When you first get to the campground, you may think it is the typical national park campground, and it is in a several ways. However, this campground has a little-known area that many people ignore. First of all, the campsite we stayed in was spacious and had a fire ring. It didn’t have electricity and water, but it was large enough for my best friend to put up his monster tent.  The bath house does not have showers, but they are more than adequate for primitive camping. The campground is located in an area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that has the Little River through it, so you have the sounds of the creek at night. You can gather wood for your campfire, but you cannot transport firewood into the campground unless it has been certified and sealed in plastic. If you are not tubing or fishing in the river, you can travel a few miles to explore Cades Cove. However, next to the campground, there is the little-known area I mentioned earlier. I found it fascinating and lots of fun to explore. It is a ghost town, which began as a logging town. In the early 1900s, it became a resort, and from what I understand, many of the residents were from eastern Tennessee. Some of the buildings have been restored, but most of them are deteriorating quickly. We were able to go inside most of the buildings, but you have to be careful. You are not allowed to go into the some of them, which have signs and are dangerous. However, just to walk down the streets among the buildings is a beautiful sight, especially in the fall. The last thing I heard is that they are going to raze most of the buildings. Overall, Elkmont Campground is a peaceful place to stay with a lot of history. It is also close to another popular area of the national park--Cades Cove. My advice would be to plan ahead since this campground can fill up during peak season. It is the largest campground of the Smokies, if I understood correctly, but campers come from all over the United States to stay here.

First of all, the drive to Elkmont is just beautiful! Located in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains, the scenery is second to none! If you have never heard of Synchronized Fireflies, look it up! This is a natural phenomenon that can only be seen in one place in the world, with peak times around the beginning of June, and that’s Elkmont! You don’t actually need to win a lottery spot to see this, you just have to stay at the campground and walk up to the little river trail around 9pm! We were in M002, and it was a short walk. The campground is scenic with a river running through, that you can actually tube in. Just about all sites are wooded, so plenty of space and privacy. Restrooms were clean, however there are no showers! Also, there’s no electricity at any of the sites, so if you need power, better take a generator. The campground is huge too. You can only use firewood that has the state or government seal, and there is a store there to purchase if u need. I absolutely love this campground! So many great hiking trails, and the sounds from the river and nature are so soothing. This place is a “must visit” campground!!!

Campground Review

On a visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, you quickly learn that you’ll enjoy your visit a lot more if you are located close to what you want to see and do. This means you may find it worth your while to move from one campground to another during your stay, as I did. My final night in the park found me setting up camp at Elkmont Campground, < 5 miles from the Sugarlands entrance, so I would have a shorter drive to view sunset and sunrise from overlooks along the beautiful Newfound Gap Rd. This is also the viewing area for the synchronous fireflies in late May/early June (dates vary; parking passes by lottery in April) if you don’t have a campsite reservation).

Elkmont is open early March – October and reservations are required. If you arrive without a reservation, there is a phone line there that you can call to make them, or you can return to town where you have cell service and make reservations online. This early in the season (mid-April) the campground wasn’t full, some of the loops were closed. I was in site A14, beside a branch of the Little River with a large tent pad, fire ring, picnic table, and paved, slightly sloped, parking pad. It was a compact site;  the location of the picnic table between the tent and fire ring made it a challenge to set up a screen house over the picnic table and maintain sufficient distance from the fire. I was pleased with my site and the privacy, though I liked the looks of A13 even better. It was somewhat larger and more secluded. Many of the sites, particularly those on the western side of A - F loops, are along the river. Most of the sites are shaded. A few of the B-loop sites are walk-in. It’s bear country, so your food and toiletries need to be locked in a vehicle or hard-side camping unit; there are some food storage lockers provided for the walk-in sites. There’s a small camp store with limited supplies and hours (open late afternoon); Cades Cove has a much larger one, though it tends more toward souvenirs.

There’s cold running water, flush toilets, and a dishwashing station available, but no showers or hookups (a couple of accessible sites do have electricity for medical equipment). Bathrooms are basic, no frills, but clean; The one in the A loop didn’t even have an outlet or hand dryer. If you ask at the visitor’s center, they’ll provide you with a list of area campgrounds that allow you to take a shower for $3-7. The nearest dump station is a seasonal one at the Sugarlands Visitor Center (doesn’t open until late May); the one at Cades Cove is open year round. Buy firewood in the park or, better yet, pick up deadwood around the park.

One of the more intriguing areas to explore at Elkmont is the Daisy Town ghost town. Once you’ve set up camp, walk or drive down the road toward the Little River and Jakes Creek trails (leaves the camp road to the left before the ranger station on your way into the campground). Follow the signs for additional parking and you’ll find yourself at the end of a road lined with assorted cottages and cabins that used to be vacation homes. Some are open for exploration, others are cordoned off, and some are undergoing renovation. Another nearby, popular highlight is the hike to Laurel Falls.

Product Review

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I sometimes I get to test and evaluate products. This is a review of a Wenzel Sun Valley 12’ x 12’ Screen House As a camper with a teardrop, I’m always looking to maximize my outdoor living space in subpar conditions, so I was excited to try this out at Elkmont.

I set this up alone the first time in 14 minutes without reading the instructions. The instructions are attached to the inside of the bag and recommend 2 people for set-up, but if you’ve pitched a dome tent in the past, you’ll find this inituitive. Continuous sleeves for 4 of the fiberglass poles and the “Fast Feet” made set- up easy. I did wish the sleeves for the cross-poles were continuous as well, but the gap allows for a hook to hold the ceiling up and it didn’t take much extra effort to slide the poles in. The hardest part was getting the 4th end of the cross poles for the roof into place. I couldn’t bend them enough to slide it in while on the ground, so waited until everything else was up…should have figured it out while it was at ground level rather than over my head! This part would definitely be easier if there were two people pitching it.

The zippers on the two doors close tightly and easily without extreme tension, though it was definitely easier to open and close with 2 hands rather than one. There was no gap at the junction of the 3 zippers. Once you are inside, you have a crystal clear view of the outside! It’s quite tall, I couldn’t touch the ceiling in the middle with a raised hand. It doesn’t have a floor, just a wide border around the perimeter, so you can place it over a picnic table. The picnic table (about 6’) fit inside it easily with plenty of room to walk around and even add a chair in a corner. I had to be careful about making sure the bottom of the walls lay flat on the ground, otherwise there were gaps.

It comes with 10 thin metal stakes for the feet and 4 plastic ones for the guy lines. A word of advice: USE THEM.  The first time I set this up, this experienced camper made a rookie mistake. The weather was nice, but it was getting dark, and I wanted to move it over the picnic table in the morning…so I didn’t stake it down. That night a wind storm blew through and blew it away! Found it at 4am in the next campsite,  astonished to discover it was still intact! No broken poles, just a slight abrasion on one sleeve and a tiny tear in one part of the screen that will be easily repaired. A couple of the poles slid out of the Fast Feet during its overnight adventure, allowing the screen house to collapse and preventing damage to the poles themselves (I’ve seen MANY other screen houses/canopies with bent and broken poles from wind). Truly impressed.

Pitched it again the next afternoon with the wind still blowing and as you can see in my video, the screen house was like a kite until I staked it down. Once staked, it stood up well to the wind, though it did cause the bottom edge of the screen house to lift a bit. If bugs are out in that weather (there were wind advisories), they probably deserve a chance for some shelter, too.

Taking it down, it easily fit back in the storage bag, with the zipper extending down one end to open the bag a bit more. Oh, and it weighs so much less than many of the canopies do, coming in around 20# and not requiring a wheeled case to lug it around. If you’re looking for a  screen house, this one has a lot going for it!

Black fly season is coming and with the Wenzel Sun Valley Screen House packed, I’m ready! MY fuller video review is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ealCyAi02HA

Positioned closest to Gatlinburg, Elkmont Campground is one of the easiest campgrounds to navigate in when it comes to wider roads and more widespread campsites. I had seen someone else review this site and loved what they said so much I had to myself go and make it one of my overnights, and oh was I happy I did!

The Smoky Mountains are to big to really navigate all from one camp area. Roads are narrow and windy and on busy days you hardly can accomplish even a couple things of interest on your list. You find yourself having to backtrack each night if you commit to a stay in a single location. So for my midway point this campground made it a great stop to be central to the big visitor center and numerous hiking stops.

My site had a nice tent pad next to my picnic table and grill area. It was not the biggest of the sites at the location but plenty large enough for me, and not far from the restroom, which is a personal preference ( I don't like to wander around in the dark for long distances because of animals).

This site didn't have any of the bells and whistles, so without those it takes a lot to make something my favorite. What pushed me over the top with it? The cleanliness and the staff. Despite being one of the busiest campgrounds it was also very well maintained. Everything was in great condition from my table to the site itself, no stray weeds or anything.

Cell service wasn't great for me here, but then again in all the Smoky Mountains I cruised around with pretty much 1 bar or less. That would normally raise a little concern because I like to for safety drop a pin so people know where I am, but with the presence of park rangers I felt safe. They patrol all evening.

TIPS:

• Sites are booked in advance through recreation.gov so make sure you book, during nice weather this place is very busy, even during the week.

• Remember to lock your food in your car, this is bear country and they do not encourage you to entice the bears into camp!!

I loved coming here! We came in the middle of fall with all of the leaves in full bloom! The winding mountain roads, rivers and picture perfect views made this trip my all time favorite. The campground was nestled in the middle of the forest right off of a crystal clear river. This was a a great spot for pictures and for fishing small mouth bass right off your site. There were plenty of deer, turkey and even a black bear off there n the distance. Beware of leaving any food, even dog food out for the night, bears are not shy! This campground also offered primitive and electric sites for tent campers as well as rv sites. You do want to make reservations ahead of time, you can do this through reserve America or the website itself. We enjoyed our hikes during the day and relaxing by the fire at night. if you want to go to town Gatlinburg and pigeon forge are very close. You also can take a beautiful scenic drive through the Cherokee National Forest where there are Elk grazing in the open fields.

While the late spring weather offered up some rain at various points, overall our trip to Elkmont Campground was just great. Check in was very simple as we'd made reservations. We had site L004, which is on one of two no generator loops. As we heard generators coming from across the river, we were glad we made this choice. Being a bit away from the water helped with bugs, as well as making the campsite pretty quiet and calm most of the time.

The two bathrooms near our site were adequately cleaned, though there was a noticeable cleanliness difference compared to the main bathroom at the campground entrance. This is hardly a complaint, just an observation. We utilized the campground store several of the nights we were there. The prices were high, but not outside the norm for a national park campground.

This is a nice campground with good access to other points in the park, to Sugarlands visitor center, and to Gatlinburg if need be. We will definitely be back for a fall trip, as well as to see the synchronous fire flies. Undoubtedly, we will stay at Elkmont Campground again as we highly recommend it.