After Clingman’s Dome, my day is winding to an end and I start the long trek back to Cades Cove campground for dinner and an evening in the hammock, by the fire. In the mountains, the sun sets slowly and then all of a sudden. I watch the shadows grow longer and wider until they meld into one unified evening. The crackle of the fire, the rush of the stream not far from my campsite, all melt together into one sweet serenade as evening falls on Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Parker Outside 