Appendix Passage, The Campsites, North Carolina: Great Smoky Mountains NP Campgrounds. A Wayƒarer′s Campsites (CRS)

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Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NC-Tn

The Smoky Mountains National Park

Our National Heritage

The people of this nation are told that these parks are the national heritage belonging to the people of this nation, and yet to gain entrance to any National Park, each arriving vehicle must pay a entrance fee of as much as $35.00 just to get through the gate. Yes, the US government has acquired a monopoly on the national parks. ¹

This is no joke, the national parks are big business for the government. It will be so nice with God′s Kingdom controls all of the earth, then God′s people can begin to see these wonders and they will not have to go into debt to go on a vacation.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park in the US, receiving twelve and a half million visitors each year, more than twice the number than the national park in second place, Grand Canyon.

However, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park does not charge an entrance fee to gain access to the park. Why? Back in the 1930s, the land that is now the park was privately owned. The states of Tennessee and North Carolina paid to construct US 441, Newfound Gap Road, over the Smoky Mountains. When the state of Tennessee transferred ownership of Newfound Gap Road and the surrounding land over to be used as a national park, the state stipulated that no toll or license fee shall ever be imposed to travel the road.

Thus, this national park is very well visited and it does not charge any visitors an entrance fee.

Geographical Region

This location is included it the Appalachian Mountains Region of North Carolina, in the Southwestern Appalachians Ecoregion

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Campgrounds

There are several campgrounds located within this national park.

Please See these campgrounds listed in The Camping section below.

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Onsite:

Nearby:

The Appalachian Trail

The Appalachian Trail (AT) traverses seventy-two miles along the high path in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on a footpath which mostly follows the Tennessee-North Carolina border.

Entering from the south side of the park, the AT crosses the top of Fontana Dam, ascends up 7.6 miles to Doe Knob on the high path, which is also the Tennessee-North Carolina state line and then follows the state line in a northeasterly direction another 24.4 miles to reach Clingmans Dome, the high point on the entire Appalachian Trail.

A Wayƒarers Campsites Great Smoky Mountains National Park

(m4camp-04-nc-greatsmoky-2013-0921.1715) The High Trail in the Smoky Mountains

After summiting the Dome, the AT continues 9.3 miles and cross the only road along the AT in the Smoky Mountains at Newport Gap. Then, the AT travels another 30.3 miles across the high trail before exiting the northeast end of the Smoky Mountains at Davenport Gap.

(m4camp-04-nc-greatsmoky-2013-0921.1515) The High Trail, notice the White Blaze Marks

It takes an average of seven days to hike the full 71.6 miles of the AT in the Smoky Mountains.

Backcountry Trails

The Appalachian Trail is only one relatively short trail of what is available in the backcountry. In fact, there are a total of nearly 900 miles of backcountry trails in the Smoky Mountains; a very impressive amount of foot paths.

The Camping

General Information:

All campgrounds have rest rooms with flush toilets and potable water.

Each site has a picnic table and fire pit. There are no hookups or showers in the park.

Camping in the Smokies is one way to save money but getting a campsite is another story as some sites require reservations months in advance. Those that are non-reservable fill up very quickly, especially during the summer.

Federal Parks Passes:

Include: Access, Annual, Gold Star, Military, Senior, Veterans and Volunteer.

Benefits: All Federal Parks Passes covers entrance fees at lands managed by: National Parks Services (NP) and US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS). Also, a Federal Park pass will cover standard amenity fees (Day Use Fee) at lands managed by: the National Forest Service (NF), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Bureau of Reclamation (BR) and US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

At most of the above listed federal park locations, Federal Parks Pass holders will receive half off camping fees.

Fees:

All Fees are subject to change.

Entrance:

Free! Even with no charge for entrance, the park has other ways to gain revenue for using the park. One way is that this national park maintains ten developed campgrounds within the park for visitor to overnight at. Within these ten campgrounds are almost 1000 campsites which have an overnighting fee ranging from $17.50 to 27.00 per night. This results in about five and a half million dollars ($5,500,000.00) each year for camping rentals.

Camping

Front Country Camping Fees:

Listed below are all ten sites within Smoky Mountain National Park.

Those with a (*) require reservations

Fee Rates: Effective 01 March 2023

North Carolina

NC-Abrams Creek, 16 sites, $30.00 per night. Open from 27 Apr to 21 Oct. *

NC-Cades Cove, 159 sites, $30.00 per night. Open Year Round.

NC-Cosby, 157 sites, $30.00 per night. Open 23 Mar - 28 Oct.

NC-Elkmont, 220 sites, $30.00 per night. Open 09 Mar - 25 Nov.

NC-Look Rock, 58 standard sites, $30.00 per night. Open 27 April - 29 October.

NC-Look Rock 10 electric sites, $36.00 per night. Open 27 April - 29 October.

Tennessee

TN-Balsam Mtn. 46 sites, $30.00 per night. Open from 18 May - 07 Oct. *

TN-Big Creek, 12 sites, $30.00 per night. Open 30 Mar - 28 Oct. *

TN-Cataloochee, 27 sites, $30.00 per night. Open 23 Mar - 28 Oct. *

TN-Deep Creek, 92 sites, $30.00 per night. Open 23 Mar - 28 Oct.

TN-Smokemont, 142 sites, $30.00 per night. Open Year Round.

Campground Includes:

Yes, the Great Smoky Mountains is a must see park, but like most popular US national parks have become, so too, the Smoky Mountains are commercialized, crowded and crumbling from overuse. Also, be ready to spend lots of money during your visit, especially in the surrounding communities.

The 2018 Journey, Most Visited National Parks

Listed Here are the "Most Visited National Parks" in the US

Included: Entrance Fee, Ranking, Number of visitors / year 2018)

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, ($0) in NC, is number one with 12.5 million.

Grand Canyon National Park, ($35) in Arizona, is number two with 6 million.

Rocky Mountain National Park, ($35) in Colorado, is number three with 4.7 million.

Zion National Park, ($35) in Utah is number four with over 4.5 million.

Yosemite National Park, ($35) in California, is number five with 4.5 million.

Yellowstone National Park, ($35) in Wyoming, is number six with over 4 million.

Acadia National Park, ($30) in Maine, is number Seven with over 3.4 million.

Grand Teton Nation Park, ($35) in Wyoming, is number Eight with 3.4 million.

Olympic National Park, ($30) in Washington, is number Nine with 3.2 million.

Glacier National Park, ($35) in Montana, is number Ten with 3 million.

The 2013 Journey, Great Smoky Mountains NP Campgrounds

Clingmans Dome, 6643 feet

The high point of the Appalachian Trail, Clingmans Dome was originally called by the name Old Smoky.

(m4camp-04-nc-greatsmoky-2013-0921.1441) One half mile up this path is the Dome

(m4camp-04-nc-greatsmoky-2013-0921.1702) The View from near the top of the Dome

(m4camp-04-nc-greatsmoky-2013-0921.1822) The View from near the top of the Dome

Mingus Mill

A water powered grist mill, built in 1886, has open hours with a miller onsite to demonstrate the still-functional sluice, turbine and other machinery.

(m4camp-04-nc-greatsmoky-2013-0921.1852) Mingus Mill in the Great Smoky Mtns NP

^¹

The top ten National parks each have an average of over four million visitors per year. If we consider about four persons per vehicle, then one million vehicles per year would enter and pay the entrance fee which would gross each park $35,000,000.00 ($35 million), and that is just for entrance fees collected each and every year from each of the top ten national parks. All ten would collect $350,000,000.00 ($350 million) each year. However, this is only the TOP TEN national parks, and currently, there are over 400 separate parks in the National Parks Service.

Although the Great Smoky NP does not charge an entrance fee, the park has ten campground with an average price of $23.00 per night. These 700 sites X $23.00 = about $16,000.00 gross income from the campgrounds each night the park is open. Most of the campgrounds are open nine months and a few are open all year long. $16,000.00 X 312.5 days = $5,000,000.00 each year just from the ten campsite rentals. In addition, there are gift shops, restaurants and other financial establishment which provide revenue for the park. Th

In fact, the Great Smoky NP receives about $20 million from the federal government, $2.5 million from fees charged and $11 million from visitation. This amounts to $33.5 million each year of business.

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This Page Last Updated: 31 March 2026

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