Smoky Mountains & Mammoth Cave National Parks

Aaron Gurley
Aug 9, 2021
4 min read

Updated: Jun 28

This was our big vacation of 2021 with driving over 1,600 miles, 11 days, 5 states, 2 national parks, 1 white water rafting trip, too-many-to-count s'mores, movie nights and hikes to visit the Great Smoky Mountain NP and Mammoth Cave NP!

When we go to any national park, unfortunately we compare it to our favorite, Rocky Mountains NP. So Smoky had some big shoes to fill. Smoky is a lot smaller of a national park than Rocky but its views are gorgeous with the rolling mountains. When we were planning our path on this trip, we realized another national park was on our way home, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. We added it in and we are so glad we did!

Trip details:

Where: Smoky Mountains/Mammoth Cave National Parks

Campsite: Greenbrier Campground #60 (in Smoky)

Length: 11 days

Itinerary:

Day 1 - Travel day (Stopped at Canal Campground in KY - highly recommend it)

Day 2 - Travel day (arrived at Smoky)

Day 3 - Smoky Mountain NP/Hike Appalachian Trail/Newfound Gap/Clingman's Dome

Day 4 - Smoky Mountain NP/Junior Ranger Program

Day 5 - Smoky Mountain NP/Cades Cove

Day 6 - Smoky Mountain NP/White Water Rafting

Day 7 - Relax Day/Smoky Mountain NP

Day 8 - Travel day to Mammoth Cave

Day 9 - Mammoth Cave Tour/Hiking

Day 10 - Travel day (Stopped in STL)

Day 11 - Travel day

Charlotte's highlights: walking the Appalachian Trail, rafting and the ice cream

Paige's highlights: touring the cave and the movie nights

Greenbrier Campground was, in a word, breathtaking. They had many activities planned throughout the week like nightly ice cream truck visits, volleyball./corn hole and horseshoes to play, a trolley that came to take you to town and movie nights! In addition, the campground was surrounded by a divided river so the girls enjoyed floating the river and swimming!

Our first day in Smoky Mountain National Park. we headed to Newfound Gap which is the state line marker for Tennessee and North Carolina. For some weird reason we didn't get a picture. But we were there! Haha. The drive to this area was beautiful!

Right near the Newfound Gap, was the part of the Appalachian Trail, so we enjoyed hiking maybe 2 miles of the over 2,200 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Needless to say we didn't get to Maine. No animal sightings on our trek but we saw some beautiful views and the weather in August couldn't have been better.

In the afternoon, we decided to make our way over to Clingman's Dome. Clingman's Dome is a man-made observation tower and offers a high viewpoint of the Smoky's. If you are planning to visit Clingman's Dome, please make sure it's a clear blue day. The day started out beautiful but by the afternoon it was more cloudy and we couldn't see as far, which made the trek up not worth it. It was VERY packed and parking is limited. We had to park on the side of the road, which unfortunately made the hike even longer.

Once we got back, we enjoy dinner, an ice cream truck and some s'mores for a second dessert, because why not, along with an outdoor movie featuring Boss Baby Family Business!

Let me just say, Aaron makes the BEST s'mores ever!

We spent another couple days at Great Smoky National Park and the girls had fun doing the Junior Ranger Program. While we were learning about the park and nature around us, we stumbled upon the girl's babysitter, Mabel and the Anstine family from Kansas. I mean, what are the chances that we would find some friends while on a hike at Smoky! Such a small world. Another photo op that was unfortunately missed! But what a great highlight!

Also, we hiked to Laurel Falls hike. It was super busy so if you go, I would recommend going in the morning! It was a good hike and the girls had a blast climbing on all the rocks and ending with a pretty waterfall!

The next day we spent a good part of it at Cades Cove. This was a big highlight and our first black bear sighting! Please make sure to carve a good part of a day to visit this 1800s settlement in a valley. Also, note that if you plan to do Cades Cove on a Wednesday, it's a motor vehicle free day. So plan to go on foot or by bike on the 11-mile loop. We opted for a different day but could easily have enjoyed a bike ride though this settlement since we stopped at practically every cabin, church, cemetery, mill and blacksmith shop. This is a must do!

Another day we enjoyed an afternoon white water rafting trip in Pigeon River though Raft Outdoor Adventures. There were many different companies that were also rafting, so look around to find the best deal! Our rafting company had a couple different options and we chose Lower Pigeon rafting trip because we had a 7 year old at that time. In hindsight, our 7 year old would have been just fine doing something a little more white water and a little less floating. But we still had a great time enjoying the calm of the river. Afterwards, we were starving and found a little outdoor country concert with a chicken and waffle food truck - so yes please!

Another fantastic adventure was when we were heading back home and stoped for a couple of days to visit Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. This was a big highlight of the trip! We all loved the cave and we had a great tour guide. The park offers a TON of tours, but we did the Extended Historic Modified Tour which was a 2-hour tour inside the cave. I'm so glad we got a tour because some people didn't book one and found out later that people weren't allowed to get into the cave without a tour. There were many cool parts of the cave. Fat Man's Misery was a very narrow winding path that would be pretty difficult for a larger and taller person. Needless to say Paige managed it with ease! Hope you all enjoy as much as we did! Of course the girls did their Junior Ranger Program there to to earn another badge!