Sight · Great Smoky Mountains National Park
A horse, carriage or hayride gives the cove a different pace.
Overview
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Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Great Smoky Mountains audio tourRecorded for this place
Cades Cove Campground Store and Riding Stables“You're approaching Cades Cove Campground Store, with the riding stables nearby. The seasonal store is useful for a quick deli-style bite, a soft-serve cone, or forgotten camping supplies.”
Plays as you drive up to Cades Cove Riding Stables in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Cades Cove Riding Stables is the park’s riding concession near the Cades Cove Campground entrance road. It offers guided horseback trips through the cove’s forests and meadows, along with horse-drawn carriage rides and tractor-pulled hayrides. This is the park’s only place to take a carriage or hayride. Choose it when the guided outing is part of what you want to do; driving the loop gives you more freedom to stop at your own pace.
Horseback routes pass through forests, streams and historic settlements dating to the 1800s. The stable’s horses can also be seen grazing in fields along Cades Cove Loop, so you may spot them from your car even if you don’t book a ride. The carriage and hayride options give non-riders a way to experience the valley with a guide.
Wildlife
1,569 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
900 sightingsElkMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
13 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
142 sightingsTimber RattlesnakeMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
26 sightingsBobcatMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
42 sightingsRiver OtterMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Great Smoky Mountains. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyCades Cove Horse Trail2.3 mi · 1.5 hr · At the trailheadA wooded point-to-point trail shared with horses.
ModerateRich Mountain Loop Trail8.5 mi · 5 hr · 0.1 mi awayAn 8.5-mile loop with a cove view and a waterfall finish
EasyCades Cove Nature Trail0.8 mi · 30 min · 0.4 mi awayA shaded sub-mile loop with a creek crossing.
ChallengingRocky Top and Thunderhead Mountain Trail13.9 mi · 9.5 hr · 0.4 mi awayA steep day to Rocky Top and Thunderhead's quiet high point.ChallengingSpence Field and Russell Field Loop13.2 mi · 8 hr · 0.4 mi awayA strenuous loop from Anthony Creek to two high Smokies meadows.
ChallengingCrooked Arm Ridge Trail4.3 mi · 3.5 hr · 0.4 mi awaySteep forest gives way to a late view into Cades Cove
ChallengingRussell Field Trail9.6 mi · 6.5 hr · 0.7 mi awayA steep climb to a small meadow reclaimed by forest.
ModerateAnthony Creek Trail7 mi · 4.5 hr · 0.7 mi awayA shaded creek climb to the Bote Mountain junction.
Store · 0.2 mi awayCades Cove Campground StoreBike rentals, camp supplies and soft-serve before the loop.
Campground · 0.3 mi awayCades Cove CampgroundA woodland base for the cove's historic loop and wildlife.
Picnic area · 0.4 mi awayCades Cove Picnic AreaCreekside lunch tables and charcoal grills at the loop entrance.
Campground · 0.5 mi awayAnthony Creek Horse CampThree reserved horse campsites with trail access near Cades Cove.
Sight · 1 mi awayJohn Oliver CabinA short walk to Cades Cove’s oldest preserved cabin.
Sight · 1.6 mi awayCarter Shields CabinA last-loop homestead cabin with a stream just behind it.
Sight · 2 mi awayCades Cove Primitive Baptist ChurchA hand-built 1887 church beside the cove’s oldest cemetery.
Sight · 2.2 mi awayCades Cove Methodist ChurchA modest church with two doors and one surprising congregation story.Parkwolf’s Great Smoky Mountains ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
