Last week my wife decided she wanted to go camping and of course I was ecstatic, but where would we go in the middle of winter that would be easy enough for her and Cayleb and still give us something to do during the day??? The answer was Cades Cove...
Along the loop you'll find a few old churches, several early settlers homesteads, a few cemeteries, and gorgeous mountain views.
The Cades Cove Campground is right outside of the loop and is a pretty nice campground. It's one of two campgrounds within the park that is open year round. I imagined that we would be the only one's crazy enough to brave camping this time of year but I was wrong! We arrived on Friday afternoon to find about eight or ten other people camping, most in RV's or pull behind campers. That doubled on Saturday night and most were tent camping.
After driving around looking for the perfect place we decided to set up at site C10.
There are probably 200 sites on the campground but I noticed sections A & B were both closed for tree and site maintenance. The campground has bathroom houses spread throughout the different sections. They each have sinks and toilets but bring your own toiletries.
The only water sources I found around C-10 were the sink in the bathroom house or a water hose spiket at the RV dump area. The cost to camp was $17 per night. Just stop at the ranger station when you enter the campground and grab a fee envelope.
Car camping at a campground like this is not something that I am use to but I still enjoy it. Normally I would say that I enjoy the serenity that comes with backcountry camping and I do, that is my favorite part. But car camping comes with it's advantages. The number one being that my family can come but let's not forget the afternoon naps and the ability to bring everything with us. Many men would say bringing firewood camping is not manly but let me tell you, spend enough time in the backcountry burning calories and wasting energy just to find enough wood to burn for an hour and you'll be thankful to truck in some dry, split firewood.
I hope this blog will help you out during the planning of your trip. Cades Cove is just one of many places you can visit in the park but it is definitely one of my favorite attraction areas thus far.
Until next time... Godspeed and Happy Hiking!
-PapaRed Signing Off
I found a headstone at the Primitive Baptist church of a man who was here in America at it's founding and also fought in the Revolutionary War. I found myself standing there thinking about what it must have been like to walk in this mans shoes. To be here at the beginning and to fight for real freedom! Needless to say it made the entire trip just to experience that feeling! Moving on about halfway through the loop is the trail head for Abrams Falls for anyone that's interested in a hike. Then just a mile or so later you will come up on the historic visitors center. If you haven't already stopped at the sites along the way, this is a great place to walk around a stretch your legs. There are several things to check out at this stop as well as a bathroom and neat little gift shop.
The Cades Cove Campground is right outside of the loop and is a pretty nice campground. It's one of two campgrounds within the park that is open year round. I imagined that we would be the only one's crazy enough to brave camping this time of year but I was wrong! We arrived on Friday afternoon to find about eight or ten other people camping, most in RV's or pull behind campers. That doubled on Saturday night and most were tent camping.After driving around looking for the perfect place we decided to set up at site C10.
There are probably 200 sites on the campground but I noticed sections A & B were both closed for tree and site maintenance. The campground has bathroom houses spread throughout the different sections. They each have sinks and toilets but bring your own toiletries.The only water sources I found around C-10 were the sink in the bathroom house or a water hose spiket at the RV dump area. The cost to camp was $17 per night. Just stop at the ranger station when you enter the campground and grab a fee envelope.
Car camping at a campground like this is not something that I am use to but I still enjoy it. Normally I would say that I enjoy the serenity that comes with backcountry camping and I do, that is my favorite part. But car camping comes with it's advantages. The number one being that my family can come but let's not forget the afternoon naps and the ability to bring everything with us. Many men would say bringing firewood camping is not manly but let me tell you, spend enough time in the backcountry burning calories and wasting energy just to find enough wood to burn for an hour and you'll be thankful to truck in some dry, split firewood.Until next time... Godspeed and Happy Hiking!
-PapaRed Signing Off
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