Scenic pullout · Great Smoky Mountains National Park
A quick pullout for wide views across the Smokies.
Map
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
Capshaw Branch Overlook“Up ahead is Capshaw Branch Overlook, a roadside pullout on Foothills Parkway. Stop for the broad view across the treetops toward distant Smokies ridges.”
Plays as you drive up to Capshaw Branch Overlook 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
Capshaw Branch Overlook is a roadside pullout at milepost 21 on Foothills Parkway's Walland-to-Wears Valley stretch. Pull in if you're already driving this section and want a broad view over the forested Smokies ridges; it's an easy break, not a destination that needs its own trip.
The lot has 44 spaces, including four accessible parking spaces. The nearest listed restroom is at Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area, so plan for that before or after this stretch. A Smokies parking tag is required if you park for more than 15 minutes.
The parkway hugs the Smokies' southern slopes and crosses valleys on winding viaducts. From here, the layered tree canopy leads your eye toward the distant ridges. For a photo, keep some of that foreground canopy in a wide frame; cloud bands can give the far ridges more definition when the weather cooperates.
Congress authorized Foothills Parkway as a scenic road in 1944. This 14.75-mile Walland-to-Wears Valley section was completed in 2018, climbing to nearly 2,500 feet near Caylor Gap and crossing valleys between Grassy, Rocky, and Davis Mountains.
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
Scenic pullout · 2.7 mi awayTownsend OverlookA short roadside stop for Townsend and Smoky Mountain ridge views.
Scenic pullout · 2.9 mi awayFoothills Parkway West Welcome SignAn easy four-space stop for a photo beside the parkway sign.
Scenic pullout · 3.4 mi awayCaylor Gap OverlookA quick pull-off for rolling hills and a broad Smokies panorama.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.
