Great Smoky Mountain National Park - What Do I Know?

Sunset - Clingman's Dome (Kuwohi) - GSMNP
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

SO FAR, Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the only National Park I have visited more than once. It seems appropriate, then, that this one would be the second on my list to cover. I am not saying it is my second favorite, though. Still thinking on that.

Sunrise - Foothills Parkway -GSMNP
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

THERE IS a lot to like here, however. The first trip was the result of my buddy, Rich Pomeroy and I "spitballing" about what could be our next photography trip. At this point, over the years, we had visited the Michigan U.P. and Vermont numerous times together. We had been to Grand Teton NP and West Virginia. With the exception of Wyoming, all the others were pretty driveable. We liked that, as it gave us the convenience of our vehicle, and no worries about bringing equipment and supplies.

Early Morning Sun - Cades Cove - GSMNP
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

I HAD always had GSMNP in the back of my mind. It was on Rich's mind too. Maybe for different reasons. Rich is an avid wildlife shooter. I have done very little of that in recent years and was primarily interested in the landscape possibilities. GSMNP looked like it might be able to satisfy us both - with maybe even a little crossover. Based largely on the commentary of noted GSMNP guru, photographer and writer: Nye Simmons, we decided fall was probably the best time for us to make our first trip there. So we planned it for October. If you do plan to make a photography trip (or trips) to the park, I strongly advise that you go to Nye's site and download his latest book on photographing in the park. Nye has spent most of his life in the vicinity and is a wealth of knowledge about where, when, and how to photograph the many features there.

Morning Fog - Cades Cove - GSMNP
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

ALL OF the parks are suitable for photography in different seasons, but most of them have a "peak season" (perhaps most often in autumn). For photographers, unfortunately, that means that you may be contending with crowds during the best times to photograph the park. This is certainly the case with GSMNP. It's peak season is generally thought to be fall, and I can tell you from personal experience: it is a combination of amusement park and proverbial "zoo," on steriods! The narrow 11 mile, one-way, "Loop Road" in the park's iconic Cades Cove - can be literally bumper-to-bumper vehicles (slow moving and often even stopped). Once you are in, there is essentially no way out (although you can exit by the narrow, one-way, Rich Mountain Road, just past Hyatt Lane up behind the Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church). We did find some "relief" when we arrived at the cove early on a weekday, especially on the two north-south cross lanes (Sparks and Hyatt). Still, there was at least a half-mile backup of traffic waiting for the gate to open at sunrise. We experienced nearly unmanageable crowds at most of the other iconic locations in the park like Roaring Fork Motor Trail, The Newfound Gap Overlook, and Clingman's (now renamed to its Cherokee name: Kuwohi) Dome. So that is a serious negative about visiting the park during the Fall season.

Foggy Sunrise - Dan Lawson Place - Cades Cove - GSMNP
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

THE POSITIVES probably outweigh the negatives. I would suggest that you consider a fall visit to the park - at least once in your lifetime. And when you do, do your "homework" and have a plan for what you are going to shoot, and where you are going to stay. Not by any means one of the largest National Parks, GSMNP is still massive. Primarily because of accessability, the park is generally viewed as being divided into two sections: western and eastern. The western section is wholly within Tenessee. The eastern section covers both Tennessee and North Carolina, with substantial parts of the park in North Carolina.

Sparks Lane - Cades Cove - GSMNP
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

PERHAPS THE best western location for a photographer is Townsend, Tennessee (really the westernmost community with accomodations in the park). If you are going to focus on the eastern section, your best bet would be either Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge (to the north) or Cherokee, North Carolina, at the southeastern border. But be forewarned. Gatlinburg is a hot mess. Once a rather sleepy little town in the mountains, it is today one of the U.S. most popular tourist spots. U.S. Highway 321 winds through the mountainous park from Maryville (near Knoxville) to Interstate 40 at the far eastern end of the park, where it continues on to parts northeast. On the way, it goes through Townsend before continuing on toward Gatlinburg. It intersects with U.S. 441 (from Knoxville) at Pigeon Forge (also a huge tourist "trap" - of Dollywood fame). From there it winds down right through the center of Gatlinburg where you eventually must choose to continue east on 321, or - as most park visitors do (and you will want to as a photographer) head south on 441, known in this part of the park from Gatlinburg to Cherokee as Newfound Gap Road. Clingman's Dome road is on this route.

The Morton Overlook on Newfound Gap Road makes a spectacular sunset shot when the light cooperates. This was the best we could do in two trips there in 2025 - a very rainy, cloudy few days
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

WE STAYED in Townsend on both of our trips. Our rationale was that it is just minutes from the Cades Cove entrance, and also just minutes up onto the western sections of the Foothills Parkway, which provides, in our view, really good spots for both sunrise (western section) and sunset (eastern "new" section). We did find that he angles of the sun in both locations are much better in fall than in spring. On the "sunrise" section there are several overlooks which yield (relatively) clear views out over Townsend and to the mountains to the southeast. One of them (the second turnout on your left, as you drive southwest from the entrance on 321) is - we think - the best. If you are a sunrise shooter, you will know because it will be the one with a large number of photographers who have already beat you there and set their tripods up. Be early. The sunrise in fog shot above was made from this vantage point, as was the sunstar image immediately below.

Sunrise - Foothills Parkway - GSMNP
Copyright Andy Richards 2023

EITHER WAY, if you stay in Townsend and want to do the eastern sections, you need to plan for a drive. If you stay in Gatlinburg (good luck with that) and want to see Cades Cove, you also need to plan for a drive. If you stay in Cherokee, it will be an even longer drive. As much as we love the Foothills Parkway in Townsend, there are some very good opportunities to shoot sunsets and sunrises on the Newfound Gap Road. But there is no avoiding the drive if you want to visit both sections of the park. And you will.😊 We found that if you wanted to shoot a location on the east side of the park, it was best to make a day of it, starting very early (well before daylight) to either catch a sunrise, or to shoot in the warm morning light in some of the spots along the way. Then it makes sense to do dinner in Gatlinburg before driving back to Townsend. At least that is what we did. In 2023, we planned to shoot the sunset at Clingman's. So we headed that way first thing one morning, knowing it would be an all - day proposition.

Roaring Fork - GSMNP - Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

ON THE way, we decided to take the Roaring Fork Nature Trail. Once again, it was a traffic jam the entire way. We were fortunate to find one of the infrequent parking spots a few times along the way and were able to take a break and climb down into a couple of the streams. It is worth it. There are numerous spots with drops and multiple drops (no real waterfalls close to the trail - you need to hike back for that), and photogenic, moss covered rocks. Being October, the colored leaf drop was an added accent. It is an opportunity to exercise your ND filters and try to achieve that soft, silky look of the water between and around the rocks (although I often find I prefer a little movement in the water). We also found some really nice, similar scenes along the Little River on the road to Tremont.

Little River - GSMNP - Tremont, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

I WOULD classify photo opportunities in GSMNP as being in 6 categories: Grand Landscape, Waterfalls, Streams and Drops, Wildfllower photography, Iconic Architecture, and Wildlife. As with any sought after location, the "grand landscape" images may be the most challenging because of the multiple factors that affect them: weather, season (catching the fall color and/or catching the spring bloom), and location. What do I mean by "location?" First, you have to find the right viewpoint for a grand landscape. Perhaps the easiest in the park is shooting across the meadows in Cades Cove. It is the most "maintained" area in the park. Years ago, NPS removed (for better or worse - a conversation for another time and place) all the tall, native grasses which tended to obscure the views of wildlife and turned brown in late season, and replaced them with fescues which maintain their green appearance and don't grow particularly tall. This means there are ample opportunities for nicely framed compositions. The "other" location is the age-old issue. What were once spectacular clear view from points up high, have in many cases been obscured (or at least partially obscured) by new growth. Somebody once said the only constant is "change." That certainly couldn't be more true than in nature.

View down from Rich Mountain Road - GSMNP - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

AS WE traveled the park in 2025, this phenomena became increasingly clear. There are several areas in the park that you can access to get nice high views to set up grand landscape opportunities. The most prevalent are Foothills Parkway (currently 3 sections and perennially "under construction"), Newfound Gap Road, and the lesser known Rich Mountain Road (I understand there may be some views from State Highway 32 way over on the northeast corner between Cosby and I-40, but I've not been there). Then you must just hope for the right weather circumstances. In the right conditions, the park will yield wonderful low hanging fog, and/or stacked clouds that create some incredible colorful sunrises and sunsets.

Cades Cove Methodist Church - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

BUT THE "growth" thing is inexorably changing that. Ironically, the NPS has spent millions over the past 50 plus years creating access and viewing areas for NP visitors, but have not taken steps (for whatever reasons) to maintain those clear views in many cases. At the Newfound Gap viewpoint on 441, for example, there is an old photograph of the view in which the proverbial phrase: "you can see forever" might well have once applied. Today, there are numerous towering trees in the immediate foreground that partially obscure that view. Remember, I am viewing it from the (perhaps myopic) perspective of a photographer.

Cades Cove Methodist Church - Restored View - GSMNP - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

SOMETIMES, AGAIN for whatever reason, they do maintain (or in this case restore) some views. In 2023, spurred on by a photograph in Nye Simmons book, we searched and searched for the viewpoint on Rich Mountain Road from which he shot down on the iconic Cades Cove Methodist Church. We found later, that the view had been obscurred (for many years it turns out) by new growth. In 2025, by (mostly) serendipity, we discovered that the new growth in the foreground had been cleared. I blogged in April, 2025 about this - so for "the rest of the story" you can go read it here: "Now You See It; Now You Don't."

Carter Shields Homestead - Cades Cove - GSMNP - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

IN ADDITION to the iconic church shot, there are the cabins and barns of the mostly preserved farms in Cades Cove and at the start of the Roaring Fork Trail. They are mainly rustic wood buildings, but the setting offers some nice compositional opportunities. On our 2025 trip we were specifically looking for images enhanced by the spring Dogwood Bloom. We found this single instance of blooms near the Carter Shields Cabin in Cades Cove. I wished to have had the blooms in the background behind the cabin, but no such luck.

Dogwood Blooms in Cades Cove - GSMNP - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

THE SPRING bloom is certainly an attractor for photographers. For us the "big deal" was Dogwoods and Redbud trees interspersed throughout the forest cover. Unfortunately, our timing wasn't very good in 2025. We were late and Mother Nature was early; a surfire promise of a "bust." We didn't sea any Redbud blooms. We caught the very last of the Dogwood blooms, and did our best to record them. One of my favorites of the week was the sole branch below, almost etherial as it weaves between the surrounding foliage.

Dogwood Blooms - Rich Mountain Road - GSMNP - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

ANOTHER DRAW in the park are the numerous wildflowers during the spring months, including Orchids ("Lady's Slippers"), Trillium, Viginia Bluebells, and Phlox, among others. I understand that the is a small area in what is known as White Oak Sink that can be littered with blue blossoms along the ground if you catch it right. While in (fruitless) search of them, I did find this widespread area of White Trillium along the White Oak Sink trail. White Trillium turn a pretty pink or purple as they mature. It was obvious to me that these were quite late and the last of the year.

White Trillium - White Oak Sink Trail - GSMNP - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

IN ADDITION to the surrounding trees, mountains and picturesque meadows, Cades Cove is prone to fog given appropriate weather conditions. The Dan Lawson Farm shot above, made in the fall of 2023, is one of my favorite shots of the park. The image below (same farm, different perspective and different weather conditions) shows a different kind of fog.

Dan Lawson Farm on a Foggy Morning - Cades Cove - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

I MENTIONED wildlife. I think GSMNP may be the premier eastern National Park for wildlife. Long known for its population of Black Bears, White Tail Deer, and wild Turkey, it is also common today to see coyotes and bobcats. During my time in the park I have heard, but not seen, several species of Owl, including Screech and Bard Owls. I am quite certain there are also Great Horned Owls in the park. Other birds of prey include the Red Tailed and the Red Shouldered Hawk and Northern Harrier, Sharp Shinned Hawk, American Eagle, and rarely, the Golden Eagle. There are also many instances of songbirds in the park. As wildlife photography is a very specialized genre, generally requiring special equipment and special skills, I don't really cover it here. I don't really have the equipment (body or lenses) to make good wildlife images for the most part (though I have occasionally gotten lucky). Fortunately, my frequent photo-traveler companion, Rich Pomeroy has both the equipment and the skills. He (and the other Rich, who also has the equipment and skills) were both with me on the spring trip, and when we did have a couple opportunities to observe bears, they were ready and got some nice images. Rich has been gracious enough to let me use some of his work to illustrate the kinds of Black Bear images you might expect to get in the park.

Black Bear - Cades Cove - GSMNP - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Richard Pomeroy 2025 - All Rights Reserved

I DO want to give it the credence it is due though. The bear population becomes active again in the spring and we saw a lot more bear activity during the week in April 2025. We saw a couple fleeting glimpses in the fall of 2023. A substantial proportion of the visitors to Cades Cove are there in hopes of spotting a bear - and even better, a mama and her cubs. As for birds, I'll leave that to the experts. 😕

Black Bear - Cades Cove - GSMNP - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Richard Pomeroy 2025 - All Rights Reserved

THE BEARS in the park are more acclimated to humans than in other areas, and therefore can be approachable. This is particularly true when they are fixated on something like feeding. Sometimes they will even "pose" for you, as in the image above. Most of the time, you will know there is a bear nearby by the traffic jams on the roads within the park. If there are several cars stopped and people out of the cars - it is either a bear or a serial murderer. I am voting for the bear.😀 We were driving the loop, on our way to shoot the Carter Shields Homestead, which is just beyond the southern intersection of the loop road and Sparks Lane when we ran up on one of those "jams" (I think they call them "bearjams" in Yellowstone). Rich was able to make a couple pretty close images of a young bear rooting in some old stumps looking for food. Sometimes you can capture more "environmental" images, like the one above with some green plant matter still showing in the bear's mouth.

Black Bear - Cades Cove - GSMNP - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Richard Pomeroy 2025 - All Rights Reserved

I DO not want to be cavalier about the approachability of these animals, who are - lets be honest - the inhabitants of this park. We are just visitors. And as visitors, we need to be cognizant of certain appropriate behavior. I had to learn that when we were in the park recently. First, they are wild animals. They are actually deemed the so-called "apex preditor" in the park. Though they are omnivoores, they are not naturally aggressive toward humans (or other mammals for that matter). Indeed, in the wild in a non-park setting, it is not all that common to spot a bear. They are reclusive, an in most instances, will see (or smell) you before you do them, and make themselves invisible. But not always. And if they are visible, they are very possibly at their most dangerous state. They are probably eating (or foraging) and are quite possibly accompanied by their cubs. You know the saying about a mama bear and her cubs. It is never safe to approach a bear closely and there are some pretty strict rules about that in the park. Park Rangers and volunteers are constantly on the vigil for a bear spotting and usually quickly on scene to keep onlookers back.

Black Bear - Cades Cove - GSMNP - Townsend, Tennessee
Copyright Richard Pomeroy 2025 - All Rights Reserved

BUT THERE is another "manners" issue. Because the park is their natural habitat, the constant stream of thousands of annual visitors takes its toll. While is does partially acclimate them to human presence, such presence can also produce a high amount of stress for them as they go about their daily routine which is pretty simple: find food for themselves and their cubs. In the excitement of seeing them in the wild, we sometimes lose sight of that harsh fact (to the bear, anyway). As we drove the loop road, we knew there was a mama bear up a tree (which we later learned was a large, hollowed-out trunk which served as a den for her 2 cubs). Seeing a couple folks out of their car and walking along the loop road, I thought maybe this would be my opportunity to make an image with my 70-300 zoom. Thinking it must be "o.k.," I began to exit the car. There was a volunteer directly behind us who warned me not to get out of the car. Had I been more observant, I would have seen the orange cones. He scolded the others who had walked inside the cones along the road. Nobody needs a bear photograph that bad. We really should keep the stress factor in mind. The image above was made from a proper distance, well out into the field away from the bear.

AMENITIES

LIKE MANY popular outdoor destinations, lodging can be a challenge, and it is adviseable to make lodging reservations well in advance of the planned trip, especially during busy seasons. Gatlinburg is an especially challenging spot, as it is so popular for tourists of all descriptions. I have already said here, that I prefer the "western" part of the park - namely Townsend. Townsend has managed to maintain a "small town" feel, in light of the 1000's annual visitors. There are a couple resort/hotels, and numerous private cabins you can rent. On our first trip, we stayed in the Townsend Best Western, and found it perfectly suitable for our needs at a reasonable price. Rich found a good deal for us on a private cabin for our most recent trip. The key here is to get out ahead of your trip while availability exists.

PHOTOGRAPHERS OFTEN work on a different meal schedule. But we still have to eat. Commonly, we will be out in the field well before sunrise, and sometimes work the light as long as it gives us. That means that when available, we may have a late breakfast, and often no lunch (or maybe a quick deli sandwich consumed while driving between destinations. The supper meal can be more of a challenge. Once again, we follow the light, which means choosing an early meal, or a late meal (after twilight has passed and we find our way to a restaurant). For breakfast, we have found a few spots in Townsend. At the western end of town, the Dancing Bear complex has two very good breakfast spots. The Dancing Bear Cafe, itself, is one of them, serving decent coffee various egg sandwiches. Across the parking lot in the complex, is the Apple Mountain Valley Village Cafe. They serve a great breakfast, with a few more options than the Dancing Bear (they also have a good lunch selection). Both are close when you come back down off the southwestern section of the Foothills Parkway. At eastern side of town there is the Riverstone Restaurant. We have not partaken, but it always looks crowded at breakfast time. Alternatively, if you come down off the northern ("new") section of the Foothills Parkway onto U.S. 321, you come into the Wears Valley and there are a couple good breakfast restaurants in Wears, including Elvira's Cafe and Hillbilly's. 321 can also be accessed from the main drag in Townsend, heading north toward Pigeon Forge - just east of the middle of town.

FOR OTHER meals, we have found the "Peaceful Side Social" to be very good for lunch and later meals. They are quite informal, with walk up ordering, but have a nice selection of sandwiches and pizza. On some afternoons, there is an adjacent walk-up building that serves limited Mexican menu items, and a decent Marguerita. The inside restaurant is also a craft brewery and has a few pretty good beers.

OUR PRIMARY problem was that they tend to close the town down very early. On our first night in the park, we went up on the new bridge on the new northern section of the Foothills Parkway to shoot the sunset. By the time it was done (this was May), it was after 9:00 and there was only one of the many restaurants in Townsend that was open: Pizza Hut. We made it before they closed and were the only diners in the restaurant. We didn't have that problem in Gatlinburg, but we did learn that it might make sense - when possible - to have an early dinner before we went to our sunset destination.