Campground · Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Five horse-camp sites at the end of a 3.5-mile gravel approach.
Overview
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 area
Margaret Stevenson's Mountain“Margaret Stevenson hiked to Mount Le Conte seven hundred eighteen times. She was forty-eight when she made her first recorded trip, in nineteen sixty.”
Plays on the road 0.4 mi from Round Bottom Horse Camp 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
Round Bottom is one of five drive-in horse camps in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, on the North Carolina side near Cherokee. Its five sites put riders close to backcountry trail access; this is a horse-camping destination, not a general car-camping stop.
NPS describes the drive-in horse camps as having tent pads, picnic tables, fire rings, refuse containers and designated parking, usually on gravel. At Round Bottom, horses use central hitch racks; portable pit toilets are listed, but there is no potable water. Water for horses is available at camp or in a nearby stream. NPS lists no accessible sites. Check current NPS availability before building a trip around it.
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
ChallengingBeech Gap I Trail5 mi · 4 hr · 0.6 mi awayA five-mile climb to the Balsam Mountain Trail junction.
ChallengingEnloe Creek Trail5.4 mi · 5.5 hr · 0.8 mi awaySteel bridge and creek cascades reward a demanding backcountry traverse.
ChallengingHyatt Ridge Trail4.4 mi · 4 hr · 0.8 mi awayA steep forest climb ends at a remote backcountry camp.
ModerateSpruce Mountain Trail2.3 mi · 1.8 hr · 1.6 mi awayMoss, spruce and a backcountry campsite after a short climb.
ChallengingBalsam Mountain Trail9.9 mi · 6.5 hr · 2.3 mi awaySpruce climb, quiet high ridge, long views in both directions.
ModerateHughes Ridge Trail4.6 mi · 3.5 hr · 3.9 mi awayA remote ridge connector to the Appalachian Trail at Pecks Corner
EasyBalsam Mountain Nature Trail1.3 mi · 45 min · 3.9 mi awayA short nature walk through high-elevation campground woods.
ModerateHemphill Bald Trail9.4 mi · 6 hr · 4.6 mi awayA long out-and-back to a grassy bald with mountain views.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.
