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Smoky Mountains Knoxville/Gatlinburg/Asheville


NIUHuskies

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No experience at Dollywood or Twitty City or any of that shit.

Asheville: Thirsty Monk downtown for brews https://monkpub.com/downtown-asheville/

Admiral for vittles: https://www.theadmiralasheville.com

“They” ( stinky hippies)used to have a sweet drum circle right around the corner from the Monk. In case one is seeking a mind-altering night-cap.

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On 10/11/2020 at 9:07 PM, SimonBolivar said:

Hike SMNP and then get out of Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg to Asheville as fast as possible.

Lock thread. Unless you can count your teeth on one hand Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge is a shit hole.  Asheville is awesome and Pisgah national forest is amazing. Concentrate your efforts there.

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Traffic in Asheville suuuuucks but if you’re used to dealing with traffic I guess it’s no different. 

the Estes-Winn car museum is a little place in Asheville that could always use some patronage. 
 

down in Brevard, there’s a bunch of waterfalls in the pisgah National Forest area, I’m sure there’s trails to be found there. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Did that scene couple Spring Breaks ago. Grove Park Inn is great, stayed there two nights; there is a "newish" area and the old Inn.  My crew of 6 (had MIL with us) wouldn't fit in the older part so we opted for adjoining rooms in the new tower; awesome place, though they got rid of the dueling wood-burning fire places in lieu of gas burning, just not the same, but still cool.

 

The Biltmore is worth the hassel of walking through a mega mansion.  Pay a little more for the valet, and drive right up to the sombitch, also get the audio tour thingamajig.

Dollywood is actually a pretty good themepark if you're in to that, my kids were.  Its clean and has some sweet rides. 

Grotto Falls is a great little hike, probably about 2-3 mile round trip, watch out for the scat.  Also watch out for the llama brigade; they use them for pack mules to stock a cafe or something at top of the trail, kind of a pain to let them pass, slows the whole trail down, otherwise great; the drive down (one way thankfully) provides many stops for scenic pictures, meadows , historic cabins and shit. 

The town of Gatlinburg is Panama City minus the beach, so take that for what its worth.

 

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  • 1 month later...

When I moved from NYC to Texas the wife and I drove.  Stopped in DC/Annapolis down through the smokies, into Alabama, NOLA, and home.  Spent one night at the inn on the AT in the Shenandoah National Park then we stayed and a great little B&B in Sevierville.   It was close enough to the Smokies National Park but far enough not to be jammed up with the tourists.   Seriously one of the most beautiful places in the USA.  I'm embarrassed that I have not been back with my kids.

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On 12/19/2020 at 6:12 PM, midtown said:

When I moved from NYC to Texas the wife and I drove.  Stopped in DC/Annapolis down through the smokies, into Alabama, NOLA, and home.  Spent one night at the inn on the AT in the Shenandoah National Park then we stayed and a great little B&B in Sevierville.   It was close enough to the Smokies National Park but far enough not to be jammed up with the tourists.   Seriously one of the most beautiful places in the USA.  I'm embarrassed that I have not been back with my kids.

I knew as soon as I saw this thread was bumped I was going to regret clicking it...

we had an Airbnb lined up in Sevierville this week.

called it off a couple of weeks ago. Just decided it wasn’t worth the drive from Austin with an 8 and 6 yo (they did a road trip with their mom to Colorado for thanksgiving...my girlfriend and I did a road trip to Montana in july, so we’ve all had our share of road tripping this year)...and while the idea of kicking back and laying low and doing a whole lot of nothing sounded appealing, we’ve been kicking back, laying low and doing a whole lot of nothing for 9 months now so decided to pass on the 26 hrs round trip.

but maybe I’ll get serious and re-schedule for the fall next year to see the leaves turn

Edited by UTexasFight
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I love Stone Mountain here in NC, but if you do decide to visit during the pandemic, you gotta show up early. The park is extremely serious about social distancing, all the moreso since the locals are (ahem!) hillbilly dumbasses.

There are a ton of really great cafes all up and down the Blue Ridge Parkway, but again, be prepared for the locals to have questionable hygiene. We're not eating out up in the mountains again until the Rona is over, because we don't have a death wish.

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When we lived in Knoxville, we did a yearly cabin trip with 6-8 other families.  Nicer cabins can turn pretty cheap when you start splitting the cost by family.

A nicer, one-room cabin will run you about $200-$300.  A nicer, eight-room cabin ran us about $200 for the entire weekend.

Anyway, Gatlinburg is kind of like a cruise.  The scenery is nice, it's fun with the right people, the food can be good, the excursions can be fun BUT... as soon as you get around the crowds, it goes downhill rather quickly. Getting in and out can be a disaster if you don't time it correctly.  Visiting the actual city is also somewhat of a clusterF.  Imagine a large, open-air Wal-Mart.  

The best thing to do is give yourself plenty of time to get there, then plan your trip around the vicinity of the cabin.  Relax.  Hike.  Drink.  Head down to the city ONCE.  Do not plan your trip around the city proper.

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I've never been through this area, but have always had a lot of interest.

What's the best time to be out there?  Mid April - late May and mid September - Thanksgiving are out for unavailable for me due to work.  I generally like to go to heavily wooded areas when there is less foliage, but I'm not sure what the sweet spot between winter and "full bush" would be.  Or is the summer a great time to go?

I love hiking, mountain biking, and craft beer, so the Asheville/Smokies area seems like a slam dunk given my interests.  The hang up has always been that Colorado is closer, and assumedly less crowded.  At least it was.

Edited by Al_4_ISU
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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm in this thread, too. Trying to find a place in the Smokies for this summer. I'll have my elderly folks who will want to drive around the mountains and check out little shopping places and restaurants. The other 7 of us will want to hike, fish, fuck around in general. Nothing specific. 

Maybe a cabin or a couple cabins close to each other. It can't be too off the grid, but Gatlinburg sounds not what we want, either. 

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