Campground · Great Smoky Mountains National Park
A wooded Smokies campground on the site of a logging town.
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
Smokemont and Chasteen Creek Cascade“You're nearing Smokemont, the starting point for the walk to Chasteen Creek Cascade. The creek slides over quartz-streaked sandstone in a broad, fifteen-foot cascade, a modest waterfall after a wooded creek walk.”
Plays as you drive up to Smokemont Campground in the Parkwolf Great Smoky Mountains Tour Guide.
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“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
Smokemont is a 142-site frontcountry campground at 2,198 feet, just north of Cherokee. It’s a useful base for the park’s southern end and Oconaluftee, with paved campground roads and wooded sites. Some campsites sit near Bradley Fork, but the setting depends on the site you reserve.
Reservations are required. You’ll find flush toilets, drinking water, a dump station, food-storage lockers and trash collection, but no showers, hookups, camp store or cell service. Loops A and B stay open year-round; the other loops are seasonal. Bring food and supplies with you, and pack a layer and rain gear—the mountain weather can turn quickly. Seven sites are listed as accessible, and the roads and site driveways are paved.
The campground is laid out in wooded loops, with gravel tent pads, picnic tables and fire rings at campsites. Bradley Fork is close to some sites, while spacing and privacy vary around the campground. If a creekside spot or more room matters to you, check the campground map before booking; there isn’t one uniform view or level of seclusion across the loops.
Smokemont was a logging community before this became a national park campground. Champion Fibre Company built a sawmill here in the early 1900s, and by the 1920s the settlement had homes, a school, church, businesses and a hotel. The mill shut as the park was established, and residents moved outside its boundaries.
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
ModerateSmokemont Nature Trail0.6 mi · 45 min · 0.1 mi awayA short campground loop with creek crossings and a ridge view.
ModerateChasteen Creek Trail to Cascade3.6 mi · 2.5 hr · 0.2 mi awayA streamside walk ends at a modest cascade over smooth bedrock.
ChallengingBradley Fork Trail14.6 mi · 9.5 hr · 0.2 mi awayA long creekside walk ends in a rocky climb to Hughes Ridge.
ModerateSmokemont Loop Trail6.1 mi · 4 hr · 0.3 mi awayCreekside approach, steep ridge climb, and Smokemont history.
ChallengingDry Sluice Gap Trail16.4 mi · 10.5 hr · 0.3 mi awayA long Smokemont climb to the Appalachian Trail, then back.
ModerateCabin Flats Trail9.9 mi · 5.5 hr · 0.3 mi awayA 10-mile creekside walk ends at a Smokies backcountry camp.
ChallengingNewton Bald Trail11 mi · 6.5 hr · 0.5 mi awayA steady forest climb to a wooded bald with few views.
ModerateTow String Horse Trail2.2 mi · 1.3 hr · 1.3 mi awayA quiet woodland link between Tow String Horse Camp and Bradley Fork.
Sight · 0.5 mi awaySmokemont Baptist ChurchA hilltop church preserves Smokemont’s community story.
Sight · 0.7 mi awaySmokemont Riding StablesCross a river on horseback, or ride the Old Turnpike by wagon.
Picnic area · 1.5 mi awayCollins Creek Picnic AreaA shady picnic break with a short creekside walk
Campground · 1.7 mi awayTow String Horse CampThree wooded sites for campers bringing their own horses.
Sight · 1.9 mi awayChasteen Creek CascadeA 15-foot, quartz-streaked cascade beyond a wooded creek walk.
Sight · 2.8 mi awayMingus MillAn 1886 turbine mill with its flume beside Mingus Creek.
Visitor center · 3.3 mi awayOconaluftee Visitor CenterHistory indoors, elk country and an easy river walk outside.
Sight · 3.3 mi awayMountain Farm MuseumA short walk through farm buildings gathered from across the Smokies.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.
